To pray against temptation, and yet rush into occasions, is to thrust your fingers into the fire, and then pray they might not be burnt.

He enjoys much who is thankful for little.

If you would not step into the harlot's house, do not go by the harlot's door.

Some persons do first, think afterward, and then repent forever.

To do evil for good is human corruption; to do good for good is civil retribution; but to do good for evil is Christian perfection. Though this be not the grace of nature, it is the nature of grace.

There is only one failure in life possible, and that is not to be true to the best one knows.

America is a country ready to be taken, in fact, longing to be taken by political leaders ready to restore democracy and trust to the political process.

Flattery, though a base coin, is the necessary pocket money at court; where, by custom and consent, it has obtained such a currency that it is no longer a fraudulent, but a legal payment.

Writing is not an amusing occupation. It is a combination of ditch-digging, mountain-climbing, treadmill and childbirth.

the more a body tries to explode all the foolish myths that have grown up about Texas by telling the truth, the more a body will wind up adding to the mythology.

The most trying moments in human experience were those in which there was nothing to be done except to wait.

One man's ceiling is another man's floor.

I await joyous surprises while working, an awakening of the materials that I work with and that my spirit develops.

Love always wakes the dragon and suddenly flames everywhere.

Sadly, we do a much better job of making people feel guilty than we do of delivering them from the guilt we create. We need to confess this and change our ways.