A man is as free as he chooses to make himself, never an atom freer.

When, then, I think about the impression that the word makes upon me, how it is affecting me with the knowledge of itself, then I am what I should call self-conscious of the word—conscious not...

Never, my little one, hide anything from those that love you. Never let anything that makes itself a nest in your heart, grow into a secret, for then at once it will begin to eat...

Love is the opener as well as closer of eyes

All words, then, belonging to the inner world of the mind, are of the imagination, are originally poetic words.

Who can give a man this, his own name?

It is our best work that God wants, not the dregs of our exhaustion. I think he must prefer quality to quantity.

It is the half-Christian clergy of every denomination that are the main cause of the so-called failure of the church of Christ

If God were not only to hear our prayers, as he does ever and always, but to answer them as we want them answered, he would not be God our Saviour but the ministering genius...

Obedience is the opener of eyes.

The church grew very lonely about him, and he began to feel like a child whose mother has forsaken it. Only he knew that to be left alone is not always to be forsaken.

The principle part of faith is patience.

No man ever sank under the burden of the day. It is when tomorrow’s burden is added to the burden of today that the weight is more than a man can bear.

No gift unrecognized as coming from God is at its own best: therefore many things that God would gladly give us, things even that we need because we are, must wait until we ask for...

It may seem strange that one with whom I had held so little communion should have so engrossed my thoughts, but benefits conferred awaken love in some minds, as surely as benefits received in others.

It is the heart that is unsure of its God that is afraid to laugh.

Where did you get your eyes so blue? / Out of the sky as I came through.

As in all sweetest music, a tinge of sadness was in every note. Nor do we know how much of the pleasures even of life we owe to the intermingled sorrows. Joy cannot unfold the...

To say on the authority of the Bible that God does a thing no honourable man would do, is to lie against God; to say that it is therefore right, is to lie against the...

Man finds it hard to get what he wants, because he does not want the best; God finds it hard to give, because He would give the best, and man will not take it.

The more I work with the body, keeping my assumptions in a temporary state of reservation, the more I appreciate and sympathize with a given disease. The body no longer appears as a sick or...

Love loves unto purity. Love has ever in view the absolute loveliness of that which it beholds. Therefore all that is not beautiful in the beloved, all that comes between and is not of love’s...

To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved.

She would be one of those who kneel to their own shadows till feet grow on their knees; then go down on their hands till their hands grow into feet; then lay their faces on...

The first thing a kindness deserves is acceptance, the second, transmission.

But for money and the need of it, there would not be half the friendship in the world. It is powerful for good if divinely used. Give it plenty of air and it is sweet...

The love of our neighbor is the only door out of the dungeon of self, where we mope and mow, striking sparks, and rubbing phosphorescences out of the walls, and blowing our own breath in...

Afflictions are but the shadow of His wings.

There is no water in oxygen, no water in hydrogen: it comes bubbling fresh from the imagination of the living God, rushing from under the great white throne of the glacier. The very thought of...

How strange this fear of death is! We are never frightened at a sunset.

…[T]wo of you can be no match for the three giants, I will find you, if I can, a third brother, who will take on himself the third share of the fight, and the preparation…I...

Our Lord speaks of many coming up to His door confident of admission, whom He yet sends away. Faith is obedience, not confidence.

It is not in the nature of politics that the best men should be elected. The best men do not want to govern their fellowmen.

It is not the cares of today, but the cares of tomorrow, that weigh a man down.

But we believe – nay, Lord we only hope,That one day we shall thank thee perfectlyFor pain and hope and all that led or droveUs back into the bosom of thy love.

Few delights can equal the mere presence of one whom we trust utterly.

I do believe that when a man confesses to his neighbor and says he’s sorry, he thinks more of him than he did before. You see, we all know we have done wrong, but we...

Friends, if we be honest with ourselves, we shall be honest with each other.

Doubts are the messengers of the Living One to the honest. They are the first knock at our door of things that are not yet, but have to be, understood. Doubt must precede every deeper...

I fear you will never arrive at an understanding of God so long as you cannot bring yourself to see the good that often comes as a result of pain. For there is nothing, from...

O, lack and doubt and fear can only comeBecause of plenty, confidence, and love!They are the shadow-forms about their feet,Because they are not perfect crystal-clearTo the all-searching sun in which they live.Dread of its loss...

If instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels give.

If, instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels give

The nearer persons come to each other, the greater is the room and the more are the occasions for courtesy; but just in proportion to their approach the gentleness of most men diminishes.

Do you really suppose God cares whether a man comes to good or ill?””If He did not, He could not be good himself…””…Then He can’t be so hard on us as the parsons say, even...

I find that doing of the will of God leaves me no time for disputing about His plans.

Anything large enough for a wish to light upon, is large enough to hang a prayer upon.

There is little hope of the repentance and redemption of certain some until they have committed one or another of the many wrong things of which they are daily, through a course of unrestrained selfishness,...

For others, as for ourselves, we must trust him. If we could thoroughly understand anything, that would be enough to prove it undivine; and that which is but one step beyond our understanding must be...

…I am still librarian in your house, for I never was dismissed, and never gave up the office. Now I am librarian here as well.”But you have just told me you were sexton here!”So I...