I praise the Lord here today. I know that all my talent and all my ability comes from him and without him I'm nothing and I thank him for his great blessing.

As it is the characteristic of great wits to say much in few words so small wits seem to have the gift of speaking much and saying nothing.

Nothing great is created suddenly any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig. I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom then bear fruit then ripen.

The planter the farmer the mechanic and the laborer... form the great body of the people of the United States they are the bone and sinew of the country men who love liberty and desire nothing but equal rights and equal laws.

A great many men's gratitude is nothing but a secret desire to hook in more valuable kindnesses hereafter.

The paradox is really the pathos of intellectual life and just as only great souls are exposed to passions it is only the great thinker who is exposed to what I call paradoxes which are nothing else than grandiose thoughts in embryo.

Let us not listen to those who think we ought to be angry with our enemies and who believe this to be great and manly. Nothing is so praiseworthy nothing so clearly shows a great and noble soul as clemency and readiness to forgive.

Nothing in the affairs of men is worthy of great anxiety.

As great minds have the faculty of saying a great deal in a few words so lesser minds have a talent of talking much and saying nothing.

What happened in the past that was painful has a great deal to do with what we are today but revisiting this painful past can contribute little or nothing to what we need to do now.