"For we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world." - John Bradford, Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1630

"No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Saviour, if it is just and if the intention is purely for His service." - Christopher Columbus


"Use what talent you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best." - Henry Van Dyke


"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?" - Jay Leno


"Aspire to inspire before you expire." - Unknown


"Frustration is trying to find your glasses without your glasses." - Unknown


"Every morning is the dawn of a new error." - Unknown


"Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan… No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory… Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger… We will gain the inevitable triumph so help us God." — Franklin Delano Roosevelt, December 8, 1941


"We live in a republic. A vital principle of that form of government is representation. More and more as our population increases it becomes necessary for the people to express their will through their duly chosen delegates. If we are to maintain the principle that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, if we are to have any measure of self-government, if the voice of the people is to rule, if representatives are truly to reflect the popular will, it is altogether necessary that in each election there should be a fairly full participation by all the qualified voters."
--Calvin Coolidge, April 19, 1926


H.B. London, Jr., speaks of the soul–weariness of pastoring. This soul-weariness shines through a few lines of sarcasm one minister wrote in his journal: "If I wanted to drive a manager up the wall, I would make him responsible for the success of an organization and give him no authority. I would provide him with unclear goals, not commonly agreed upon by the organization. I would ask him to provide a service of an ill-defined nature, apply a body of knowledge having few absolutes, and staff his organization with only volunteers. I would expect him to work ten to twelve hours per day and have his work evaluated by a committee of 300 to 500 amateurs. Then I would call him a minister and make him accountable to God." H.B. London, Jr. and Neil B. Wiseman, Pastors at Risk, Victor Books, 1993, pp. 54.


"Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports." - George Washington, Farewell Address


"Of all systems of morality, ancient or modern, which have come under my observation, none appear to be so pure as that of Jesus." - Thomas Jefferson to William Canby, 1813


"Remember, you are God's sword, His instrument, and a chosen vessel unto Him to bear His name. In great measure, according to the purity of the instrument, will be the success. It is not great talent that God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus Christ. A holy Christian is an awesome weapon in the hand of God." - Robert Murray McCheyne


"Always do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish everybody else." - Mark Twain


"No man can study the movement of modern civilization from an impartial standpoint and not realize that Christianity and the spread of Christianity are the basis of hope of modern civilization in the growth of popular self-government. The spirit of Christianity is pure democracy. It is equality of man before God—the equality of man before the law, which is, as I understand it, the most God-like manifestation that man has been able to make."
--William Howard Taft, in an address to a missionary gathering in 1908