Never does a man know the force that is in him till some mighty affliction or grief has humanized the soul.

It is not the situation which makes the man, but the man who makes the situation.

The true aim of every one who aspires to be a teacher should be, not to impart his own opinions,but to kindle minds.

Never does a man know the force that is in him till some mighty affliction or grief has humanized the soul.

... religious controversy does only harm. It destroys humble inquiry after truth, and throws all the energies into an attempt to prove ourselves right-a spirit in which no man gets at truth.

For when man comes to front the everlasting God, and look the splendor of His judgments in the face, personal integrity, the dream of spotlessness and innocence, vanishes into thin air: your decencies and your church-goings and your regularities and your attachment to a correct school and party, your gospel formulas of sound doctrine--what is all that, in front of the blaze of the wrath to come?

That prayer which does not succeed in moderating our wishes--in changing the passionate desire into still submission, the anxious, tumultuous expectation into silent surrender--is no true prayer, and proves that we have not the spirit of true prayer.