“If we could read the secret history of our enemies we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.”

For his heart was in his work, and the heart giveth grace unto every art.

Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions.

Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.

I have an affection for a great city. I feel safe in the neighborhood of man, and enjoy the sweet security of the streets.

Talk not of wasted affection – affection never was wasted.

The counterfeit and counterpart of Nature is reproduced in art.

It is foolish to pretend that one is fully recovered from a disappointed passion. Such wounds always leave a scar.

The greatest firmness is the greatest mercy.

That which the fountain sends forth returns again to the fountain.

There is nothing holier in this life of ours than the first consciousness of love, the first fluttering of its silken wings.

Whoever benefits his enemy with straightforward intention that man’s enemies will soon fold their hands in devotion.

Spilt on the ground like water, can never be gathered together.

Let us, then, be up and doing, with a heart for any fate; still achieving, still pursuing, learn to labor and to wait.

Only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness; So on the ocean of life, we pass and speak one another, only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.

The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.

Not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, but in ourselves, are triumph and defeat.

We are all of us born, live and die in the shadow of a giant question mark that refers to three questions: Where do we come from? Why? And where, oh where, are we going!

We’d get sick on too many cookies, but ever so much sicker on no cookies at all.

The world and all its wisdom is but a booby, blundering school-boy that needs management and could be managed.

I love Virginians because Virginians are all snobs and I like snobs. A snob has to spend so much time being a snob that he has little time left to meddle with you.

Our national motto is ‘In God we Trust,’ reminding us that faith in our Creator is the most important American value of all.

Whether we or our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do.

For Christians, as for all people of faith, reflection, meditation and prayer help us to renew ourselves in God’s love, as we strive daily to become better people.

To all those who have suffered as a consequence of our troubled past I extend my sincere thoughts and deep sympathy. With the benefit of historical hindsight we can all see things which we would wish had been done differently or not at all.