“There must be something solemn, serious, and tender about any attitude which we denominate religious. If glad, it must not grin or snicker; if sad, it must not scream or curse.
“The ideas gained by men before they are twenty-five are practically the only ideas they shall have in their lives.
“The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community.
“How to gain, how to keep, how to recover happiness is in fact for most men at all times the secret motive of all they do, and of all they are willing to endure.
“The hell to be endured hereafter, of which theology tells, is no worse than the hell we make for ourselves in this world by habitually fashioned our characters in the wrong way.
“We are all ready to be savage in some cause. The difference between a good man and a bad one is the choice of the cause.
“One hearty laugh together will bring enemies into a closer communion of heart than hours spent on both sides in inward wrestling with the mental demon of uncharitable feeling.
“Knowledge about life is one thing; effective occupation of a place in life, with its dynamic currents passing through your being, is another.