“I hold it true that thoughts are thingsEndowed with bodies, breath, and wings,And that we send them forth to fillThe world with good results - or ill.That which we call our secret thoughtSpeeds to the earth's remotest spot,And leaves its blessings or its woesLike tracks behind it as it goes.It is God's law. Remember itIn your still chamber as you sitWith thoughts you would not dare have known,And yet made comrades when alone.These thoughts have life; and they will flyAnd leave their impress by-and-by,Like some marsh breeze, whose poisoned breathBreathes into homes its fevered breath.And after you have quite forgotOr all outgrown some vanished thought,Back to your mind to make its home,A dove or raven, it will come.Then let your secret thoughts be fair;They have a vital part and shareIn shaping worlds and moulding fate --God's system is so intricate.”

“What is the good of your stars and trees, your sunrise and the wind, if they do not enter into our daily lives? They have never entered into mine, but into yours, we thought--Haven't we all to struggle against life's daily greyness, against pettiness, against mechanical cheerfulness, against suspicion? I struggle by remembering my friends; others I have known by remembering some place--some beloved place or tree--we thought you one of these.”

“Be still, and lay aside all thoughts of what you are and what God is; all concepts you have learned about the world; all images you hold about yourself. Empty your mind of everything it thinks is either true or false, or good or bad, of every thought it judges worthy, and all the ideas of which it is ashamed. Hold onto nothing Do not bring with you one thought the past has taught, nor one belief you ever learned before from anything. Forget this world, forget this course, and come with wholly empty hands unto your God.”

“If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl.”

“There is some secret stirring in the world, A thought that seeks impatiently its word.”

“You live and then you die, I thought. It's good to have some good times.”