Many a man who might walk over burning ploughshares into heaven stumbles from the path because there is gravel in his shoes.

The bosom can ache beneath diamond brooches; and many a blithe heart dances under coarse wool.

Through every rift of discovery some seeming anomaly drops out of the darkness, and falls, as a golden link into the great chain of order.

It is difficult to believe that a true gentleman will ever become a gamester, a libertine, or a sot.

Do not judge from mere appearances.

No language can express the power and beauty and heroism of a mother's love.

Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it foregoes revenge, and dares to forgive an injury.

Pride is the master sin of the devil, and the devil is the father of lies.

Neutral men are the devil's allies.

Goodness consists not in the outward things we do, but in the inward thing we are.

Heaven never defaults. The wicked are sure of their wages, sooner or later.

We fit the pieces of our life together in a pattern, but there is no image on the puzzlebox to guide us.

Truth, when not sought after, rarely comes to light.

Nobody gets to live life backward. Look ahead, that is where your future lies.

No man who has not sat in the assemblies of men can know the light, odd and uncertain ways in which decisions are often arrived at.

A patchwork solution of provincial targets is an admission of defeat and a statement that we have failed our children and grandchildren.

Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder.

My assistants and I often would spend more time planning a practice than the actual practice itself

Her capacity for family affection is extraordinary. When her third husband died, her hair turned quite gold from grief.

Once you feel that you've learned some skills and you know how to make records, the next thing is, "Do we ever get to make one that people will really like?" Because then we'll have something to do.

He had about the same life expectancy as a three legged hedgehog on a six lane motorway.