The days come and go like muffled and veiled figures sent from a distant friendly party; but they say nothing, and if we do not use the gifts they bring, they carry them as silently away.--_Emerson._ ’Tis not in seeking, ’Tis not in endless striving, Thy quest is found. Be still and listen, Be still and drink the quiet Of all around. --_E. R. Sill._ To keep one’s foot firmly set in the way that leads upwards, however dark and thorny it may be at the moment, is to conquer.--_The World Beautiful, Lilian Whiting._ And daily, hourly, loving and giving In the poorest life makes heavenly living. --_Rose Terry Cooke._ To love is the great glory, the last culture, the highest happiness; to be loved is little in comparison.--_The Story of William and Lucy Smith, George S. Merriam._ To persevere in one’s duty, and to be silent, is the best answer to calumny.--_Washington._ I have lived to know that the secret of happiness is never to allow your energies to stagnate.--_Adam Clarke._ Entertaining is the finest of all the fine arts, and it cannot be done by proxy. It cannot be done by the cook, nor yet by the decorator. Let the hostess give her guests her personal interest, her sympathetic comprehension, and she will have then mastered the delicate and subtle art.--_Lilian Whiting._ Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.--_Henry D. Thoreau._ I am primarily engaged to myself to be a public servant to all the gods, to demonstrate to all men that there is a good will and intelligence at the heart of things, and ever higher and yet higher leadings.--_Emerson._ Be noble, and the nobleness that lies In other men, sleeping, but never dead, Will rise in majesty to meet thine own; Then shalt thou see it gleam in many eyes, Then will pure light about thy way be shed. --_Lowell._ Few causes age the body faster than wilful indolence and monotony of mind--the mind, that very principle of physical youthfulness.--_James Lane Allen._ “To speak wisely may not always be easy, but not to speak ill requires only silence.” If you have not slept, or if you have slept, or if you have a headache, or sciatica, or leprosy, or thunder stroke, I beseech you by all the angels to hold your peace, and not pollute the morning, to which all the housemates bring serene and pleasant thoughts, by corruptions and groans.--_Emerson._ “‘Downward the path of life!’ Oh, no! Up, up, with patient steps, I go; I watch the skies fast brightening there; I breathe a sweeter, purer air.” Happiness rarely is absent. It is we that know not of its presence. The greatest felicity avails us nothing if we know not that we are happy.--_Maurice Materlinck._ There is no good in life but love--but love! What else looks good, is some shade flung from love; Love gilds it, gives it worth. --_Robert Browning._