I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new.

There is no beautifier of complexion, or form, or behavior, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us.

Don't waste yourself in rejection, nor bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good.

We mark with light in the memory the few interviews we have had with souls that made our souls wiser, that spoke what we thought, that told us what we knew, that gave us leave to be what we inly are.

Keep your friendships in repair.

The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it's the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him with his friendship.

It is better to be the thorn in the side of your friend than his echo

For it is a fire that kindling its first embers in the narrow nook of a private bosom, caught from a wandering spark out of another private heart, glows and enlarges until it warms and beams upon multitudes of men and women, upon the universal heart of all, and so lights up the whole world and all nature with its generous flames.

Is it a reply to these suggestions, to say, society is a Pestalozzian school; all are teachers and pupils in turn. We are equally served by receiving and by imparting. Men who know the same things, are not long the best company for each other.

Being disconnected from the local church, for whatever reason, is a dangerous way to live...like lone sheep away from the safety of the flock and the watchful care of the shepherd, [these lone rangers] are vulnerable to predators of every sort." —Nancy Leigh DeMoss

I don't think older Christians can ever fully know what an important role they play in the affirmation of younger believers. When you're just a youth, it means so much to have someone who's farther along the road say to you, "I see something in you, and I want you to be encouraged in it.

In diminishing the other we devalue ourselves. Respect and dignity are an intrinsic part of valued relationships.