As plants take hold, not for the sake of staying, but only that they may climb higher, so it is with men. By every part of our nature we clasp things above us, one after another, not for the sake of remaining where we take hold, but that we may go higher.

The thankful heart will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings.

Nothing can be more airy and beautiful than the transparent seed-globe-a fairy dome of splendid architecture.

The way to avoid evil is not by maiming our passions, but by compelling them to yield their vigor to our moral nature.

Good-nature is one of the richest fruits of true Christianity.

The beginnings of moral enterprises in this world are never to be measured by any apparent growth. ... At length comes the sudden ripeness and the full success, and he who is called in at the final moment deems this success his own. He is but the reaper and not the labourer. Other men sowed and tilled and he but enters into their labours.

God planted fear in the soul as truly as he planted hope or courage. Pear is a kind of bell, or gong, which rings the mind into quick life and avoidance upon the approach of danger. It is the soul's signal for rallying.