Tuesday, January 19, 2016



 "The simple things that make for a happy life are -- "knowledge, truth, love, beauty, goodness, faith, these alone without wealth give vitality to the mechanism of existence; the laugh of mirth that vibrates through the heart, the tears that freshen the dry wastes within, the music that brings childhood back, the prayer that calls the future near, the doubt which makes us meditate, the death which startles us with mystery, the hardship that forces us to struggle, the anxiety that ends in trust -- these are the true nourishment of our natural being. Happy are they of simpler feelings, who know from what slight elements the hand of taste can weave the colors into the web of life, and from what familiar memories the heart draws the song of cheerfulness as the work proceeds; who find no true pleasure marred because it is common, nor any indulgence needful because it is decreed by custom; who discern how little the "palace" can add to the sincere joy of a loving and a Christian home; who have the firmness to retire to that inner region, and embrace the toils of reason, the labors of sympathy, the strife of conscience, the exhaustless ambition of Duty, as Heaven's own way to combine the divinest activity with the profoundest repose." Martineau.  


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