It is not merely cruelty that leads men to love war, it is excitement.

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.

The test of pleasure is the memory it leaves behind. (Die Probe Eines Genusses ist Seine Erinnerung.)

My rights are not derived from any government. My rights are not denied by any majority. My rights are because I exist.

No man ever achieved worth-while success who did not, at one time or other, find himself with at least one foot hanging well over the brink of failure.

My sin burdened me heavily. But when I measured it against Your Grace, O Lord, Your forgiveness came out greater.

When my first novel was published, I went in great excitement round bookshops in central London to see if they had stocked it.

The only planning I do is about a minute before I play. I desperately try to think of something that will be effective, but I never sit down and work it out note for note.

Anti-utopianism continues to suffuse our culture...Today few imagine that society can be fundamentally improved, and those who do are seen as at best deluded, at worst threatening.

The kingdom that Jesus preached and lived was all about a glorious, uproarious, absurd generosity.

There can be but little liberty on earth while men worship a tyrant in heaven.

I think it's every artist's nature to want to escape. It's also human nature in a way, depending on your personality, to want to get away from it all.