n does, or has, or says,
that matters; but what he is.

This must be the aim of practical philosophy--to make a man be
_something_.

The world judges a man by his station, inherited or acquired. God
judges by his character. To be our best we must share God's viewpoint.

To the world death is always a tragedy; to the Christian it is never a
tragedy unless a man has been a contemptible character.

Religion is the widening of a man's horizon so as to include God.

It is in the nature of a speculation, but its returns are immediate.

True religion means betting one's life that there is a God.

Its immediate fruits are courage, stability, calm, unselfishness,
friendship, generosity, humility, and hope.

Religion is the only possible basis of optimism.

Optimism is the essential condition of progress.

One is what one believes oneself to be. If one believes oneself to be
an animal one becomes bestial; if one believes oneself spiritual one
becomes Divine.

Faith is an effective force whose measure has never yet been taken.

Man is the creature of heredity and environment. He can only rise
superior to circumstances by bringing God into environment of which he
is conscious.

The recognition of God's presence upsets the balance of a man's
environment, and means a new birth into a new life.

The faculties which perceive God increase with use like any other
perceptive faculties.

Belief in God may be an illusion; but it is an illusion that pays.

If belief in God is illusion, happy is he who is deluded! He gains
this world and thinks he will gain the next.

The disbeliever loses this world, and risks losing the next.

To be the centre of one's universe is misery. To have one's universe
centred in God is the peace that passeth understanding.

Greatness is founded on inward peace.

Energy is only effective when it springs from deep calm.

The pleasure of life lies in contrasts; the fear of contrasts is a
chain that binds most men.

In the hour of danger a man is proven. The boaster hides, and the
egotist trembles. He whose care is for others forgets to be afraid.

Men live for eating and drinking, passion and wealth. They die for
honour.

Blessed is he of whom it has been said that he so loved giving that he
even gave his own life.

X

IMAGINARY CONVERSATIONS

III

SCENE. _A trench unpleasantly near the firing line. There
has been an hour's intense bombardment by the British, with