The best men are not those who have waited for chances but who have taken them; besieged the chance; conquered the chance; and made chance the servitor.

Humility is not a weak and timid quality; it must be carefully distinguished from a groveling spirit.

Those old ages are like the landscape that shows best in purple distance, all verdant and smooth, and bathed in mellow light.

Not in achievement, but in endurance, of the human soul, does it show its divine grandeur and its alliance with the infinite.

Bigotry dwarfs the soul by shutting out the truth.

Setting is preliminary to brighter rising; decay is a process of advancement; death is the condition of higher and more fruitful life.

The wild bird that flies so lone and far has somewhere its nest and brood. A little fluttering heart of love impels its wings, and points its course. There is nothing so solitary as a solitary man.