That was a judicious mother who said, "I obey my children for the first year of their lives, but ever after I expect them to obey me.

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.

They're a group called The Spirit-crushers and their leader is known as The Almighty Spirit-crusher.

Alec looked horrified, as if she'd asked him to put on a tutu and execute a perfect pirouette.

The Suicide, as she is falling, Illuminated by the moon, Regrets her act, and finds appalling The thought she will be dead so soon.

Are our competitors - for example, China, which is a deeply authoritarian nation - becoming more authoritarian or more liberal over time?

One senses the figures as passing by the tree line and, caught in the presence of the wall, turning to gaze upon it almost as a vision.

Larry Moffett is 6' 3". Last year he was 6" 6".

I remember going to Europe and one makeup artist made me look pink, then she tried to correct it but turned me green! I had to learn how to do my own makeup.

And they are beginning to realize that the world they live in is a place where the right thing is often hard, sometimes dangerous, and frequently unpopular.

Man, proud man, drest in a little brief authority, most ignorant of what he's most assur d, glassy essence, like an angry ape, plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven, as make the angels weep.

I'd start to sing, and the record would start skipping. You'd be skipping along with it. Those were the days, my friend. We'd look so stupid, but the kids loved it.