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Favorite QuotesIt is my intention to offer these quotes and allow the reader to derive whatever value may be found. As with all human utterings, some conclusions may be debatable and some sources dubious. Nevertheless, I believe truth is truth, however questionable the voice which utters them, thus, I will not debate the merits of these quotes, nor apologize for their sources. Instead, I invite you to enjoy and learn whatever you can from these words to the wise and otherwise. |
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Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. The trick is to hold opinions without letting opinions hold you. Strike from mankind the principles of faith, and man would have no more history than a flock of sheep. Let not thy will roar, when thy power can but whisper. Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom. We do not remember days; we remember moments. Hypocrites in the Church? Yes, and in the lodge and at the home. Don't hunt through the Church for a hypocrite. Go home and look in the mirror. Hypocrites? Yes. See that you make the number one less. We can forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. Success without honor is an unseasoned dish; it will satisfy your hunger, but it won't taste good. If at first you don't succeed, you are running about average. We evaluate others with a Godlike justice, but we want them to evaluate us with a Godlike compassion. Dig the well before you are thirsty. A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. A dear old Quaker lady, distinguished for her youthful appearance, was asked what she used to preserve her appearance. She replied sweetly, 'I use for the lips, truth; for the voice, prayer; for the eyes, pity; for the hand, charity; for the figure, uprightness;and for the heart, love. Some people think it's holding on that makes one strong. Sometimes it's letting go. Never try to make anyone like yourself Absence sharpens love, presence strengthens it. The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. No book in the world equals the Bible for that. Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. People are always making rules for themselves and always finding loop- holes. If there were no hell, no one would worry about heaven. Always put off until tomorrow what you shouldn't do at all. Your successes and happiness are forgiven you only if you generously consent to share them. The only disability in life is a bad attitude. God gave us our memories so that we might have roses in December. Humility is a virtue all men preach, none practice, and yet everybody is content to hear. The master thinks it good doctrine for his servants, the laity for the clergy, and the clergy for the laity. Truth hurts There is no permanent place in [this universe] for evil... Evil may hide behind this fallacy and that, but it will be hunted from fallacy to fallacy until there is no more fallacy for it to hide behind. Laziness is nothing more than resting before you get tired. Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor, to console him for what he is. He who has no vision of eternity has no hold on time. Never does the human soul appear so strong and noble as when it forgoes revenge and dares to forgive an injury. Atheism is rather in the lip than in the heart of man. If you cannot feed a hundred people, then feed just one. A wise man will make haste to forgive, because he knows the true value of time, and will not suffer it to pass away in unnecessary pain. There's a difference between opinion and conviction. My opinion is something that is true for me personally; my conviction is something that is true for everybody Christian faith is a grand cathedral, with divinely pictured windows. Standing without, you can see no glory, nor can imagine any, but standing within, every ray of light reveals a harmony of unspeakable splendors. Sentimentality is no indication of a warm heart. Nothing weeps more copiously than a chunk of ice. Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. Adversity is the diamond dust heaven polishes its jewels with. A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both. One person with a belief is equal to ninety-nine who have only interests. Nothing sets a person so much out of the devil's reach as humility. God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame. Faith is love taking the form of aspiration. Reflect upon your present blessings - of which every man has many- not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some. We desire most what we ought not to have The word "Angel" simply means "messenger." If angels are messengers, then someone, somewhere must be sending a message. My life is in the hands of any fool who makes me lose my temper. A new broom sweeps clean, but the old brush knows the corners. Why is the Atheist's main target always Jesus of Nazareth, and never Buddha, Confucius, or Mohammed? Why is the aspiring athlete's target always the true champion and never the also-rans? A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but, after a while, knows something. No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. You can't run a society or cope with its problems if people are not held accountable for what they do. Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for: it is a thing to be achieved. The eyes shout what the lips fear to say. We do not err because truth is difficult to see. It is visible at a glance. We err because this is more comfortable. Courage is like love Some people think it's holding on that makes one strong. Sometimes it's letting go. Fear cannot be without hope nor hope without fear. People need responsibility. They resist assuming it, but they cannot get along without it. Christian faith is a grand cathedral, with divinely pictured windows. Standing without, you can see no glory, nor can imagine any, but standing within, every ray of light reveals a harmony of unspeakable splendors. Patience is the companion of wisdom. Do not let the good things in life rob you of the best things. The Past is over for all of us... the Future is promised to none of us. Love is not blind- it sees more, not less. But because it sees more, it is willing to see less. Beauty is in the heart of the beholder. A habit is something you can do without thinking You have to be careful about being too careful. The faith that will shut the mouths of lions must be more than a pious hope that they will not bite. A ship in harbor is safe - but that is not what ships are for. If you cannot feed a hundred people, then feed just one. Sometimes the best way to convince someone he is wrong is to let him have his way. A man has deprived himself of the best there is in the world who has deprived himself of the Bible. Everything looks impossible for the people who never try anything. