There was a time when all these things would have passed me by, like the flitting figures of a theatre, sufficient for the amusement of an hour. But now, I have lost the power of looking merely on the surface.

[U]sefulness is happiness, and... all other things are but incidental.

We must not forget that all great revolutions and reformations would look mean and meagre if examined in detail as they occurred at the time.

Ah, my friend, that is the only true church organization, when heads and hearts unite in working for the welfare of the human race!

It is right noble to fight with wickedness and wrong; the mistake is in supposing that spiritual evil can be overcome by physical means.

Misfortune is never mournful to the soul that accepts it; for such do always see that every cloud is an angel's face.

I think we have reason to thank God for Abraham Lincoln. With all his deficiencies, it must be admitted that he has grown continually.