“I used to think that prayer should have the first place and teaching the second. I now feel that it would be truer to give prayer the first, second and third place, and teaching the fourth.”

“First, prayer; then, atonement; in the third place, very much 'in the third place', action.”

“Three Silences there are: the first of speech,
The second of desire, the third of thought;
This is the lore a Spanish monk, distraught
With dreams and visions, was the first to teach.”

“Remember, the first road to God is prayer, the second is joy.”

“I write the songs first and in most cases teach myself the technique second.”

“Kings were wont to honour philosophers, but if I had such I would honour them as angels that should have such piety in them that they would not seek where they are the second to be the first, and where the third to be the second and so forth.”

“The first sip [of tea] is joy, the second is gladness, the third is serenity, the fourth is madness, the fifth is ecstasy.”

“An army means, first, morale; second, an officer-corps; third, a high command; and, fourth, the human material of the troops.”

“Were I to prescribe a rule for drinking, it should be formed upon a saying quoted by Sir William Temple: the first glass for myself, the second for my friends, the third for good humor, and the fourth for mine enemies.”

“A man snatches the first kiss, pleads for the second, demands the third, takes the fourth, accepts the fifth — and endures all the rest. ”