A republican government in a hundred points is weaker than an autocratic government; but in this one point it is the strongest that ever existed — it has educated a race of men that are men.

Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.

We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started.

The Church is not a gallery for the exhibition of eminent Christians, but a school for the education of imperfect ones.

Some men are like pyramids, which are very broad where they touch the ground, but grow narrow as they reach the sky.

As for marigolds, poppies, hollyhocks, and valorous sunflowers, we shall never have a garden without them, both for their own sake, and for the sake of old-fashioned folks, who used to love them.

A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road.

The thistle is a prince. Let any man that has an eye for beauty take a view of the whole plant, and where will he see a more expressive grace and symmetry; and where is there a more kingly flower?

Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself.

He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has.

Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith.

Achievements must be highlights and not forgotten. So you always will have to rely in something on your frustrations.

I write to understand as much as to be understood.

Too often, many people choose goals that are not inspiring and empowering to them

I think that cable TV is a great venue to do something interesting.

Your days pass like rainbows, like a flash of lightning, like a star at dawn. Your life is short. How can you quarrel?

The idea that the reader is important enough to me that I'd tailor my words to either please or offend them always seems amusingly alien to me.

A man said to me, "You talk to your dead guru?" And I said, "Yeah." He said, "That's in your imagination." And I said, "Yeah!" Because my guru is in my imagination anywhere. Anywhere.

I always sing them as though they are autobiographical, even if they're not, and most of my songs do come from something about me.

It doesn't take any more energy to create a big dream than it does to create a little one.

To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi.