“I never knew an early-rising, hard-working, prudent man, careful of his earnings, and strictly honest who complained of bad luck.”

Sorrows, as storms, bring down the clouds close to the earth; sorrows bring heaven down close; and they are instruments of cleansing and purifying.

If you are idle, you are on the road to ruin; and there are few stopping-places upon it. It is rather a precipice than a road

There is no friendship, no love, like that of the parent for the child.

A Christian is nothing but a sinful man who has put himself to school for Christ for the honest purpose of becoming better.

The mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom.

Next to victory, there is nothing so sweet as defeat, if only the right adversary overcomes you.

Troubles are often the tools by which God fashions us for better things.

Your greatest pleasure is that which rebounds from hearts that you have made glad.

Find out what your temptations are, and you will find out largely what you are yourself.

You have come into a hard world. I know of only one easy place in it, and that is the grave.

The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won’t.

We let our blessings get mouldy, and then call them curses.

A man who cannot get angry is like a stream that cannot overflow, that is always turbid. Sometimes indignation is as good as a thunderstorm in summer, clearing and cooling the air.

Downright admonition, as a rule, is too blunt for the recipient.

The cynic is one who never sees a good quality in a man, and never fails to see a bad one. He is the human owl, vigilant in darkness and blind to light, mousing for vermin, and never seeing noble game.

Our best successes often come after our greatest disappointments.

If the Qur’an was the word of God, it had been dictated on a very bad day.

You are not making the change because you are a bad person and you are doing it wrong. You make changes because you love yourself and you want to improve the quality of your life.

Chemistry can be a good and bad thing. Chemistry is good when you make love with it. Chemistry is bad when you make crack with it.

If circumstances are bad and you have to bear them, do not make them a part of yourself.

Life is figuring out how bad you want it.

Another solid run through Central Park. Admittedly, six miles turns out to be a bad idea after a full day in heels!

Most of us do not like to look inside ourselves for the same reason we don’t like to open a letter that has bad news.

I hope you are reading to your children, out loud. That’s much better than watching television, much better. They won’t get very much out of television except some bad thoughts.