Author: Alan Holden

Family happiness is homemade. A small girl described her small brother as “my next to skin.” A bachelor is lucky—he can make a mistake and never know it. Every successful rich man has a wife in back of him spending his money. Grandparents are so simple that all grandchildren can control them. Heredity is something…

Faithfulness in little things is a great thing. Use what talents you possess. The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except the nightingales. Dependability has a much more satisfactory market than cleverness. What one is in little things he is also in great. Attendance is not for the building of records…

Faith without works is like a car without gas. Man says, “Seeing is believing.” God says, “Believing is seeing.” Our work is to cast care: God’s work is to take care. What God promises, God will provide. The optimist is the fellow who hopes to make enough money next month to pay last month’s bills….

Failure can become a weight or it can give you wings. People who make a hash of things are generally struggling with yesterday’s leftovers. If we are beginning to encounter some hard bumps, be glad. At least we are out of the rut. No bird soars too high as long as it uses its own…

A new broom sweeps clean, but an old broom knows where the dirt is. The simpler solution may not be the right one, but it’s the one to consider first. One thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning. Every time you graduate from the school of experience someone thinks up a new…

Excuses usually satisfy only those who use them. Convention: An excuse for doing the unconventional. Never explain—your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway. An ounce of performance is worth a ton of excuses. An excuse is first cousin to a lie. Avoiding a few hypocrites in church may…

Example is not the main thing influencing others—it’s the only thing. There is never a man so poor or unknown that he does not have an audience. If your neighbors had to depend on you to find out about salvation, how much would they know? So live that when people get to know you, they…

Enthusiasm is contagious—and so is the lack of it. Become a chronic enthusiast. People grow old, not from playing, but because they quit playing. God gave us a neck for a purpose—to stick it out sometimes. A Christian will not amount to much unless there is enthusiasm in his Christianity. Remember it is hard to…

Enemies are made, not born. The best medicine is to love your work and your enemies. The most difficult test of the human heart is to hear of an enemy’s success without becoming jealous. Nothing makes us love our enemies as much as praying for them. The only way to understand your enemies is to…

Education requires a lot of books—wisdom requires a lot of time. Natural ability without education has more often raised man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability. A good teacher captures a student’s attention so he can direct it toward God. To teach is to learn twice. School is a building that has…