“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”

“It is Satan’s purpose to steal the seed of truth from your heart by sending distracting thoughts . . . The difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is: though they both may have good and evil thoughts, Christ gives His followers strength to select the right rather than the wrong.”

“In speaking of this desire for our own far off country, which we find in ourselves even now, I feel a certain shyness. I am almost committing an indecency. I am trying to rip open the inconsolable secret in each one of you—the secret which hurts so much that you take your revenge on it by calling it names like Nostalgia and Romanticism and Adolescence; the secret also which pierces with such sweetness that when, in very intimate conversation, the mention of it becomes imminent, we grow awkward and affect to laugh at ourselves; the secret we cannot hide and cannot tell, though we desire to do both. We cannot tell it because it is a desire for something that has never actually appeared in our experience. We cannot hide it because our experience is constantly suggesting it, and we betray ourselves like lovers at the mention of a name. Our commonest expedient is to call it beauty and behave as if that had settled the matter. Wordsworth’s expedient was to identify it with certain moments in his own past. But all this is a cheat. If Wordsworth had gone back to those moments in the past, he would not have found the thing itself, but only the reminder of it; what he remembered would turn out to be itself a remembering. The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.”

“If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union, or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated, where reason is left free to combat it."

“To Believe is something, and do not live it, is dishonest..”

“Somos los amos o las víctimas de nuestras actitudes. Es un asunto de decisión personal. Lo que ahora somos es el resultado de las decisiones tomadas ayer. Mañana seremos lo que decidamos ahora.”

“Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front.”

“It’s encouraging to know that all of God’s closest friends — Moses, David, Abraham, Job, and others — had bouts with doubt. But instead of masking their misgivings with pious clichés, they candidly voiced them openly and publicly. Expressing doubt is sometimes the first step toward the next level of intimacy with God.”

“Be helpful. When you see a person without a smile, give him one of yours. ~” 

“Say something that will help you, not something that will hinder you. Say, “I can do this with God’s help.”

“But if we want God’s peace and joy, we can’t waste our time trying to be people-pleasers.” 

“What are you doing personally to make your church family more warm and loving? There are many people in your community who are looking for love and a place to belong. The truth is, everyone needs and wants to be loved, and when people find a church where members genuinely love and care for each other, you would have to lock the doors to keep them away.”

“They’ve lost the initiative, which means they’ve lost the war.” Gurney”

“If we develop in-depth knowledge it will enable us to give our best to others and help to make a better world.”

“I don’t care whether there seems to be a way or not. Jesus is the Way; His Spirit lives in me; and I will find a way!” God promised He would make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert (see Isaiah 43:19).”