The purpose of man’s life is not happiness, but worthiness. Happiness may come as an accessory; we dare never make it the end.
We shall find men who are in the best sense successful in the miserable tenements of the poor.
An exalted type of morality is achieved by him who renounces in spirit the opportunities which he lacks, who accepts his limitations, and who, under the most trying circumstances, does not remit his efforts, no matter how insignificant may be their result, to promote the good.
An exalted type of morality is displayed by aged men who, with weakened frames and energies impaired, are yet resolved to die in harness.
An exalted type of morality is displayed by those who, cut off from the opportunities of culture, and from most of the pleasures and comforts of existence, yet nourish, under the ashes of disappointed hopes, the feeblest remaining spark of the spiritual life, because they believe it to be a spark from an imperishable fire, even from that undying flame which burns at the heart of things, and which is destined to grow brighter and brighter as time rolls on.