Our earthly loves are but so many silver steps leading us up to the great golden love of God.

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.

So long divided and so differently situated, the ties of blood were little more than nothing.

There is not love of life without despair about life.

He that fights and runs away Will live to fight another day.

I did become quite well known from 'Four Weddings and a Funeral', and it helped hugely. I wasn't as famous as Hugh Grant, but I certainly began to work.

We have Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, Buddhists, and their own path to grace is one that we have to revere and respect as much as our own

I let the music set the tone of the lyrics.I allowed myself to write more about relationships and emotions, in a girly way almost.

There is, in the end, the letting go.

To live without risk is to risk not living.

Dramas need to have a certain aesthetic that comedy just doesn't really seem to need to have.

The less you want, the richer you are. The more you need in order to be happy, the more miserable you’ll be.