AFLAME WITH RIGHTEOUSNESS

Some nations . . . once they have grown prosperous lose interest in freedom and let it be snatched from them without lifting a hand to defend it, lest they should endanger thus the comforts that, in fact, they owe to it alone. It is easy to see that what is lacking in such nations is a genuine love of freedom, that lofty aspiration which (I confess) defies analysis. For it is something one must feel and logic has no part in it.

—ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE

FAITH GONE TO WORK

Holiness is religious principle put into action. It is faith gone to work. It is love coined into conduct; devotion helping human suffering, and going up in intercession to the great source of all good.

—FREDERICK D. HUNTINGTON

The above thoughts by an American clergyman (1819-1904) deserve some serious reflection. Here are a few of mine which I take pleasure in sharing.

OUR HOPED-FOR AMERICA

We want the spirit of America to be efficient; we want American character to be efficient; we want American character to display itself in what I may, perhaps, be allowed to call spiritual efficiency—that dear, disinterested thinking and fearless action along the right lines of thought.

—WOODROW WILSON

SPARKED WITH PERSONAL LIBERTY

Without the wide diversification of talents, taste, abilities and ambitions that now and always exist among men, Society could neither feed nor clothe itself. It is consequently a wise provision of Providence that causes the perpetuation of endless variety in the desire and capabilities of human beings.

EXERTING A USEFUL INFLUENCE

He who wishes to exert a useful influence must be careful to insult nothing. Let him not be troubled by what seems absurd, but concentrate his energies to the creation of what is good. He must not demolish but build. He must raise temples where mankind may come and partake of the purest pleasures.

—GOETHE

OPPORTUNITY: THE GREAT ART OF LIFE?

To improve the golden moment of opportunity and catch the good that is within our reach; is the great art of life.

—SAMUEL JOHNSON

THE TRIUMPH OF CIVILIZATION

It is the triumph of civilization that at last communities have ordained such a mastery over natural laws that they drive and control them. The winds, the water, electricity, all aliens that in their wild form were dangerous, are now controlled by human will, and are made useful servants.

—HENRY WARD BEECHER

OUR DUTY AND ITS REWARDS

Try to put well in practice what you already know; and in so doing, you will in good time discover the hidden things which you now inquire about. Practice what you know and it will help to make dear what now you do not know.

—REMBRANDT

THE STEPS TO GREATNESS

The greatest man is he who chooses the right with invincible resolution; who resists the sorest temptations from within and without; who bears the heaviest burdens cheerfully; who is calmest in storms and most fearless under menace and frowns; and whose reliance on truth, on virtue, and on God, is most unfaltering.

—WILLIAM E. CHANNING

THE PURSUIT OF VIRTUE

No man can purchase his virtue too dear, for it is the only thing whose value must ever increase with the price it has cost us. Our integrity is never worth so much as when we have parted with all to keep it.

—CALEB C. COLTON