“One of the proofs of the divinity of our gospel is the preaching it has survived.”

Character, my friends, is a byproduct. It is produced in the great manufacture of daily duty.

We came to America, either ourselves or in the persons of our ancestors, to better the ideals of men, to make them see finer things than they had seen before, to get rid of the things that divide and to make sure of the things that unite.

A conservative is someone who makes no changes and consults his grandmother when in doubt.

Has justice ever grown in the soil of absolute power? Has not justice always come from the … heart and spirit of men who resist power?

To fight, you must be brutal and ruthless, and the spirit of ruthless brutality will enter into the very fibre of national life.

At every crisis in one’s life, it is absolute salvation to have some sympathetic friend to whom you can think aloud without restraint or misgiving.

Any man that resists the present tides that run in the world, will find himself thrown upon a shore so high and barren that it will seem he has been separated from his human kind forever.

When I give a man an office, I watch him carefully to see whether he is swelling or growing.

The right is more precious than peace.

We are citizens of the world. The tragedy of our times is that we do not know this.

It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilizationitself seeming to be in the balance. But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things we have always carried closest to our hearts.

A man may be defeated by his own secondary successes.

What is the use of voting? We know that the machines of both parties are subsidized by the same persons, and therefore it is useless to turn in either direction.

I do not want a government that will take care of me, I want a government that will make other men take their hands off me so I can take care of myself.

I would never read a book if it were possible for me to talk half an hour with the man who wrote it.

Progressiveness means not standing still when everything else is moving.

Hands that serve are holier than lips that pray.

Where there is no purity, there is no Unity. Without Unity you cannot attain Divinity. Then your life is just a waste. First purity, next Unity, then you realize your Divinity.

Ability in a man is knowledge which emanates from divine light.

It is the growing custom to narrow control, concentrate power, disregard and disenfranchise the public; and assuming that certain powers by divine right of money-raising or by sheer assumption, have the power to do as they think best without consulting the wisdom of mankind.

Things divine are not attainable by mortals who understand sensual things.

I release all attachments, knowing that anything that is truly mine will not pass me by and will arrive in divine time.

We have come into this exquisite world to experience ever and ever more deeply our divine courage, freedom and light!

I am especially glad of the divine gift of laughter: it has made the world human and lovable, despite all its pain and wrong.