"Oh! what a vile and abject thing is man unless he can erect
himself above humanity." Here is a read more

"Oh! what a vile and abject thing is man unless he can erect
himself above humanity." Here is a bon mot and a useful desire,
but equally absurd. For to make the handful bigger than the
hand, the armful bigger then the arm, and to hope to stride
further than the stretch of our legs, is impossible and
monstrous. . . . He may lift himself if God lend him His hand of
special grace; he may lift himself . . . by means wholly
celestial. It is for our Christian religion, and not for his
Stoic virtue, to pretend to this divine and miraculous
metamorphosis.

What? Was man made a wheel-work to wind up,
And be discharged, and straight wound up anew?
read more

What? Was man made a wheel-work to wind up,
And be discharged, and straight wound up anew?
No! grown, his growth lasts; taught, he ne'er forgets;
May learn a thousand things, not twice the same.

Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow...

Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow...

And so all growth that is not towards God
Is growing to decay.

And so all growth that is not towards God
Is growing to decay.

It is not growing like a tree
In bulk, doth make man better be;
Or standing long read more

It is not growing like a tree
In bulk, doth make man better be;
Or standing long an oak, three hundred year,
To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere:
A lily of a day
Is fairer far in May,
Although it falls and die that night--
It was the plant and flower of Light.

Jock, when he hae naething else to do, ye may be aye sticking in
a tree; it will be read more

Jock, when he hae naething else to do, ye may be aye sticking in
a tree; it will be growing, Jock, when ye're sleeping.

In a narrow circle the mind contracts.
Man grows with his expanded needs.
[Ger., Im engen Kreis read more

In a narrow circle the mind contracts.
Man grows with his expanded needs.
[Ger., Im engen Kreis verengert sich der Sinn.
Es wachst der Mensch mit seinen grossern Zwecken.]

A lover of Jesus and of the truth . . . can lift himself above
himself in spirit.
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A lover of Jesus and of the truth . . . can lift himself above
himself in spirit.
[Lat., Amator Jesu et veritatis . . . potest se . . . elevare
supra seipsum in spiritu.]

The art of progress is to preserve order amid change, and to preserve change amid order. Life refuses to be read more

The art of progress is to preserve order amid change, and to preserve change amid order. Life refuses to be embalmed alive.