Unless the deed go with it.
—Shakespeare.
Characters are determined not by the opinions which we profess, but by those on which our thoughts habitually fasten, which recur to them most forcibly and which color our ordinary views of God and duty.
—William Ellery Channing.
We are too busy, too encumbered, too much occupied, too active! We read too much! The one thing needful is to throw off all one’s load of cares, and to become young again, living happily and gracefully in the present hour. We must know how to put occupation aside, which does not mean that we must be idle.
—Translation, Mrs. Humphry Ward.
The new conditions of life demand the higher spirituality of the individual. But what is this? Is it a name, a mental state of exaltation, an ecstasy? Is it an exalted hour, or is it conduct? Is it a merely theoretical thing, a vision caught in some rare hour?... If it be thus, it may have a decorative value in ethics, but is devoid of any practical bearing on our common life. Unless spirituality is the power that transforms falsehood to truth, selfishness to generosity, unless it enters into character as a pervasive force, of what use can it be?
Spirituality is not negative. It is not the mere absence of sin. It is the most positive state.
—The World Beautiful, Lilian Whiting.
The world seemed empty, and black, and cold,