“Mourning after an absent God is an evidence of a love as strong, as rejoicing in a present one.”

“God, Who is everywhere, never leaves us. Yet He seems sometimes to be present, sometimes to be absent. If we do not know Him well, we do not realize that He may be more present to us when He is absent than when He is present.”

“The one who attended a matter and disliked it, is as the one who was absent; and whoever was not present in an affair yet was pleased with it, is as the one who witnessed it.”

“Presents, I often say, endear absents.”

“I am convinced that God is love, this thought has for me a primitive lyrical validity. When it is present to me, I am unspeakably blissful, when it is absent, I long for it more vehemently than does the lover for his object.”

“The strong appearance of design [in nature] allows a disarmingly simple argument: if it looks, walks and quacks like a duck, then, absent compelling evidence to the contrary, we have warrant to conclude it's a duck. Design should not be overlooked simply because it's so obvious.”

“It is easy to be religious when religion is in fashion; but it is an evidence of strong faith and resolution to swim against a stream to heaven, and to appear for God when no one else appears for Him.”

“To Retain those who are present, be loyal to those who are absent.”

“Life's for living, not for mourning … Live in the present, not the past.”

“For with G. D., to be absent from the body is sometimes (not to speak profanely) to be present with the Lord.”