Those three means are Mystery, Miracle, and Prophecy. The first two are incompatible with true religion, and the third ought always to be suspected.

As mystery answered all general purposes, miracle followed as an occasional auxiliary. The former served to bewilder the mind, the latter to puzzle the senses. The one was the lingo, the other the legerdemain.

As Mystery and Miracle took charge of the past and the present, Prophecy took charge of the future, and rounded the tenses of faith.

"Many words have been granted me, and some are wise, and some are false, but only three are holy: "I will it!

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.

Love, hope, fear, faith - these make humanity; These are its sign and note and character

There are three lessons I would write-
Three words, as with a burning pen,
In tracings of eternal light,
Upon the heart of men.

Have hope! though clouds environ round,
And gladness hides her face in scorn,
Put thou the shadow from thy brow,
No night but hath its morn.

Have love! not love alone for one,
But man as man thy brother call,
And scatter like the circling sun,
Thy charities on all.

Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.

But Faith, like a jackal, feeds among the tombs, and even from these dead doubts she gathers her most vital hope. (Moby Dick; Chap 7 p36)

Hope' is the thing with feathers — That perches in the soul — And sings the tune without the words — And never stops — at all — And sweetest — in the Gale — is heard — And sore must be the storm — That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm — I’ve heard it in the chillest land — And on the strangest Sea — Yet — never — in Extremity,
It asked a crumb — of me.

Fear of death, wonder at the causes of chance events or unintelligible happenings, hope for divine aid and gratitude for good fortune, cooperated to generate religious belief.

Hope is the thing with feathers

These verses believe; they love; they hope; that is all.

Heaven has given human beings three things to balance the odds of life: hope, sleep, and laughter.

Hope in gates, hope in spoons, hope in doors, hope in tables, no hope in daintiness and determination. Hope in dates.

Hope is the deep orientation of the human soul that can be held at the darkest times.