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument. The only freedom I care about is the freedom to do right; the freedom to do wrong I am ready to part with. I saw a star, I reached for it, I missed. So I accepted the sky. If you cannot win, make the one ahead of you break the record. What is evil? Whatever springs from weakness. Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. Have you noticed that even the busiest people are never too busy to take time to tell you how busy they are? One of the most difficult things to give away is kindness Happiness is not a reward- it is a consequence. Suffering is not a punishment- it is a result. Opportunity is often difficult to recognize; we usually expect it to beckon us with beepers and billboards. Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary. The cross is "I" crossed out. We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done. Time is a versatile performer. It flies, marches on, heals all wounds, runs out, and will tell. After all is said and done, more has usually been said than done. Success is often the result of taking a misstep in the right direction. The greatest pleasure I know is to do a good action by stealth and have it found out by accident. In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing. Patience often gets the credit that belongs to fatigue. Life begets life. Energy begets energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich. If God were not willing to forgive sin, heaven would be empty. The hardest thing in the world to open is a closed mind. We must never throw away a bushel of truth because it happens to contain a few grains of chaff. Worriers spend a lot of time shoveling smoke. Real pain can alone cure us of imaginary ills. The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depends on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps- we must step up the stairs. A "No" uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater than a "Yes" merely uttered to please, or what is worse, to avoid trouble. Just remember- when you think all is lost, the future remains. While faith makes all things possible, it is love that makes all things easy. Americans will put up with anything provided it doesn't block traffic. There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, "All right then, have it your way." No man, for any considerable time, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true. The main discomfort in being a middle-of-the-roader is that you get sideswiped by partisans going in both directions. Sometimes I think I understand everything... Then I regain consciousness. To the victor belong the responsibilities. Your friend is that man who knows all about you, and still likes you. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye. Whatever man loves, that is his god. For he carries it in his heart; he goes about with it night and day; he sleeps and wakes with it, be it what it may The man who speaks positive convictions is worth a regiment of men who are always proclaiming their doubts and suspicions. Love looks forward, hate looks back, anxiety has eyes all over its head. Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone. Everything that used to be a sin is now a disease. We can forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. Silence is true wisdom's best reply. A year of self-surrender will bring larger blessings than fourscore year of selfishness. Sometimes the best way to convince someone he is wrong is to let him have his way. The church is the only conscience the government has. When the church is silent, the state can have no conscience. To know things as they are is better than to believe things as they seem. Learn to say no. It will be of more use to you than to be able to read Latin. There is not a heart that but has its moments of longing, yearning for something better. Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. To teach is to learn twice. Love is not blind- it sees more, not less. But because it sees more, it is willing to see less. A habit is something you can do without thinking He became what we are that He might make us what He is. Our lives are a manifestation of what we think about God. All mankind is divided into three classes: those who are immovable, those who are movable; and those who move. It is only about things that do not interest one that one can give a really unbiased opinion, which is no doubt the reason why an unbiased opinion is always valueless. God has two dwellings: one in heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful heart. Men show their character in nothing more clearly than by what they think laughable. Far away, there in the sunshine, are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they may lead. You can't expect a person to see eye to eye with you when you're looking down on him. It is never a question with any of us of faith or no faith; the question is always in what or whom do we put our faith. How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. Ill gotten gains will be ill spent. "How do you know so much about everything?" was asked of a very wise and intelligent man; and the answer was "By never being afraid or ashamed to ask questions as to anything of which I was ignorant." A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both. Many great ideas have been lost because the people who had them could not stand being laughed at. We can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by. Words must surely be counted among the most powerful drugs man ever invented. The first and almost the only book deserving of universal attention is the Bible. I speak as a man of the world. Only in growth, reform, and change, paradoxically enough, is true security to be found. A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green. Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out. An atheist's most embarrassing moment is when he feels profoundly thankful for something, but can't think of anybody to thank for it. You do not destroy an idea by killing people; you replace it with a better one. When we have "second thoughts" about something, our first thoughts don't seem like thoughts at all If you cannot win, make the one ahead of you break the record. A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice. We are but tenants and.. Shortly the great Landlord will give us notice that our lease has expired. One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few. True humility is not an abject, groveling, self-despising spirit; it is but a right estimate of ourselves as God sees us. Never let a man imagine that he can pursue a good end by evil means, without sinning against his own soul. The evil effect on himself is certain. Those who imagine that the world is against them have generally conspired to make it true. The work will teach you how to do it. I pronounce it as certain that there was never a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous. The work will wait while you show the child the rainbow, but the rainbow won't wait while you do the work. It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness. All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen. The unexamined life is not worth living. Entrance into heaven is not at the hour of death, but at the moment of conversion. What we do not understand we do not possess. How you spend your time is more important than how you spend your money. Money mistakes can be corrected, but time is gone forever. Pride is tasteless, colorless, and sizeless. Yet it is the hardest thing to swallow. As sure as God puts His children in the furnace of affliction, He will be with them in it. Love looks forward, hate looks back, anxiety has eyes all over its head. - Mignon McLaughlin What I admire in Columbus is not his having discovered a world but his having gone to search for it on the faith of an opinion. "I can forgive but I cannot forget," is only another way of saying, "I cannot forgive." Some people always sigh in thanking God. I don't know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be. If you truly want to understand something, try to change it. The truth is not always dressed for the evening. We can't give our children the future, strive though we may to make it secure. But we can give them the present. People far prefer happiness to wisdom, but that is like wanting to be immortal without getting older. Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see. People hasten to judge in order not to be judged themselves. Everyone is an explorer. How could you possibly live your life looking at a door and not open it? Isn't is amazing that almost everyone has an opinion to offer about the Bible, and yet so few have studied it? Shared joy is double joy and shared sorrow is half-sorrow. You are not a fool just because you have done something foolish Insomuch as any one pushes you nearer to God, he or she is your friend. We bring the atoms of sin to the cross where they are smashed. Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate. Many people today don't want honest answers insofar as honest means unpleasant or disturbing. They want a soft answer that turneth away anxiety. A closed mouth gathers no foot. There is no better or more blessed bondage than to be a prisoner of hope. I am patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it. Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent. Our character is but the stamp on our souls of the free choices of good and evil we have made through life. It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can do only a little. Do what you can. If you believe that feeling bad or worrying long enough will change a past or future event, then you are residing on another planet with a different reality system. The trick is to hold opinions without letting opinions hold you. There is no man so good who, were he to submit all his thoughts and actions to the law, would not deserve hanging ten times in his life. If we have our own why of life, we can bear almost any how. Better by far you should forget and smile, Than that you should remember and be sad. Eternity is not something that begins after you are dead. It is going on all the time. We are in it now. They say TV really is still in its infancy, which helps to explain why you have to get up so often to change it. Time marks us while we are marking time. Do not pray for easier lives, pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work will be no miracle, but YOU will be a miracle. There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. A bad conscience embitters the sweetest comforts; a good one sweetens the bitterest crosses. I used to have an open mind but my brains kept falling out. There's not a joy the world can give like that it takes away. How you spend your time is more important than how you spend your money. Money mistakes can be corrected, but time is gone forever. Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. An argument is the longest distance between two points of view. The quickest way to become an old dog is to stop learning new tricks. The defect of equality is that we desire it only with our superiors. Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. The gift of happiness belongs to those who unwrap it. An old mystic says somewhere, "God is an unutterable sigh in the innermost depths of the soul." With still greater justice, we may reverse the proposition, and say the soul is a never ending sigh after God. Temptation usually comes in through a door that has deliberately been left open. Most men forget God all day and ask Him to remember them at night. Some people treat God like they do a lawyer; they go to Him only when they are in trouble. No man is free who is a slave to the flesh. All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen. I want to look at life in the available light. Fear not that your life shall come to an end, but rather that it shall never have a beginning. A man ninety years old was asked to what he attributed his longevity. 'I reckon,' he said, with a twinkle in his eye, 'It's because most nights I went to bed and slept when I should have sat up and worried." The most prominent place in hell is reserved for those who are neutral on the great issues of life. There is no better or more blessed bondage than to be a prisoner of hope. People sometimes forget that a rat race can be won only by a rat. Prosperity is not without many People seldom become famous for what they say until after they are famous for what they've done. The gift of happiness belongs to those who unwrap it. The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time. Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom not to strangle the stubborn atheists who can't see You when You're right under their noses! The happiest people are less forgetting and more forgiving. The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up. I am not what I think I am. I am not what you think I am. I am what I think you think I am. The man who bows the lowest in the presence of God stands the straightest in the presence of sin. -Author Unknown A man who enjoys responsibility usually gets it. A man who merely likes exercising authority usually loses it. Love looks through a telescope; envy, through a microscope. Improvement begins with "I." Ideas must work through the brains and the arms of good and brave men, or they are no better than dreams. Mere change is not growth. Growth is the synthesis of change and continuity, and where there is no continuity there is no growth. A pedestal is as much a prison as any small space. Success may be the ability to be happy with whatever we're stuck with. When you speak of heaven, let your face light up... When you speak of hell- well then, your everyday face will do. There's no point in burying the hatchet if you're going to put up a marker on the site. Neither genius, fame, nor love show the greatness of the soul. Only kindness can do that. The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything. Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity. Vision is the art of seeing things invisible. If you risk nothing, then you risk everything. There are two freedoms: the false where a man is free to do what he likes; and the true where a man is free to do what he ought. If moral behavior were simply following rules, we could program a computer to be moral. For happiness one needs security, but joy can spring like a flower even from the cliffs of despair. A friend is someone who can see through you and still enjoys the show. The greatest pleasure I know is to do a good action by stealth, and to have it found out by accident. It is necessary for us to learn from others' mistakes. You will not live long enough to make them all yourself. Every person should have a special cemetery lot in which to bury the faults of friends and loved ones. A lie has speed, but truth has endurance. The question is not whether a doctrine is beautiful but whether it is true. When we wish to go to a place, we do not ask whether the road leads through a pretty country, but whether it is the right road. Computers are unreliable, but humans are even more unreliable. - Gilb A perfect wife is one who doesn't expect a perfect husband. Our Creator would never have made such lovely days and have given us the deep hearts to enjoy them unless we were meant to be immortal. Every man has a right to be wrong in his opinions .But no man has a right to be wrong in his facts. Good luck is with the man who doesn't include it in his plan. The truest test of independent judgment is being able to dislike someone who admires us, and to admire someone who dislikes us. The proud man counts his newspaper clippings- the humble man his blessings. Too often we seek justice for just us. Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced. Even a proverb is no proverb to you till your life has illustrated it. We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements in life, when all we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about. Science has promised us truth. It has never promised us either peace or happiness. A friend is someone who can see through you and still enjoys the show. Learning is not attained by chance. It must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence. Want a thing long enough, and you don't. I sometimes give myself admirable advice, but I am incapable of taking it. Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to. The flame of Christian ethics is still our highest guide. The more a thing is perfect, the more it feels pleasure and likewise pain. In about the same degree as you are helpful, you will be happy. Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. True love is when your heart and your mind are saying the same thing. Exasperation is the mind's way of spinning its wheels until patience restores traction. The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works. Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of man you are. Looks are so deceptive that people should be done up like food packages with the ingredients clearly labeled. I have always held firmly to the thought that each one of us can do a little to bring some portion of misery to an end. Half-truths are like half a brick - they can be thrown farther. The next moment is as much beyond our grasp, and as much in God's care, as that a hundred years away. Care for the next minute is just as foolish as care for a day in the next thousand years. In neither can we do anything, in both God is doing everything. I have read Plato and Cicero sayings that are very wise and beautiful; but I never read in either of them: "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give thee rest." Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects. When you say a situation or a person is hopeless, you are slamming the door in the face of God. Do not make friends who are comfortable to be with. Make friends who will force you to lever yourself up. Atheism is the death of hope, the suicide of the soul. Everything that is done in the world is done by hope. No husbandman would sow a grain of corn if he hoped not it would grow up and become seed... Or tradesman would set himself to work if he did not hope to reap benefit thereby. 'Tis not where we lie, but whence we fell; The loss of heaven's the greatest pain in hell. The most valuable talent is that of never using two words when one will do. The heart must be kept tender and pliable; otherwise agnosticism converts to skepticism... for apologetics is aimed at persuading doubters, not at refuting the defiant. He who demands a kind of proof that the nature of the case renders impossible, is determined that no possible evidence shall convince him. Opportunity is often difficult to recognize; we usually expect it to beckon us with beepers and billboards. Life's real failure is when you do not realize how close you were to success when you gave up. The impossible is often the untried. Time is a circus, always packing up and moving away. Unless we change direction, we are likely to end up where we are going. Happiness is a way station between too much and too little. Most people are bothered by those passages in Scripture which they cannot understand; but as for me, I always noticed that the passages in Scripture which trouble me most are those which I do understand. Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see. The kindest word in all the world is the unkind word, unsaid. Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after. The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook. If it's painful for you to criticize your friends, you're safe in doing it; if you take the slightest pleasure in it, that's the time to hold your tongue. To see what is right and not do it is want of courage. Wisdom too often never comes, and so one ought not to reject it merely because it comes late. You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it. No man will learn anything at all, unless he first will learn humility. I couldn't wait for success... so I went ahead without it. Our prayers are answered not when we are given what we ask but when we are challenged to be what we can be. They who forgive most, shall be most forgiven. Know what is evil, no matter how worshipped it may be. Let the man of sense not mistake it, even when clothed in brocade, or at times crowned in gold, because it cannot thereby hide its hypocrisy, for slavery does not lose its infamy, however noble the master. Abundance consists not so much in material possessions, but in an uncovetous spirit. Churches will take longer to achieve integration because they are undertaking a much greater accomplishment. Worshiping together is a more personal thing than riding trains or attending movies together. Tolerance is not enough; it must be real brotherhood or nothing. Half-truths are like half a brick - they can be thrown farther. Marriages may be made in heaven, but man is responsible for the maintenance work. Never close your lips to those to whom you have opened your heart. Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try. Gravitation can not be held responsible for people falling in love." Time is a circus, always packing up and moving away. To ease another's heartache is to forget one's own. The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time. Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and the wrong. Sometime in your life you will have been all of these. We never become truly spiritual by sitting down and wishing to become so. You must undertake something so great that you cannot accomplish it unaided. When you are in deep water, it's a good idea to keep your mouth shut. The soldiers fight, and the kings are heroes. Happiness is not the end of life; character is. A fool is someone whose pencil wears out before its eraser does. Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length. Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to the error that counts. We are tomorrow's past. Few wishes come true by themselves. Love must be learned again and again... Hate needs no instruction, but waits only to be provoked. The best discipline, maybe the only discipline that really works, is self discipline. If we seek God for our own good and profit, we are not seeking God. What governs men is the fear of truth. If life is a comedy to him who thinks and a tragedy to him who feels, it is a victory to him who believes. Gratitude is the heart's memory. Success has a simple formula: do your best, and people may like it. Conscience is condensed character. If you ask enough people, you can usually find someone who will advise you to do what you were going to do anyway. If you have never been amazed by the very fact that you exist, you are squandering the greatest fact of all. Power doesn't corrupt people. People corrupt power. I saw about a peck of counterfeit dollars once. Did I go to the window and throw away all my good dollars? No! Yet you reject Christianity because there are hypocrites, or counterfeit Christians. Experience teaches slowly, and at the cost of mistakes. Fame is a cancer and ego: its seed. What single ability do we all have? The ability to change. Just remember- when you think all is lost, the future remains. An aim in life is the only fortune worth finding. When death comes to me it will find me busy, unless I am asleep. If I thought I was going to die tomorrow, I should nevertheless plant a tree today. To be free from evil thoughts is God's best gift. Men do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself but because it contradicts them. To be upset over what you don't have is to waste what you do have. Ideals are like tuning forks: sound them often to bring your life up to standard pitch. -S.D. Gordon The two words "information" and "communication" are often used interchangeably, but they signify quite different things. Information is giving out; communication is getting through. The pleasure we derive from doing favors is partly in the feeling it gives us that we are not altogether worthless. Christianity is not a theory or speculation, but a life; not a philosophy of life, but a living presence. Knowledge is gained by learning; trust by doubt; skill by practice; and love by love. Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love. Divine love is a sacred flower, which in its early bud is happiness, and in its full bloom is heaven. The opposite of joy is not sorrow. It is unbelief. The quickest way to become an old dog is to stop learning new tricks. Faith is kept alive in us, and gathers strength, more from practice than from speculations. Do not let the good things in life rob you of the best things. A perfect wife is one who doesn't expect a perfect husband. You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him. We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive. Everything becomes a little different as soon as it is spoken out loud. Truth never damages a cause that is just. A Truth that's told with bad intent Beats all the Lies you can invent Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free practice thereof. The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions. There never was found in any age of the world, either philosopher or sect, or law or discipline which did so highly exalt the public good as the Christian faith. One of the most difficult things to give away is kindness The next moment is as much beyond our grasp, and as much in God's care, as that a hundred years away. Care for the next minute is just as foolish as care for a day in the next thousand years. In neither can we do anything, in both God is doing everything. The woman who thinks no man is good enough for her may be right You can't test courage cautiously. So great is my veneration for the Bible that the earlier my children begin to read it, the more confident my hope that they will prove useful citizens, and respectful members of society. Patience is the companion of wisdom. No matter what accomplishments you achieve, somebody helps you. It is right to be content with what we have, but never with what we are. Opinions are flexible prejudices. Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man's growth without destroying his roots. To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe. If Jesus Christ were to come today people would not even crucify him. The would ask him to dinner, hear what he has to say, and make fun of it. If necessity is the mother of invention, discontent is the father of progress. An educational system isn't worth a great deal if it teaches young people how to make a living but doesn't teach them how to make a life. A lie has speed, but truth has endurance. They do more harm by their evil example than by their actual sin. Courage can't see around corners, but goes around them anyway. The true test of humility is whether you can say grace before eating crow. And there 's a lust in man no charm can tame, Of loudly publishing our neighbour's shame; On eagles' wings immortal scandals fly, While virtuous actions are but born and die. I can do only one thing at a time, but I can avoid doing many things simultaneously. There are times when silence has the loudest voice. A wise man is one who has finally discovered that there are some questions to which nobody has the answer. Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of man you are. Everyone complains of his memory, and nobody complains of his judgment. There is no truth existing which I fear, or would wish unknown to the whole world. Gratitude is from the same root word as grace- the boundless mercy of God. Thanksgiving is from the same root word as think, so to think is to thank. Good has two meanings: it means both that which is good absolutely and that which is good for somebody. The truth will ouch. Love must be learned again and again... Hate needs no instruction, but waits only to be provoked. Youth is when you blame all your troubles on your parents; maturity is when you learn that everything is the fault of the younger generation. What I kept, I lost; What I spent, I had; What I gave, I have. All men are born equal but the tough job is to outgrow it. There's no point in burying the hatchet if you're going to put up a marker on the site. There are so many men who can figure costs, and so few who can measure values. Love does not die easily. It is a living thing. It thrives in the face of all life's hazards, save one- neglect. Our language has wisely sensed the two sides of being alone. It has created the word "loneliness" to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word "solitude" to express the glory of being alone. There is only misfortune in not being loved; there is misery in not loving. If anything is worth doing, it is worth telling someone how to do it well. Learning is not attained by chance. It must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence. In order that all men may be taught to speak truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it. To believe with certainty, we must begin with doubting. If all but myself were blind, I should want neither a fine house nor fine furniture. Two men please God: who serves Him with all his heart because he knows Him; who seeks Him with all his heart because he knows Him not. A candle loses none of its light by lighting another candle. What this country needs is a man who knows God other than by heresay. The work will wait while you show the child the rainbow, but the rainbow won't wait while you do the work. Little things console us because little things afflict us. If you risk nothing, then you risk everything. An atheist is a man who looks through a telescope and tries to explain what he can't see. It is no use saying, "We are doing our best." You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary. Until you make peace with who you are, you'll never be content with what you have. It is not reason makes faith hard, but life. Where belief is painful, we are slow to believe. Death is a punishment to some, to some a gift, and to many a favor. The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said. I always prefer to believe the best of everybody Sainthood emerges when you can listen to someone's tale of woe and not respond with a description of your own. Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work. Happiness is a way station between too much and too little. Before you let yourself go, be sure you can get yourself back. To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing. Let those that love us, love us. And those that don't, may God turn their hearts. And, if He cannot turn their hearts, May He turn their ankles so we may know them by their limping! Blessed is the man who is too busy to worry in the daytime and too sleepy to worry at night. Marriages may be made in heaven, but man is responsible for the maintenance work. The happiest couples are those who spell "us" with a capital "you." Dwell not on the past. Use it to illustrate a point, then leave it behind... From this moment onward you can be an entirely different person, filled with love and understanding, ready with an outstretched hand, uplifted and positive in every thought and deed. If ever I reach heaven, I expect to find three wonders there: first, to meet some I had not thought to see there; second, to miss some I had expected to see there; and third, the greatest wonder of all, to find myself there. Time neither subtracts nor divides, but adds at such a pace it seems like multiplication. You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do. If you can't excel with talent, triumph with effort. Love is what you've been through with somebody. Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't. Love doesn't just sit there like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new. Justice is truth in action. As if we could kill time without injuring eternity!! After all is said and done, more has usually been said than done. Do not make friends who are comfortable to be with. Make friends who will force you to lever yourself up. Efficiency is intelligent laziness. There are more self-marred people in the world than there are self-made. The kindest word in all the world is the unkind word, unsaid. Experience is a hard teacher, it tests first and teaches afterward. One advantage of marriage is that, when you fall out of love with him or he falls out of love with you, it keeps you together until you fall in again. OK, so if psychics are real, why do they have to ask you for your name? A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with the wind. No amount of good deeds can make us good persons. We must be good before we can do good. People who invite trouble always complain when it accepts. Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love. Expect people to be better than they are; it helps them to become better. But don't be disappointed when they are not; it helps them to keep trying. It's not a question of who's going to throw the first stone; it's a question of who's going to start building with it. In order to see Christianity, one must forget all the Christians. Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects. People seem to get nostalgic about a lot of things they weren't so crazy about the first time around. Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force. May the road rise to meet you May the wind be always at your back May the sun shine warm upon your face And the rain fall soft upon your fields And until we meet again May God hold you in the palm of His hand. Doubt isn't the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith. You cannot climb to salvation on atheistic steppes. If the truth hurts most of us so badly that we don't want it told, it hurts even more grievously those who dare tell it. It is a two-edged sword, often dangerous to the user. We cannot do evil to others without doing it to ourselves. We are no more responsible for the evil thoughts that pass through our minds than a scarecrow for the birds which fly over the seedplot he has to guard. The sole responsibility in each case is to prevent them from settling. It is possible to give without loving, but it is impossible to love without giving. To get to heaven, turn right and keep straight. The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper. Many people feel "guilty" about things they shouldn't feel guilty about, in order to shut out feelings of guilt about things they should feel guilty about. Not the fastest horse can catch a word spoken in anger. Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear; not absence of fear. True love is when your heart and your mind are saying the same thing. Never undertake anything for which you would not have the courage to ask the blessing of Heaven. All men are idolators, some of fame, others of self-interest, most of pleasure. People who fight fire with fire usually end up with ashes. If you have made mistakes... there is always another chance for you... you may have a fresh start any moment you chose, for this thing we call "failure" is not the falling down, but the staying down. Love is what you've been through with somebody. He became what we are that He might make us what He is. It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can do only a little. Do what you can. If a small thing has the power to make you angry, does that not indicate something about your size? Love at first sight is no miracle. When two people have been looking at each other for years that's a miracle. If time is not real, then the dividing line between this world and eternity, between suffering and bliss, between good and evil, is also an illusion. Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from praise of men, but from doing something worthwhile. I would rather walk with God in the dark than go alone in the light. We need to learn to set our course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship. Never try to make anyone like yourself Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man's growth without destroying his roots. Pay no attention to what the critics say. A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic. A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down. The strength and happiness of a man consists in finding out the way in which God is going, and going that way too. Half the failures in life arise from pulling in one's horse as he is leaping. The Lord is my shepherd, that's all I want. Fools live to regret their words, wise men to regret their silence. Have you noticed that even the busiest people are never too busy to take time to tell you how busy they are? All men are idolators, some of fame, others of self-interest, most of pleasure. Friends, though absent, are still present. To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it. There are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about them. Fate leads the willing, and drags along those who hang back. What single ability do we all have? The ability to change. A book, tight shut, is but a block of paper. The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatness is. What I admire in Columbus is not his having discovered a world but his having gone to search for it on the faith of an opinion. Frustration is commonly the difference between what you would like to be and what you are willing to sacrifice to become what you would like to be. People need responsibility. They resist assuming it, but they cannot get along without it. Love and hatred are natural exaggerators. Faith is, in the spiritual realm, what money is in the commercial realm. If your dreams turn to dust... vacuum. One of the most lasting pleasures you can experience is the feeling that comes over you when you genuinely forgive an enemy We commit the Golden Rule to memory and forget to commit it to life. There is often less danger in the things we fear than in the things we desire. Packed in my skin from head to toe Is one I know and do not know. You cannot train a horse with shouts and expect it to obey a whisper. He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has. God often visits us, but most of the time we are not at home. The idea of strictly minding our own business is moldy rubbish. Who could be so selfish? One person with a belief is a social power equal to 99 who have only interests. I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe in love even when I am not feeling it. I believe in God even when He is silent. Sin can bring pleasure, but never happiness. Suspicion often creates what it suspects. Errors like straws upon the surface flow; He who would search for pearls must dive below. If you realize that you aren't as wise today as you thought you were yesterday, you're wiser today. A ship in harbor is safe-- but that is not what ships are for. Morality does not make a Christian, yet no man can be a Christian without it. The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it. Whoever wants to be a judge of human nature should study people's excuses. Men show their character in nothing more clearly than by what they think laughable. Add one small bit to the truth and you inevitably subtract from it. The greatest friend of truth is Time, her greatest enemy is Prejudice, and her constant companion is Humility. A place is yours when you know where all the roads go. Let go of your attachment to being right, and suddenly your mind is more open. You're able to benefit from the unique viewpoints of others, without being crippled by your own judgment. To have more, desire less. A liberty to that only which is good, just, and honest. People in distress will sometimes prefer a problem that is familiar to a solution that is not. We find freedom when we find God; we lose it when we lose Him. A sleeping pill will never take the place of a clear conscience. Atheism is a disease of the soul before it becomes an error of understanding. Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. The strength of a nation is derived from the integrity of its homes. A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes. Faith on a full stomach may be simply contentment- but if you have it when you're hungry, it's genuine. We're all proud of making little mistakes. It gives us the feeling we don't make any big ones. Crowding a life does not always enrich it. Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind. To err is human; to admit it, superhuman. He who forgives ends a quarrel. If this age is remembered for anything, it will perhaps be for the speed with which we embrace things and let them go. As long as I see any thing to be done for God, life is worth having; but O how vain and unworthy it is to live for any lower end! A man without God is not like a cake without raisins; he is like a cake without the flour and milk; he lacks the essential ingredients... I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know, the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve. If there is anything we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is something that could better be changed in ourselves. "Men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all the other alternatives." The difference between a hero and a coward is one step sideways. When you run into someone who is disagreeable to others, you may be sure he is uncomfortable with himself; the amount of pain we inflict upon others is directly proportional to the amount we feel within us. We can often endure an extra pound of pain far more easily than we can suffer the withdrawal of an ounce of accustomed pleasure. What sought they thus afar? Bright jewels of the mine, The wealth of seas, the spoils of war? They sought a faith's pure shrine. It is no great thing to be humble when you are brought low; but to be humble when you are praised is a great and rare attainment. Time is swift, it races by; Opportunities are born and die... Still you wait and will not try The great advantage of telling the truth is that one is so much more likely to sound convincing. Fame is a cancer and ego: its seed. |
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