Where The Roots Of Private Virtue Are

The Human Race May Be Compared To A Writer. At The Outset A Writer Has Often Only A Vague General Notion Of The Plan Of His Work, And Of The Thought He Intends To Elaborate. As He Proceeds, Penetrating His Material, Laboring To Express Himself Fitly, He Lays A Firmer Grasp On His Thought; He Finds Himself. So The Human Race Is Writing Its Story, Finding Itself, Discovering Its Own Underlying Purpose, Revising, Recasting A Tale Pathetic Often, Yet None The Less Sublime.

Admitting The Force Of These Contentions, Nevertheless, The Custom Of Meeting Together In Public Assembly For The Consideration Of The Most Serious, The Most Exalted Topics Of Human Interest Is Too Vitally Precious To Be Lost.

What I State As Certain Is Certain For Me. It Has Approved Itself As Such In My Experience. Let Others Consult Their Experience, And See How Far It Tallies With That Which Is Here Set Forth.

It Is The Moral Element Contained In It That Alone Gives Value And Dignity To A Religion, And Only In So Far As Its Teachings Serve To Stimulate And Purify Our Moral Aspirations Does It Deserve To Retain Its Ascendency Over Mankind.

An Optimist Is A Person Who Sees Only The Lights In The Picture, Whereas A Pessimist Sees Only The Shadows. An Idealist, However, Is One Who Sees The Light And The Shadows, But In Addition Sees Something Else: The Possibility Of Changing The Picture, Of Making The Lights Prevail Over The Shadows.