“The beginnings and endings of all human undertakings are untidy.”
“For, so inconsistent is human nature, especially in the ideal, that not to undertake a thing at all seems better than to undertake and come short.”
“How happy life would be if an undertaking retained to the end the delight of its beginning, if the dregs of a cup of wine were as sweet as the first sip.”
“Prayer begins where human capacity ends.”
“Knowledge of human nature is the beginning and end of political education.”
“But it is impossible, I find, to tidy books without ending by sitting on the floor in the middle of a great untidiness and reading.”