Kindness: a language the deaf can hear, the blind can see, and the mute can speak.

If everybody thought before they spoke, the silence would be deafening.

To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit.

A man who is contented with what he has done will never become famous for what he will do.

Yes, child of suffering, thou may'st well be sure He who ordained the Sabbath loves the poor!

A comfortable house is a great source of happiness. It ranks immediately after health and a good conscience.

Supposition all our lives shall be stuck full of eyes; For treason is but trusted like the fox, Who, ne'er so tame, so cherished and locked up, Will have a wild trick of his ancestors.

Born is a Cellar, . . . and living in a Garret.

Non-ambiguity is the shaping force of reality.

All the things one has forgotten scream for help in dreams.

I think, whatever mortals crave, With impotent endeavor, A wreath--a rank--a throne--a grave-- The world goes round forever; I think that life is not too long, And therefore I determine, That many people read a song, Who will not read a sermon.

Heaven's help is better than early rising.

Talks as familiarly of roaring lions As maids of thirteen do of puppy-dogs! -King John. Act ii. Sc. 1.

For every man there is something in the vocabulary that would stick to him like a second skin. His enemies have only to find it.

All-cheering Plenty, with her flowing horn, Led yellow Autumn, wreath'd with nodding corn.

being a grandfather doesn't bother me, but sleeping with a grandma certainly does.

Still amorous, and fond, and billing, Like Philip and Mary, on a shilling.

Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.

Commemoration of Douglas Downes, Founder of the Society of Saint Francis, 1957 For the Platonic or Aristotelian philosophy it is of no importance whether Plato or Aristotle ever lived. For the mystical practice of an Indian, Persian, Chinese, or Neo-Platonic mystic it is a matter of indifference whether Rama, Buddha, Laotse, or Porphyrius are myths or not. The mystic has no personal relation to them. It is not here a question of somebody telling me the truth which of myself I cannot find, but of my finding an access to the depths of the world in the depths of my soul. And everywhere the tendency is to eliminate personality. Even where religion does not have this mystical character, it has no relation to an historical person, who communicates himself to me. That is the characteristic essence of the Christian faith alone. Even where a prophet plays the role of a mediator of divine truth, as for example in Islam, the religious act is not directed toward him but toward his teaching or message. But the Christian does not believe in the teachings of Jesus -- which would not be Christian faith, but general religion -- he believes in Christ Himself as being the Word of God.

The bee's favorite couplet: a sunup brimming buttercuplet.