The old pagans had to choose between a brilliant, jangling, irresponsible universe, alive with lawless powers, and the serene and ordered universe of God and law. We modern pagans have to choose between that divine order, and the grey, dead, irresponsible, chaotic universe of atheism. And the tragedy is that we may make that choice without knowing it -- not by clear conviction but by vague drifting, by losing interest in Him. A nominal deist will say: "Yes, of course there must be some sort of Force that created the galaxy. But it's childish to imagine that It has any personal relation to me!" In that belief atheism exists as an undiagnosed disease. The man who says, "One God," and does not care, is an atheist in his heart. The man who speaks of God and will not recognize him in the burning bush -- that man is an atheist, though he speak with the tongues of men or angels, and appear in his pew every Sunday, and make large contributions to the church.

Axylos, Teuthranos's son that dwelt in stablished Arisbe; a man of substance dear to his fellows; for his dwelling was by the road-side and he entertained all men.

Syllables govern the world.

Fish not, with this melancholy bait, For this fool gudgeon, this opinion. -The Merchant of Venice. Act i. Sc. 1.

Feast of James the Apostle The spiritual life is a stern choice. It is not a consoling retreat from the difficulties of existence, but an invitation to enter fully into that difficult existence, and there apply the Charity of God, and bear the cost.

When evening closes Nature's eye, The glow-worm lights her little spark To captivate her favorite fly And tempt the rover through the dark.

When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong you cannot be too conservative.

You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.

All authority must be out of a man's self, turned . . . either upon an art, or upon a man. - Francis Bacon,

The mere fact that you have obstacles to overcome is in your favor...

There are some days I practice positive thinking.And other days I'm not positive, I am thinking.

Hope springs exulting on triumphant wing.

The person who starts out simply with the idea of getting rich won't succeed; you must have a larger ambition. There is no mystery in business success...If you do each day's task successfully, and stay faithfully within these natural operations of commercial laws which I talk so much about, and keep your head clear, you will come out all right.

All weakness tends to corrupt, and impotence corrupts absolutely.

We envy those whose possessions or achievements are a reflection on our own. They are our neighbors and equals. It is they, above all who make plain the nature of our failure.

You can never have a revolution in order to establish a democracy. You must have a democracy in order to have a revolution.

Thank you for nothing.

If you don't like something about yourself, change it. If you can't change it, accept it.

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

I want there to be no peasant in my kingdom so poor that he cannot have a chicken in his pot every Sunday.