He had been a fool to imagine it, but he was glad he had been a fool. She had given him one grand dream. - Willa Cather

As I remember them, what unprotected faces they were; their very roughness and violence made them defenceless. These boys had no practised manner behind which they could retreat and hold people at a distance. They only had their hard fists to batter at the world with.

The soul cannot be humbled by fasts and prayer; it must be broken by mortal sin to experience forgiveness of sin and rise to a state of grace. Otherwise, religion is nothing but dead logic.

the miracle happened; one of those quiet moments that clutch the heart, and take more courage than the noisy, excited passages in life.