There is no such thing as a little country. The greatness of a people is no more determined by their number than the greatness of a man is determined by his height.

Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast.

Feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist Do not be too quick to condemn the man who no longer believes in God: for it is perhaps your own coldness and avarice and mediocrity and materialism and selfishness that have chilled his faith.

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.

If the Romans had been obliged to learn Latin, they would never have found the time to conquer the world.

Done to death by slanderous tongues. -Much Ado about Nothing. Act v. Sc. 3.

Ye Heavens, how sang they in your courts, How sang the angelic choir that day, When from his tomb the imprisoned God, Like the strong sunrise, broke away?

It is a process of diverting one's scattered forces into one powerful channel. .

What's that got to do with the price of rice in China?

My lodging it is on the cold ground, and very hard is my fare, But that which troubles me most, is the unkindness of my dear.

Set a beggar on horseback, and he will ride a gallop.

He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life away in fruitless efforts.

the blackberry bees reorchestrate their chant.

Character isn't inherited. One builds it daily by the way one thinks and acts, thought by thought, action by action. If one lets fear or hate or anger take possession of the mind, they become self-forged chains. -Helen Douglas.

There is a paradox in pride: it makes some men ridiculous, but prevents others from becoming so.

Thee is a skeleton on every house.

Ayr, gurgling, kissed his pebbled shore, O'erhung with wild woods, thickening green; The fragrant birch and hawthorn hoar Twined amorous round the raptures scene.

Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.

Hope is the parent of faith.

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.