Feast of Monica, Mother of Augustine of Hippo, 387 Let the Gospels speak. Of what I have learnt from these documents in the course of my long task, I will say nothing now. Only this, that they bear the seal of the Son of Man and God, they are the Magna Charta of the human spirit. Were we to devote to their comprehension a little of the selfless enthusiasm that is now expended on the riddle of our physical surroundings, we would cease to say that Christianity is coming to an end -- we might even feel that it had only just begun.

The rumor forthwith flies abroad, dispersed throughout the small town.

A thorn defends the rose, harming only those who would steal the blossom.

If you wish to drown, do not torture yourself with shallow water.

Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions.

In literature, as in love, we are astonished at the choice made by other people.

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear--not absence of fear.

A man can hide all things, excepting twain-- That he is drunk, and that he is in love.

Close scrutiny will show that most "crisis situations" are opportunities to either advance, or stay where you are.

Feast of Juliana of Norwich, Mystic, Teacher, c.1417 Continuing a series on the person of Jesus: And what might this noble Lord do of more worship and joy to me than to show me this marvelous homeliness ? Thus it fareth with our Lord Jesus and with us. For truly it is the most joy that may be that He that is highest and mightiest, noblest and worthiest, is lowest and meekest, homeliest and most courteous: and truly this marvelous joy shall be shewn us all when we see Him.

Most men dislike a teaching which lays upon them strict moral requirements that check their natural desires. Yet they like to be considered as Christians, and listen willingly to the hypocrites who preach that our righteousness is only that God holds us to be righteous, even if we are bad people, and that our righteousness is without us and not in us, for, according to such teaching, they can be counted as holy people. Woe to those who preach that men of sinful walk can not be considered pious; most are furious when they hear this, as we see and experience, and would like all such preachers to be driven away or even killed; but where that cannot be done, they strengthen their hypocrite preachers with praise, comfort, presents and protection, so that they may go on happily and give no place to the truth, however clear it may be.

Forty for you, sixty for me And equal partners we will be.

So here we are again, a few billion miles farther along our mysterious path among the immensities. What a comfort it is to know the Man in charge of it all. Without Him, it would be easy to think that the whole of time and space, and life itself, are without reason, purpose, or meaning -- as H. G. Wells said, that it is "a bad joke beyond our unterstanding, a flare of vulgarity, an empty laugh braying across the mysteries." With Jesus forever between God and us, we can understand a few things, and trust Him for the rest. After all, He is one of us: a baby once, as we all were; then, and forever after, a Man, as we all shall always be.

What we become depends on what we read after all the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is the collection of books.

Under pressure, people admit to murder, setting fire to the village church or robbing a bank, but never to being bores.

Natural forces within us are the true healers of disease.

Got no check books, got no banks. Still I'd like to express my thanks I got the sun in the mornin' -- and the moon at night.

The most important thing about motivation is goal setting. You should always have a goal.

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.

I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.