May The Humanity That Is Within Every

You Do Not Build Your Own Houses, Nor Make Your Own Garments, Nor Bake Your Own Bread, Simply Because You Know That If You Were To Attempt All These Things They Would All Be More Or Less Ill Done.

Perhaps A Hundred People Assembled One Evening, May 15, 1876, At The Time When The Country Was Celebrating The Hundredth Anniversary Of Its Political Independence.

It Is The Nature Of The Noble And The Good And The Wise That They Impart To Us Of Their Nobility And Their Goodness And Their Wisdom While They Live, Making It Natural For Us To Breathe The Air They Breathe And Giving Us Confidence In Our Own Untested Powers. And The Same Influence In More Ethereal Fashion They Continue To Exert After They Are Gone.

What I State As Certain Is Certain For Me. It Has Approved Itself As Such In My Experience. Let Others Consult Their Experience, And See How Far It Tallies With That Which Is Here Set Forth.

Ethical Religion Can Be Real Only To Those Who Are Engaged In Ceaseless Efforts At Moral Improvement. By Moving Upward We Acquire Faith In An Upward Movement, Without Limit.