Prayer unaccompanied by perseverance leads to no result.
Prayers will never reach God unless they are founded on free mercy.
Men in prayer give greater license to their unlawful desires than if they were telling jocular tales among their equals.
Let the first rule of right prayer then be, to have our heart and mind framed as becomes those who are entering into converse with God.
Let us know, then, that none duly prepare themselves for prayer but those who are so impressed with the majesty of God that they engage in it free from all earthly cares and affections.
There is not an instant of time during which our want does not exhort us to prayer.
Prayers are vainly poured out into the air unless accompanied with faith, in which, as from a watchtower, we may quietly wait for God.
Our true wisdom is to embrace with meek docility, and without reservation, whatever the holy scriptures have delivered.
Faith and patience are exceptional virtues in those that suffer. Patience is the fruit and evidence of faith.
A perfect faith is nowhere to be found, so it follows that all of us are partly unbelievers.
History never looks like history when you are living through it.
The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.
Renewal is not just innovation and change. It is also the process of bringing the results of change into line with our purposes.
There is no learning without some difficulty and fumbling. If you want to keep on learning, you must keep on risking failure-all your life.
We cannot have islands of excellence in a sea of slovenly indifference to standards.
True happiness involves the full use of one’s power and talents.
One of the reasons people stop learning is that they become less and less willing to risk failure.
Mastery is not something that strikes in an instant, like a thunderbolt, but a gathering power that moves steadily through time, like weather.
Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world’s ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all.
Whoever I am, or whatever I am doing, some kind of excellence is within my reach.
I can’t explain what I mean. And even if I could, I’m not sure I’d feel like it.
If you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It’s a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn’t education. It’s history. It’s poetry.
Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.
I can’t explain what I mean. And even if I could, I’m not sure I’d feel like it.
A confessional passage has probably never been written that didn’t stink a little bit of the writer’s pride in having given up his pride.
I’ll read my books and I’ll drink coffee and I’ll listen to music, and I’ll bolt the door.
I’m just sick of ego, ego, ego. My own and everybody else’s. I’m sick of everybody that wants to get somewhere, do something distinguished and all, be somebody interesting. It’s disgusting.
I am a kind of paranoid in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy.
It’s funny. All you have to do is say something nobody understands and they’ll do practically anything you want them to.
One day a long time from now you’ll cease to care anymore whom you please or what anybody has to say about you. That’s when you’ll finally produce the work you’re capable of.
I have always considered “Pascal’s Wager” a questionable bet to place. Any God worth “believing in” would surely prefer an honest agnostic to a calculating hypocrite.
Question authority; but, raise your hand first.
The best answer to bad speech is good speech.
A good lawyer knows how to shut up when he’s won his case.
The defendant wants to hide the truth because he’s generally guilty. The defense attorney’s job is to make sure the jury does not arrive at that truth.
Hypocrisy is not a way of getting back to the moral high ground. Pretending you’re moral, saying your moral is not the same as acting morally.
A library is a place where you learn what teachers were afraid to teach you.
Freedom of speech means freedom for those who you despise, and freedom to express the most despicable views. It also means that the government cannot pick and choose which expressions to authorize and which to prevent.
There are two kinds of terrorism. Rational terrorism such as Palestinian terrorism and apocalyptic terrorism like Sept. 11. You have to distinguish between the two.
Great research universities must insist on independence from government and on the exercise of academic freedom.
You do not have to be alone. The world never inflicts loneliness upon us. That is something we choose or reject by ourselves.
You do not have to be alone. The world never inflicts loneliness upon us. That is something we choose or reject by ourselves.
You do not have to be alone. The world never inflicts loneliness upon us. That is something we choose or reject by ourselves.
To be a druid is to embrace death, dance with it a while, and finally fall prey to it. That is why we’ll never rule this world. We have the power to bend all men to our whim, but are forever pushing ourselves further,trying to fly higher…and falling.
She was a beautiful woman.” Gavner sighed, tracing the outline of one of the elephants. “She just had very bad taste in underwear …” “And in boyfriends,” I added impishly. Mr. Crepsley burst into laughter at that.
They forget that the vampaneze were once our brothers, that by destroying them, we destroy a part of ourselves. Most vampire never realize how pointless and savage war truly is. You were smart enough to see through the truth. Don’t ever forget it.
Now sod off back to your own world, you motherless scum, and save your threats for those who care.
Leave him alone!” Debbie shouted. “Shut up, please, or I’ll kill you,” Mr Tiny replied.
Quick! Head for the ground floor! We have to get out! We will die if we stay! The vampires are here!” “Haven’t you got a hug for me, Larten, old buddy?
Meddling, smug, stupid little…” “She likes me! They always play hard to get when they like me!” “No. You do not understand. I could not have done it because I can not read or write.
You can’t be a creative thinker if you’re not stimulating your mind, just as you can’t be an Olympic athlete if you don’t train regularly.
Our task is to educate their (our students) whole being so they can face the future. We may not see the future, but they will and our job is to help them make something of it.
Being in your element is not only about aptitude, it’s about passion: it is about loving what you do…tapping into your natural energy and your most authentic self.
Imagination is the source of every form of human achievement. And it’s the one thing that I believe we are systematically jeopardizing in the way we educate our children and ourselves.
Very many people go through their whole lives having no real sense of what their talents may be, or if they have any to speak of.
The role of a creative leader is not to have all the ideas; it’s to create a culture where everyone can have ideas and feel that they’re valued.
There is no system in the world or any school in the country that is better than its teachers. Teachers are the lifeblood of the success of schools.
Teaching is a creative profession, not a delivery system. Great teachers do [pass on information], but what great teachers also do is mentor, stimulate, provoke, engage.
Every education system on Earth has the same hierarchy of subjects: at the top are mathematics and languages, then the humanities, and the bottom are the arts.
All children start their school careers with sparkling imaginations, fertile minds, and a willingness to take risks with what they think,.
When men sow the wind it is rational to expect that they will reap the whirlwind.
Right is of no sex, Truth is of no color, God is the Father of us all, and we are all Brethren.
Man’s greatness consists in his ability to do and the proper application of his powers to things needed to be done.
Immense wealth, and its lavish expenditure, fill the great house with all that can please the eye, or tempt the taste. Here, appetite, not food, is the great desideratum.
Nothing valuable shall be obtained without labor and agony.
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.
I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.
A battle lost or won is easily described, understood, and appreciated, but the moral growth of a great nation requires reflection, as well as observation, to appreciate it.
The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.
School reform is not enough. The notion of schooling itself must be challenged.
Child labor becomes a label of condemnation in spite of its ancient function as the quickest, most reliable way to human independence
In our secular society, school has become the replacement for church, and like church it requires that its teachings must be taken on faith.
I teach how to fit into a world I don’t want to live in. I just can’t do it anymore.
Curiosity has no important place in my work, only conformity.
Nobody gives you an education. If you want one, you have to take it.
The obligation to amuse and instruct myself was entirely my own, and people who didn’t know that were childish people, to be avoided if possible. Certainly not to be trusted.
The economy schoolchildren currently expect to live under and serve would not survive a generation of young people trained to think critically.
Who besides a degraded rabble would voluntarily present itself to be graded and classified like meat? No wonder school is compulsory.
Children allowed to take responsibility and given a serious part in the larger world are always superior to those merely permitted to play and be passive.
