“All people suffer from the dread of death, but we are mostly troubled by the uncertainties of time and circumstance.”

“Of the uncertainties of our present state, the most dreadful and alarming is the uncertain continuance of reason.”

“The clocks had struck their dreadful purpose and the time now brought all circumstances into the circle.”

“George MacDonald gives me renewed strength during times of trouble--times when I have seen people tempted to deny God--when he says, "The Son of God suffered unto death, not that men might not suffer, but that their sufferings might be like his.”

“The feeling that we are all neglected and lonely but not so lonely that "others" do not see us in trouble, saves us from the worst suffering.”

“As a survival-happy species, our successes are calculated in the number of years we have extended our lives, with the reduction of suffering being only incidental to this aim. To stay alive under almost any circumstances is a sickness with us. Nothing could be more unhealthy than to “watch one’s health” as a means of stalling death. The lengths we will go as procrastinators of that last gasp only demonstrate a morbid dread of that event. By contrast, our fear of suffering is deficient.”