—Henry D. Thoreau.
This question then is ours—are we doing our part in the growth of the race? In the current of life are we moving forward? Do our years mark milestones in humanity’s struggle towards perfection? Is the God within us so much more unrolled, when our development has reached its highest point? Can we transmit to our children a better heritage of brain and soul than our fathers left to us? Has the race through us gained some little in the direction of the law of love? If we have done our part in this struggle our lives have not been in vain.
—David Starr Jordan.
Virgil said of the winning crew in his boat-race, “They can, because they believe they can.”
Let us be of good cheer, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never come.
—Lowell.
To be wise we must first learn to be happy: for those who can finally issue forth from self by the portal of happiness, know infinitely wider freedom than those who pass through the gate of sadness.
—Maurice Materlinck.
When we humor our weaknesses they force themselves continually upon our attention, like spoiled children. When we assert our mastery of ourselves and compel its recognition, we stand secure in our sovereign rights.
—Chas. B. Newcomb.