A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life.
Henry Ward Beecher
Greatness lies, not in being strong, but in the right using of strength; and strength is not used rightly when it serves only to carry a man above his fellows for his own solitary glory. He is the greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own.
It's easier to go down a hill than up it but the view is much better at the top.
Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.
Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself.
Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.
We never know the love of a parent till we become parents ourselves.
The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.
There is no friendship, no love, like that of the parent for the child.
A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road.
Children are the hands by which we take hold of heaven.
I never knew how to worship until I knew how to love.
We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started.
The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the wide world's joy.
It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has.
I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying, I will not forgive. Forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note - torn in two, and burned up, so that it never can be shown against one.
The mother's heart is the child's schoolroom.
In this world it is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich.
Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith.
The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!
Laughter is day, and sobriety is night; a smile is the twilight that hovers gently between both, more bewitching than either.
Tears are often the telescope by which men see far into heaven.
Love is the river of life in the world.
Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made and forgot to put a soul into.
Our best successes often come after our greatest disappointments.
To array a man's will against his sickness is the supreme art of medicine.
Every charitable act is a stepping stone toward heaven.
Clothes and manners do not make the man; but, when he is made, they greatly improve his appearance.
Pride slays thanksgiving, but a humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow. A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.
In this world, full often, our joys are only the tender shadows which our sorrows cast.
The philosophy of one century is the common sense of the next.
Young love is a flame; very pretty, often very hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. The love of the older and disciplined heart is as coals, deep-burning, unquenchable.
He is greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own.
Love cannot endure indifference. It needs to be wanted. Like a lamp, it needs to be fed out of the oil of another's heart, or its flame burns low.
The dog is the god of frolic.
The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't.
The real man is one who always finds excuses for others, but never excuses himself.
Never forget what a person says to you when they are angry.
We are always on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things.
We sleep, but the loom of life never stops, and the pattern which was weaving when the sun went down is weaving when it comes up in the morning.
Of all the music that reached farthest into heaven, it is the beating of a loving heart.
It is one of the severest tests of friendship to tell your friend his faults. So to love a man that you cannot bear to see a stain upon him, and to speak painful truth through loving words, that is friendship.
A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.
He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has.
Faith is spiritualized imagination.
The soul without imagination is what an observatory would be without a telescope.
Compassion will cure more sins than condemnation.
Now comes the mystery.
God asks no man whether he will accept life. That is not the choice. You must take it. The only choice is how.
It is not the going out of port, but the coming in, that determines the success of a voyage.
