I know well there is no comfort for this pain of parting: the wound always remains, but one learns to bear the pain, and learns to thank God for what He gave, for the beautiful memories of the past, and the yet more beautiful hope for the future.-Max Muller

I am born for God only. Christ is nearer to me than father,
or mother, or sister,--a near relation, a more affectionate
friend; and I rejoice to follow Him, and to love Him. Blessed
Jesus! thou art all I want--a forerunner to me in all I ever
shall go through, as a Christian, a minister, or a missionary.-Henry Martyn (1781-1812), Life and letters of the Rev.Henry Martyn, B.D., with John Sargent, London:Seeley, Jackson & Halliday, 1862, p. 140

Fear not the knife that God wields, for his hand is sure.-Francois Fenelon

How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them.- Benjamin Franklin, 1706 - 1790

For some years now I have read through the Bible twice
every year. If you picture the Bible to be a mighty tree and
every word a little branch, I have shaken every one of these
branches because I wanted to know what it was and what it
means. -Martin Luther (1483-1546), Preface to the Prophets [1532], in What Luther Says: an anthology, v. I, Ewald Martin Plass, ed., Concordia Pub. House, 1959, p. 83