I believe that the first test of a great man is his humility. I don't mean by humility, doubt of his power. But really great men have a curious feeling that the greatness is not of them, but through them. And they see something divine in every other man and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful.

Without mountains the air could not be purified, nor the flowing of the rivers sustained.

Genius is only a superior power of seeing.

To be able to ask a question clearly is two-thirds of the way to getting it answered.

The only way to understand these difficult parts of the Bible, or even to approach them with safety, is first to read and obey the easy ones.

No one can ask honestly or hopefully to be delivered from temptation unless he has himself honestly and firmly determined to do the best he can to keep out of it.

In all things that live there are certain irregularities, and deficiencies which are not only signs of life, but sources of beauty. No human face is exactly the same in its lines on each side, no leaf perfect in its lobes, no branch in its symmetry.