“I do not think I have any uncharitable prejudice against the rattlesnake, still, I should not like to be one.”

The most mighty of nature’s laws is this, that out of Death she brings Life.

The Past is the textbook of tyrants; the Future the Bible of the Free. Those who are solely governed by the Past stand like Lot’s wife, crystallized in the act of looking backward, and forever incapable of looking before.

All deep, earnest thinking is but the intrepid effort of the soul to keep the open independence of her sea, while the wildest winds of heaven and earth conspire to cast her on the treacherous, slavish shore.

Ladies are like creeds; if you cannot speak well of them, say nothing.

Better be an old maid, a woman with herself as a husband, than the wife of a fool; and Solomon more than hints that all men are fools; and every wise man knows himself to be one.

Honor lies in the mane of a horse.

The poor man wants many things; the covetous man, all.

There is nothing so slipperily alluring as sadness; we become sad in the first place by having nothing stirring to do; we continue in it, because we have found a snug sofa at last.

Yet habit – strange thing! what cannot habit accomplish?

If you can get nothing better out of the world, get a good dinner out of it, at least.

Thinking is, or ought to be, a coolness and a calmness; and our poor hearts throb, and our poor brains beat too much for that.

Old age is always wakeful; as if, the longer linked with life, the less man has to do with aught that looks like death.

In a multitude of acquaintances is less security, than in one faithful friend.

The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails whereon my soul is grooved to run

As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.

Benevolent desires, after passing a certain point, can not undertake their own fulfillment without incurring the risk of evils beyond those sought to be remedied.

In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.

Charity, especially towards the vulnerable, is the best opportunity we have to keep working to build up a culture of encounter.

It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.

Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice.

Give, but give until it hurts.

I try not to speak about all the charities and people I help, because I believe we can only be truly generous when we expect nothing in return.

Together we can change the lives of many children.

When you make sacrifices to help other people’s dreams come to pass, God will make sure your dream comes to pass.