The little owls call to each other with tremulous, quavering voices throughout the livelong night, as they sit in the creaking trees.

Practical efficiency is common, and lofty idealism not uncommon; it is the combination which is necessary, and the combination is rare

A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.

War with evil; but show no spirit of malignity toward the man who may be responsible for the evil. Put it out of his power to do wrong.

The modern naturalist must realize that in some of its branches his profession, while more than ever a science, has also become an art.

With a great moral issue involved, neutrality does not serve righteousness; for to be neutral between right and wrong is to serve wrong.

I have often been afraid, but I would not give in to it. I made myself act as though I was not afraid and gradually my fear disappeared.

The woman has the right to be emancipated from the position of a drudge or a toy. She is entitled to a full equality in rights with man.

The joy of living is his who has the heart to demand it. Life is a great adventure, and I want to say to you, accept it in such a spirit.

There are rainy days in autumn and stormy days in winter when the rocking chair in front of the fire simply demands an accompanying book.

It is impossible to win the great prizes of life without running risks, and the greatest of all prizes are those connected with the home.

Gradually the true Mason gains experience in using these working tools and can observe subtler and subtler indications of personal flaws.

Americanism is a question of spirit, of conviction and purpose, not creed or birthplaces. The test of our worth is the service we render.

A nation that still needs to distinguish between stealing an election, and stealing a new pair of shoes, is not completely civilized yet.

The greatest historian should also be a great moralist. It is no proof of impartiality to treat wickedness and goodness on the same level.

The man who loves other countries as much as his own stands on a level with the man who loves other women as much as he loves his own wife.

We must diligently strive to make our young men decent, God-fearing, law-abiding, honor-loving, justice-doing and also fearless and strong.

No ability, no strength and force, no power of intellect or power of wealth, shall avail us, if we have not the root of right living in us.

The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem it will avail us little to solve all others.

The man of great wealth owes a peculiar obligation to the state because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government.

Conservation means development as much as it does protection. A man's usefulness depends upon his living up to his ideals insofar as he can.

Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong.

There is not in all America a more dangerous trait than the deification of mere smartness unaccompanied by any sense of moral responsibility.

There is quite enough sorrow and shame and suffering and baseness in real life, and there is no need for meeting it unnecessarily in fiction.

Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.

It's not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of the deeds could have done better.

While my interest in natural history has added very little to my sum of achievement, it has added immeasurably to my sum of enjoyment in life.

It pays no matter what comes after it, to try and do things, to accomplish things in this life and not merely to have a soft and pleasant time.

It is essential that there should be organization of labor. This is an era of organization. Capital organizes and therefore labor must organize.

The only trouble with the movement for the preservation of our forests is that it has not gone nearly far enough, and was not begun soon enough.

I enter a most earnest plea that in our hurried and rather bustling life of today we do not lose the hold that our forefathers had on the Bible.

Give the brethren a chance to do something, anything, no matter how small or unimportant. A brother convinced that he is helpful is enthusiastic.

There is nothing more practical than the preservation of beauty, than the preservation of anything that appeals to the higher emotions of mankind

A small politician, of low capacity and mean surroundings, proud to act as the servile tool of men worse than himself but also stronger and abler.

Much has been given us, and much will rightfully be expected from us. We have duties to others and duties to ourselves; and we can shrink neither.

Weasel words from mollycoddles will never do when the day demands prophetic clarity from greathearts. Manly men must emerge for this hour of trial.

We wish peace, but we wish the peace of justice, the peace of righteousness. We wish it because we think it is right and not because we are afraid.

The foes from whom we pray to be delivered are our own passions, appetites, and follies; and against these there is always need that we should war.

The one characteristic more essential than any other is foresight... It should be the growing nation with a future which takes the long look ahead.

After the war, and until the day of his death, his position on almost every public question was either mischievous or ridiculous, and usually both.

Just as Lincoln got contradictory advice from the extremists of both sides . . . so now I have to guard myself against the extremists of both sides.

A churchless community, a community where men have abandoned and scoffed at or ignored their religious needs, is a community on the rapid downgrade.

Every man holds his property subject to the general right of the community to regulate its use to whatever degree the public welfare may require it.

We should not forget that it will be just as important to our descendants to be prosperous in their time as it is to us to be prosperous in our time.

The dreams of golden glory in the future will not come true unless, high of heart and strong of hand, by our own mighty deeds we make them come true.

Much of the usefulness of any career must lie in the impress that it makes upon, and the lessons that it teaches to, the generations that come after.

The only man who makes no mistakes is the man who never does anything. Do not be afraid to make mistakes providing you do not make the same one twice.

I believe that the next half century will determine if we will advance the cause of Christian civilization or revert to the horrors of brutal paganism.

I believe that the officers, and, especially, the directors, of corporations should be held personally responsible when any corporation breaks the law.

The beauty and charm of the wilderness are his for the asking, for the edges of the wilderness lie close beside the beaten roads of the present travel.

Share This Page