Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be. – Thomas à Kempis, Imitation of Christ, c.1420

Leaves are light, and useless, and idle, and wavering, and changeable; they even dance; and yet God in his wisdom has made them a part of oaks. And in so doing he has given us a lesson, not to deny the stout-heartedness within because we see the lightsomeness without. – Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers

Whatever you are, try to be a good one. – William Makepeace Thackeray