The highest thinkers of the ages, the seers of the tribes and the nations, have been optimists.

Happiness calls out responsive gladness in others. There is enough sadness in the world without yours ... never doubt the excellence and permanence of what is yet to be. Join the great company of those who make the barren places of life fruitful with kindness.

Our democracy is but a name. We vote? What does that mean? It means that we choose between two bodies of real, though not avowed, autocrats. We choose between Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

Better to be blind and see with your heart, than to have two good eyes and see nothing.

Christmas Day is the festival of optimism.

There is joy in self-forgetfulness. So I try to make the light in others' eyes my sun, the music in others' ears my symphony, the smile on others' lips my happiness.

The true test of a character is to face hard conditions with the determination to make them better.