A pessimist is a well-informed optimist.

Every man is a moon and has a side which he turns toward nobody: you have to slip around behind it if you want to see it.

What would men be without women? Scarce, sir...mighty scarce.

It is your human environment that makes climate

You may say organize, organize, organize; but there may be so much organization that it will interfere with the work to be done.

Missionarying was a better thing in those days than it is in ours. All you had to do was to cure the head savage´s sick daughter by a miracle- a miracle like the miracle of Lourdes in our day, for instance- and immediately that head savage was your convert, and filled to the eyes with a new convert´s enthusiasm. You could sit down and make yourself easy now. He would take the ax and convert the rest of the nation himself.

We are always more anxious to be distinguished for a talent which we do not possess, than to be praised for the fifteen which we do possess. Sometimes we are too close to the scene, to see clearly. We "know" ourselves so well that we cannot see how we are perceived by others. Our opinion of ourselves is only "one" opinion and it may not be the truth.