God is a being who gives everything but punishment in over measure.

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.

Literature is the most agreeable way of ignoring life.

A popular Harvard business professor urged his students to read the obituaries in the New York Times before they read anything else, in order to learn from the lives of great men.

Her direct stare probed, as if the story of my life were written in my eyes in a few succinct lines that she could read.

Writing is an incredibly creatively empowering experience for me. It is the place where nobody tries to control what I'm doing.

To the innocent there are neither cherubim nor angels.

When in doubt, go to the library.

For me, being a director is about watching, not about telling people what to do. Or maybe it's like being a mirror; if they didn't have me to look at, they wouldn't be able to put the make-up on.

I attribute my good fortune to the simple fact that I have always tried to write straight from my own heart to the hearts of others.

Equality should be the chief basis of the education of youth.

The gospel frees us from the relentless pressure of having to prove ourselves, for we are already proven and secure.