Hope is sweet-minded and sweet-eyed. It draws pictures; it weaves fancies; it fills the future with delight.

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.

The sacred being speaks at a sacred time.

Just be yourself' is about the worst advice you can give some people.

Art is beautiful but it is hard, like a religion without a purpose.

It's a man's world, they say; but in its daily textures it is a world created by and for women.

It takes a fierce devotion to defend your artistic space, and eternal vigilance over it, because the needs of others will grow like vines in your little plot and claim it back for the jungle.

We need to awaken the next generation to understand that we are all change-makers. The nation is not as strong as its government but its next generation

Talent is a very potent aphrodisiac. When someone is incredibly gifted, I find them incredibly sexy.

In the process of developing a character, you do, in fact, start to take him on as a personality. It's part of my job.

When you look at the biggest study of the American dream, the number-one correlate for upward mobility is having two parents in a home. It doesn't matter if they're male or female.