Optimism will grow like a flower if the soil be properly prepared.

Life asks for a preparation as complete as we can afford; the great contest should be fought with spirit but with good temper always; we should never think the game lost while it is still going; and finally we should have the satisfaction of quitting the field able to say: I did my best.

Pessimism is a product of our civilization. It is not natural to the savage; he feels pain, or discomfort, and suffers from these palpable conditions, but when he recovers from wounds he forgets the torments, and when he is well fed he is joyous in the light of day.

Some people would be discontented in Paradise, others ... are cheerful in a graveyard.

The only atheism is the denial of truth.

There are tides of justice surging to the unknown shores of right; Stars of truth that seek a setting in the dark, untutored night.

Those who have suffered, who have known poverty or oppression, are generally the most prone to kindness. Perhaps it is well to endure some misery if only to learn this lesson.