Elizabeth Payson Prentiss

I see now that my first desire has not been to please God but to please myself, for I am restless under His restraining hand and have often murmured against it. I have not understood that the only thing worthy of being called life is to be conformed to the image of God's Son, and to let Him give me lessons of His own will, in His own way.

Oh, how I longed to be good, but I was full of doubts and anxieties, and the more I struggled to be good the farther off goodness seemed.

I feel as if I had committed myself to some one who has no power to protect me from myself.

I wonder if young people have any idea how much their happiness depends upon their own thoughts and actions, not upon things outside their control.

I am glad that the old childish happiness in the thought of heaven is taken from me and a better kind put in its place.

Let me beg of you, my dear young friend, to pray for courage to yield yourself to God. I know that when the struggle is all over, you will say, as I do, that He is worthy of all our love and confidence.

I have learned to prize a few words of praise and to be grateful for a few words of blame.

We must have our spiritual homes, our fixed abiding places, where we go in the strength of our Lord to be fed and nourished and built up and sent forth.

A beautiful woman with a fine mind and a soul that has never been awakened is like a lovely statue, adorned with gold and silver and precious stones, but without life or power.

God knows what is best, and if I can only keep humble and follow where He leads, He will bring me right.

I see now that nothing is more important than to cultivate a spirit of cheerfulness, for nothing can mar our happiness or contribute more surely to the happiness of others.

It is so easy to forget that we are all just travelers passing through, to be gone tomorrow and forgotten.