Child, to say the very thing you really mean, the whole of it, nothing more or less or other than what you really mean; that's the whole art and joy of words.

I wonder if people who asked for God to intervene in our world, really know what they are asking. Will they want to be there when God really does intervene?

If conversion to Christianity makes no improvement in a man's outward actions – if he continues to be just a snobbish or spiteful or envious or ambitious as he was before – then I think we must suspect that his 'conversion' was largely imaginary.

A clever arrangement of bad eggs will never make a good omelet.

Knock and it shall be opened.' But does knocking mean hammering and kicking the door like a maniac?

To live his life in his own way, to call his house his castle, to enjoy the fruits of his own labour, to educate his children as his conscience directs, to save for their prosperity after his death -- these are wishes deeply ingrained in civilised man. Their realization is almost as necessary to our virtues as to our happiness. From their total frustration disastrous results both moral and psychological might follow.

I cannot speak for the way God deals with others; I only know how he deals with me personally.