“War is the most painful act of subjection to the laws of God that can be required of the human will.”

“Failures, repeated failures, are finger-prints on the road to achievement. .”

“learned rapidly because his first training was in how to leam. And the first lesson of all was the basic trust that he could learn. It is shocking to find how many people do not believe they can learn, and how many more believe learning to be difficult.”

“The real seat of taste was not the tongue but the mind”

“It’s only when we forget ourselves that we do the things that deserve to be remembered.” 

“The Future is, of all things, the thing least like eternity. It is the most temporal part of time--for the Past is frozen and no longer flows, and the Present is all lit up with eternal rays.”

“We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.”

“I'm from the government and I'm here to help.”

“But whenever I tried to pin down this idea of self-esteem, the specific qualities we hoped to inculcate, the specific means by which we might feel good about ourselves, the conversation always seemed to follow a path of infinite regress. Did you dislike yourself because of your color or because you couldn’t read and couldn’t get a job? Or perhaps it was because you were unloved as a child—only, were you unloved because you were too dark? Or too light? Or because your mother shot heroin into her veins … and why did she do that anyway? Was the sense of emptiness you felt a consequence of kinky hair or the fact that your apartment had no heat and no decent furniture? Or was it because deep down you imagined a godless universe? Maybe one couldn’t avoid such questions on the road to personal salvation. What I doubted was that all the talk about self-esteem could serve as the centerpiece of an effective black politics. It demanded too much honest self-reckoning from people; without such honesty, it easily degenerated into vague exhortation. Perhaps with more self-esteem fewer blacks would be poor, I thought to myself, but I had no doubt that poverty did nothing for our self-esteem. Better to concentrate on the things we might all agree on. Give that black man some tangible skills and a job. Teach that black child reading and arithmetic in a safe, well-funded school. With the basics taken care of, each of us could search for our own sense of self-worth.”

“every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing”

“I would rather make mistakes in kindness and compassion than work miracles in unkindness and hardness.”

“Conscience is our wisest counselor and teacher, our most faithful and most patient friend.”

“There is an easy way of finding the job to be done today, just look around your environment; take note of the places that need cleaning and the places that need decoration; do one at a time!”

“I strongly encourage you to be careful not to let anything become more important to you than it should be. Keep God first so He can bless you with other things you desire.”

“Jesus is the perfect name! He who put away his fame! And persecuted in shame! That you will never be the same! It's because of you and I He came! Believe him or have yourself to blame! In the book of life, have your name!”