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Those who are not prepared for the apprehension of a great purpose should fix the thoughts upon the faultless performance of their duty, no matter how insignificant their task may appear.

Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all, heavenly environment; of these, if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built.

Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.

Even if he fails again and again to accomplish his purpose (as he necessarily must until weakness is overcome), the strength of character gained will be the measure of his true success, and this will form a new starting-point for future power and triumph.

The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good.

Whether one be fearful or fearless, foolish or wise, troubled or serene, within that soul lies the cause of its own state or states, and never without.

As there are silent depths in the ocean which the fiercest storm cannot reach, so there are silent, holy depths in the heart of man which the storms of sin and sorrow can never disturb.

The man that stands upon a principle is the same calm, dauntless, self-possessed man under all circumstances.

Cease your complaining and fretting; none of these things which you blame are the cause of your poverty; the cause is within yourself, and where the cause is, there is the remedy.

To grow in self-control, in patience, in equanimity, is to grow in strength and power; and you can only thus grow by focusing your consciousness upon a principle.

To be swayed by your fluctuating thoughts and impulses is to be weak and powerless; to rightly control and direct those forces is to be strong and powerful.

Sorrow purifies and deepens the soul, and the extremity of sorrow is the prelude to Truth.

Do not then vainly imagine that you can obtain the heavenly possessions without making an effort.

Idleness and a strong will cannot go together, and procrastination is a total barrier to the acquisition of purposeful action.

Concentration is an aid to the doing of something; it is not the doing of something in itself.

Give scrupulous attention to the duty of the present moment.

To be able to do a thing, you must begin to do it, and keep on doing it until the thing is mastered.

If he is perplexed, unhappy, restless, or wretched, let him look to himself, for there and nowhere else is the source of all his trouble.

Man is a thought-being, and his life and character are determined by the thoughts in which he habitually dwells.

Reverie is a loose dreaming into which a man falls; meditation is a strong, purposeful thinking into which a man rises.

Nothing comes unbidden; where the shadow is, there also is the substance.

It is an evil omen of the times that men have undertaken to calculate the mere material value of the Union.

In short, we ought to do justice in a kindly spirit to all nations and require justice from them in return.

After becoming citizens they are entitled, under the Constitution and laws, to be placed on a perfect equality with native-born citizens, and in this character they should ever be kindly recognized.

Our diplomacy should be direct and frank, neither seeking to obtain more nor accepting less than is our due.