Horace Bushnell

If you had the seeds of pestilence in your body you would not have a more active contagion that you have in your tempers, tastes, and principles. Simply to be in this world, whatever you are, is to exert an influence, compared with which mere language and persuasion are feeble.

It is not necessary for all men to be great in action. The greatest and sublimest power is simple patience.