Faith reinvigorates the will, enriches the affections, and awakens a sense of creativeness. Active faith knows no fear, and it is a safeguard to me against cynicism and despair.

A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of hardships.

Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.

There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his.

The struggle of life is one of our greatest blessings. It makes us patient, sensitive, and Godlike. It teaches us that although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.

Toleration is the greatest gift of the mind; it requires the same effort of the brain that it takes to balance oneself on a bicycle.

The worst thing is to be born sighted but to lack vision.