He who thinks that he is ...

He who thinks that he is being released from the work, and not set free in order that he may accomplish that work, mistakes the Christ from whom the freedom comes, mistakes the condition into which his soul is invited.
 Phillips Brooks

Quotes from the same author

The danger is that we may fail to perceive life's greatest meaning, fall short of its highest good, miss its deepest and most abiding happiness, be unable to render the most needed service, be unconscious of life ablaze with the light of the Presence of God - and be content to have it so - that is the danger. That some day we may wake up and find that always we have been busy with the husks and trappings of life - and have really missed life itself.
 Phillips Brooks
The truest help we can render an afflicted man is not to take his burden from him, but to call out his best energy, that he may be able to bear the burden.
 Phillips Brooks
The absence of sentimentalism in Christ's relations with men is what makes His tenderness so exquisitely touching.
 Phillips Brooks
We never become truly spiritual by sitting down and wishing to become so. You must undertake something so great that you cannot accomplish it unaided.
 Phillips Brooks
Life is too short to nurse one's misery. Hurry across the lowlands so that you may spend more time on the mountain tops.
 Phillips Brooks