The best compliment to a child or a friend is the feeling you give him that he has been set free to make his own inquiries, to come to conclusions that are right for him, whether or not they coincide with your own.

Commemoration of Remigius, Bishop of Rheims, Apostle of the Franks, 533 Commemoration of Thérèse of Lisieux, Carmelite Nun, Spiritual Writer, 1897 Most of our conflicts and difficulties come from trying to deal with the spiritual and practical aspects of our life separately instead of realizing them as parts of one whole. If our practical life is centered on our own interests, cluttered up by possessions, distracted by ambitions, passions, wants and worries, beset by a sense of our own rights and importance, or anxieties for our own future, or longings for our own success, we need not expect that our spiritual life will be a contrast to all this. The soul's house is not built on such a convenient plan; there are few soundproof partitions in it. Only when the conviction -- not merely the idea -- that the demand of the Spirit, however inconvenient, rules the whole of it, will those objectionable noises die down which have a way of penetrating into the nicely furnished little oratory and drowning all the quieter voices by their din.

To-morrow is, ah, whose?

Blood, though it sleep a time, yet never dies. The gods on murtherers fix revengeful eyes.

The coward calls himself cautious, the miser thrifty.

A man from hell is not afraid of hot ashes.

A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.

After all is said and done, more is said than done.

When I got off the soap I got offered all these, you know, 'women in jeopardy' -- I call them 'disease of the week' movies.

The Sick Lion A lion, unable from old age and infirmities to provide himself with food by force, resolved to do so by artifice. He returned to his den, and lying down there, pretended to be sick, taking care that his sickness should be publicly known. The beasts expressed their sorrow, and came one by one to his den, where the Lion devoured them. After many of the beasts had thus disappeared, the Fox discovered the trick and presenting himself to the Lion, stood on the outside of the cave, at a respectful distance, and asked him how he was. I am very middling, replied the Lion, but why do you stand without? Pray enter within to talk with me. No, thank you, said the Fox. I notice that there are many prints of feet entering your cave, but I see no trace of any returning. He is wise who is warned by the misfortunes of others.

In his address of 19 September 1796, given as he prepared to leave office, President George Washington spoke about the importance of morality to the country's well-being: Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports.... And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.... Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a Nation with its virtue?

As all Nature's thousands changes But one changeless God proclaim; So in Art's wide kingdom ranges One sole meaning still the same: This is Truth, eternal Reason, Which from Beauty takes its dress, And serene through time and season Stands aye in loveliness.

In man's most dark extremity Oft succor dawns from Heaven.

Adversity is the first path to truth. - Don Juan.

If there were dreams to sell, what would you buy?

Sincerity and truth are the basis of every virtue.

... then the world 's mine oyster.

These are days when no one should rely unduly on his "competence." Strength lies in improvisation. All the decisive blows are struck left-handed.

Prudence is the knowledge of things to be sought, and those to be shunned.

A man must indeed be a hero to appear such in the eyes of his valet.