A diamond is merely a lump of coal that did well under pressure. So imagine how brilliant a human being can be by sustaining pressures of life. Be hopeful..
I do not wish to treat friendships daintily, but with the roughest courage. When they are real, they are not glass threads or frost-work, but the solidest thing we know.
Respect the past in the full measure of its desserts, but do not make the mistake of confusing it with the present nor seek in it the ideals of the future.