The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the wide world's joy.

The prouder a man is, the more he thinks he deserves, and the more he thinks he deserves, the less he really does deserve.

The mystery of history is an insoluble problem.

While a man is stringing a harp, he tries the strings, not for music, but for construction. When it is finished it shall be played for melodies. God is fashioning the human heart for future joy. He only sounds a string here and there to see how far His work has progressed.

I received a letter from a lad asking me for an easy berth. To this I replied: You cannot be an editor; do not try the law; do not think of the ministry; let alone all ships and merchandise; abhor politics; don't practice medicine; be not a farmer or a soldier or a sailor; don't study, don't think. None of these are easy. O, my son, you have come into a hard world. I know of only one easy place in it, and that is the grave!

The diameter of each day is measured by the stretch of thought - not by the rising and setting of the sun.

Sorrows are gardeners: they plant flowers along waste places, and teach vines to cover barren heaps.