The quote database

It lets us into the soul of things and teaches us that although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.

Once I knew the depth where no hope was, and darkness lay on the face of all things.

I can say with conviction that the struggle which evil necessitates is one of the greatest blessings. It makes us strong, patient, helpful men and women.

Life is a fair field, and the right will prosper if we stand by our guns.

Optimism that does not count the cost is like a house builded on sand.

Each halt in his progress has been but a pause before a mighty leap forward.

No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.

With the dropping of a little word from another's hand into mine, a slight flutter of the fingers, began the intelligence, the joy, the fullness of my life.

do not hope to excite love except by love

The man who doubts it, can never have watched the first gleams of tenderness dawning in the clear eyes of one who loves; sunrise itself is a lesser marvel.

Love at its highest point--love sublime, unique, invincible--leads us straight to the brink of the great abyss, for it speaks to us directly of the infinite and of eternity.

Courage returns as we gaze; when we see what has been, we doubt no more that it can be again.

depend upon it, you will love your native hills the better for being separated from them

What wealth is it to have such friends that we cannot think of them without elevation!

Friends are as often brought nearer together as separated by death.

Though my life is low, if my spirit looks upward habitually at an elevated angle, it is as it were redeemed.

if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

The doctrines of despair, of spiritual or political tyranny or servitude, were never taught by such as shared the serenity of nature.

Surely civilization is old enough, surely mankind is mature enough so that we ought in our own lifetime to find a way to permanent peace.

any person haled into court, who is too poor to hire a lawyer, cannot be assured a fair trial unless counsel is provided for him

It is a well-established principle of law that every wrong has a remedy.

This is a glorious region, and the air and life are intoxicating.

We may hasten or we may retard, but we can not prevent, the final reconciliation.

It is the high privilege and sacred duty of those now living to educate their successors and fit them, by intelligence and virtue, for the inheritance which awaits them.