“In those times when we yearn to have more in our lives, we should dwell on the things we already have. In doing so, we will often find that our lives are already full to overflowing.”

“El poeta William Arthur Ward sugiere que la clave para el éxito es: Creer cuando otros dudan. Planificar mientras que los demás juegan. Estudiar cuando los demás duermen. Decidir cuando los demás postergan. Prepararse cuando los demás sueñan despiertos. Empezar cuando los demás lo dejan para otro día. Trabajar cuando los demás desean. Ahorrar cuando los demás desperdician. Escuchar cuando los demás hablan. Sonreír cuando los demás fruncen el ceño. Elogiar cuando los demás critican. Persistir cuando los demás se dan por vencidos.”

“The Christian is not to be disturbed by the chaos, violence, strife, bloodshed, and threat of war that fill the pages of our daily newspapers. We know that these things are the consequences of man’s sin and greed. Every day as I read my newspaper I say: “The Bible is true.

“Her motherly instinct told her that there was too much of something in Natasha, and that it would prevent her from being happy.”

“He'll be coming and going" he had said. "One day you'll see him and another you won't. He doesn't like being tied down--and of course he has other countries to attend to. It's quite all right. He'll often drop in. Only you mustn't press him. He's wild, you know. Not like a tame lion.”

“A great deal of love given to a few is better than a little to many.”

“Then Jesus changed the situation. When he paid for our sins on the cross, the veil in the temple that symbolized our separation from God was split from top to bottom, indicating that direct access to God was once again available.”

“My difficulties lay deeper. It was more than I could believe that Jesus was the only incarnate son of God, and that only he who believed in him would have everlasting life. If God could have sons, all of us were His sons. If Jesus was like God, or God Himself, then all men were like God and could be God Himself. My reason was not ready to believe literally that Jesus by his death and by his blood redeemed the sins of the world. Metaphorically there might be some truth in it. Again, according to Christianity only human beings had souls, and not other living beings, for whom death meant complete extinction; while I held a contrary belief. I could accept Jesus as a martyr, an embodiment of sacrifice, and a divine teacher, but not as the most perfect man ever born. His death on the Cross was a great example to the world, but that there was anything like a mysterious or miraculous virtue in it my heart could not accept. The pious lives of Christians did not give me anything that the lives of men of other faiths had failed to give. I had seen in other lives just the same reformation that I had heard of among Christians. Philosophically there was nothing extraordinary in Christian principles. From the point of view of sacrifice, it seemed to me that the Hindus greatly surpassed the Christians. It was impossible for me to regard Christianity as a perfect religion or the greatest of all religions.”

“We took the liberty to make some enquiries concerning the ground of their pretensions to make war upon nations who had done them no injury, and observed that we considered all mankind as our friends who had done us no wrong, nor had given us any provocation. The Ambassador [of Tripoli] answered us that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.

“When people follow a leader because they have to, they will do only what they have to. People don’t give their best to leaders they like least. They give reluctant compliance, not commitment. They may give their hands but certainly not their heads or hearts.”

“We are all different. Like the sun, the moon, and the stars, God has created us to be different from one another, and He has done it on purpose. Each of us meets a need, and we are all part of God’s overall plan.” 

“There are times when a leader must move out ahead of the flock, go off in a new direction, confident that he is leading his people the right way.”

“A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit.”

“God uses people who fail—'cause there aren't any other kind around.”

“Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.”