"Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated."

"True contentment is a thing as active as agriculture. It is the power of getting out of any situation all that there is in it. It is arduous and it is rare."

"Marriage is an adventure, like going to war."

"What affects men sharply about a foreign nation is not so much finding or not finding familiar things it is rather not finding them in the familiar place."

"The greatest deception is forgetting that the strength of a community lies in its compassion."

"Great is the power of habit. It teaches us to bear fatigue and to despise wounds and pain."

"Only the most unapologetic biblical fundamentalists, for instance, take every biblical injunction literally. If we all took all scripture at the same level of authority, then we would be more open to slavery, to the subjugation of women, to wider use of stoning. Jesus himself spoke out frequently against divorce in the strongest of terms."

"Never underestimate the power of gratitude turns what we have into enough."