Rhodora! If The Sages Ask Thee Why

Prayer That Craves A Particular Commodity—anything Less Than All Good, Is Vicious. Prayer Is The Contemplation Of The Facts Of Life From The Highest Point Of View. It Is The Soliloquy Of A Beholding And Jubilant Soul. It Is The Spirit Of God Pronouncing His Works Good. But Prayer As A Means To Effect A Private End Is Theft And Meanness. It Supposes Dualism And Not Unity In Nature And Consciousness. As Soon As The Man Is At One With God, He Will Not Beg.

No One Has A Prosperity So High And Firm That Two Or Three Words Can't Dishearten It.

Power Ceases In The Instant Of Repose; It Resides In The Moment Of Transition From A Past To A New State, In The Shooting Of The Gulf, In The Darting To An Aim.

Pride Ruined The Angels, Their Shame Them Restores; And The Joy That Is Sweetest Lurks In Stings Of Remorse.

We Commonly Say That The Rich Man Can Speak The Truth, Can Afford Honesty, Can Afford Independence Of Opinion And Action;--and That Is The Theory Of Nobility. But It Is The Rich Man In A True Sense, That Is To Say, Not The Man Of Large Income And Large Expenditure, But Solely The Man Whose Outlay Is Less Than His Income And Is Steadily Kept So.