When young men or women are beginning life, the most important period, it is often said, is that in which their habits are formed. That is a very important period. But the period in which the ideals of the young are formed and adopted is more important still. For the ideal with which you go forward to measure things determines the nature, so far as you are concerned, of everything you meet.

Next to ingratitude the most painful thing to bear is gratitude.

It is not merely cruelty that leads men to love war, it is excitement.

Undoubtedly we render our consciences callous by evil indulgences; but we cannot entirely subdue that still, small voice.

People may excite in themselves a glow of compassion, not by toasting their feet at the fire, and saying: "Lord, teach me compassion," but by going and seeking an object that requires compassion.

It is not work that kills men; it is worry. Work is healthy; you can hard put more upon a man than he can bear. Worry is rust upon the blade. It is not the revolution that destroys the machinery, but the friction.

The commerce of the world is conducted by the strong, and usually it operates against the weak.