The excellence of a gift lies in its appropriateness rather than in its value.

Perhaps nobody ever accomplishes all that he feels lies in him to do; but nearly every one who tries his power touches the walls of his being.

I am convinced that the majority of people would be generous from selfish motives, if they had the opportunity.

How many wars have been caused by fits of indigestion, and how many more dynasties have been upset by the love of woman than by the hate of man.

It is fortunate that each generation does not comprehend its own ignorance. We are thus enabled to call our ancestors barbarous.

The thing generally raised on city land is taxes.

Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough.

Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.

There isn't a wife in the world who has not taken the exact measure of her husband, weighed him and settled him in her own mind, and knows him as well as if she had ordered him after designs and specifications of her own.

There was never a nation great until it came to the knowledge that it had nowhere in the world to go for help.

No man but feels more of a man in the world if he have a bit of ground that he can call his own. However small it is on the surface, it is four thousand miles deep; and that is a very handsome property.

There is nothing that disgusts a man like getting beaten at chess by a woman.

One of the best things in the world to be is a boy; it requires no experience, but needs some practice to be a good one.

Politics makes strange bedfellows.

Lettuce is like conversation; it must be fresh and crisp, so sparkling that you scarcely notice the bitter in it.

The boy who expects every morning to open into a new world finds that today is like yesterday, but he believes tomorrow will be different.

Regrets are idle; yet history is one long regret. Everything might have turned out so differently.

What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it.

People always overdo the matter when they attempt deception.

A great artist can paint a great picture on a small canvas.

Goodness comes out of people who bask in the sun, as it does out of a sweet apple roasted before the fire.

Happy is said to be the family which can eat onions together. They are, for the time being, separate, from the world, and have a harmony of aspiration.

We are half ruined by conformity, but we should be wholly ruined without it.

No one can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.

Mud-pies gratify one of our first and best instincts. So long as we are dirty, we are pure.

The excellence of a gift lies in its appropriateness rather than in its value.

Public opinion is stronger than the legislature, and nearly as strong as the ten commandments.

There is no such thing as absolute value in this world. You can only estimate what a thing is worth to you.

There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it.

A cynic might suggest as the motto of modern life this simple legend Just as good as the real.

One of the best things in the world to be is a boy it requires no experience but needs some practice to be a good one.

The boy who expects every morning to open into a new world finds that today is like yesterday but he believes tomorrow will be different.

To poke a wood fire is more solid enjoyment than almost anything else in the world.

Snobbery, being an aspiring failing, is sometimes the prophecy of better things.

Hoe while it is spring, and enjoy the best anticipations. It is not much matter if things do not turn out well.

Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.

Excellence is the unlimited ability to improve the quality of what you have to offer.

Poetry is an art, the easiest to dabble in, but the hardest to reach true excellence.

As a preacher of the Gospel, our late venerable Bishop must have been heard, to form an adequate conception of his superior excellence and commanding eloquence.

Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.

It is my sincere hope that hospitals across Indiana, and America, continue to strive for excellence when it comes to providing medical care. This proposed rule will be harmful to communities who wish to upgrade their medical facilities.

Some people have greatness thrust upon them. Very few have excellence thrust upon them.

When a book raises your spirit, and inspires you with noble and manly thoughts, seek for no other test of its excellence. It is good, and made by a good workman.

I mentioned the non-competitive spirit explicitly, because these days, excellence is a fashionable concept. But excellence is a competitive notion, and that is not what we are heading for: we are heading for perfection.

Excellence is a process that should occupy all our days.

It is the characteristic excellence of the strong man that he can bring momentous issues to the fore and make a decision about them. The weak are always forced to decide between alternatives they have not chosen themselves.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

Therefore let men withdraw themselves from errors; and laying aside corrupt superstitions, let them acknowledge their Father and Lord, whose excellence cannot be estimated, nor His greatness perceived, nor His beginning comprehended.

What we do is look for high standards of excellence in the arts.