“Nothing is necessitated whose opposite is possible.”

There never is absolute birth nor complete death, in the strict sense, consisting in the separation of the soul from the body. What we call births are developments and growths, while what we call deaths are envelopments and diminutions.

The past is pregnant with the present.

Everything that is possible demands to exist.

I have said more than once, that I hold space to be something purely relative, as time; an order of coexistences, as time is an order of successions.

I am convinced that the unwritten knowledge scattered among men of different callings surpasses in quantity and in importance anything we find in books, and that the greater part of our wealth has yet to be recorded.

The knowledge which we have acquired ought not to resemble a great shop without order, and without an inventory; we ought to know what we possess, and be able to make it serve us in need.

Each portion of matter may be conceived of as a garden full of plants, and as a pond full of fishes. But each branch of the plant, each member of the animal, each drop of its humors, is also such a garden or such a pond.

I am so in favor of the actual infinite that instead of admitting that Nature abhors it, as is commonly said, I hold that Nature makes frequent use of it everywhere, in order to show more effectively the perfections of its Author.

The words ‘Here you can find perfect peace’ can be written only over the gates of a cemetery.

The world is not a machine. Everything in it is force, life, thought.

It is God who is the ultimate reason things, and the Knowledge of God is no less the beginning of science than his essence and will are the beginning of things.

Indeed in general I hold that there is nothing truer than happiness, and nothing happier and sweeter than truth.

To love is to place happiness in the heart of another.

It is necessary to believe that the mixture of evil has produced the greatest possible good: otherwise the evil would not have been permitted.

The present is saturated with the past and pregnant with the future.

What is is what must be.

I attribute much of my success in New York to my ability to understand and avoid unnecessary distractions.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing as they must if they believe they can do nothing. There is nothing worse because the council of despair is declaration of irresponsibility; it is Pilate washing his hands.

Always show more kindness than seems necessary, because the person receiving it needs it more than you will ever know.

The negro has within him immense power for self-uplifting, but for years it will be necessary to guide and stimulate him.

Music is how you feel. But if I can say one word, I’ll say ‘necessary.’ I felt it was necessary.

Trusting God completely means having faith that he knows what is best for your life. You expect him to keep his promises, help you with problems, and do the impossible when necessary.

I like to remember things my own way. How I remembered them, not necessarily the way they happened.