Clothes and manners do not make the man but when he is made they greatly improve his appearance.

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.

Fearless fate!

I guess it all depends on whom you ask and when you ask. Race, I've learned, is in the eye of the beholder.

Not realizing that I craved his warmth, his nearness, until he was gone.

Imperceptibly, the developed world's manufacturing base was gradually eroding and being replaced by securitized finance that destroyed itself and nearly its economies in 2008.

As you look at me and listen to me, please remember the often repeated truth that one prisoner of conscience is one too many.

How would you like a job where, if you made a mistake, a big red light goes on and 18,000 people boo?

If it's red, French, costs too much, and tastes like the water that's left in the vase after the flowers have died and rotted, it's probably Burgundy.

Neatness begets order; but from order to taste there is the same difference as from taste to genius, or from love to friendship.

Kids are beautiful, man. And they know much more than grownups think they know. Kids are just perfect people until grownups get their hands on them.

You are a preacher! Maybe not with your mouth all the time like me, but as a believer in Christ, your life is a living sermon.