Labor is still, and ever will be, the inevitable price set upon everything which is valuable.

Cheerfulness is also an excellent wearing quality. It has been called the bright weather of the heart.

Experience serves to prove that the worth and strength of a state depend far less upon the form of its institutions than upon the character of its men; for the nation is only the aggregate of individual conditions, and civilization itself is but a question of personal, improvement.

The great lesson of biography is to show what man can be and do at his best. A noble life put fairly on record acts like an inspiration to others.

It is possible that the scrupulously honest man may not grow rich so fast as the unscrupulous and dishonest one; but the success will be of a truer kind, earned without fraud or injustice. And even though a man should for a time be unsuccessful, still he must be honest: better lose all and save character. For character is itself a fortune. . . .

An intense anticipation itself transforms possibility into reality; our desires being often but precursors of the things which we are capable of performing.

The apprenticeship of difficulty is one which the greatest of men have had to serve.