Jesus Christ, the condescension of divinity, and the exaltation of humanity.

How silently, how silently The wonderous gift is given! So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of his heaven. No ear may hear his coming, But in this world of sin, Where meek souls will receive him still, The dear Christ enters in.

While mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wondering love.

Life comes before literature, as the material always comes before the work. The hills are full of marble before the world blooms with statues.

The feet of the humblest may walk in the field Where the feet of the Holiest trod, This, then, is the marvel to mortals revealed.

It does not take great men to do great things; it only takes consecrated men.

The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatness is.