We only see in a lifetime a dozen faces marked with the peace of a contented spirit.

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.

In a man-to-man fight, the winner is he who has one more round in his magazine.

With genius, as with beauty -- all, well almost all, is forgiven.

It is a wise father that knows his own child.

Every individual alive today, even the very highest, is to be derived in an unbroken line from the first and lowest forms.

If we don't dream of the possible, the possible never happens.

Don't expect anyone to give you anything. If you really believe in something, then fight for it.

It's more intimate. Food can connect people in a forever sort of way.

Prose is when all the lines except the last go on to the end. Poetry is when some of them fall short of it.

Sunday, if I'm lucky, I'll go to church or listen to some good spiritual advice on the television or on the radio. I take three or four baths to try to cleanse myself, so I'm fresh for Monday.

You learn a lot, writing fiction.