Clay

"These look like the workmanship of heaven; This is the porcelain clay of human kind, And therefore cast into these noble moulds."

"Do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind?"

"If they find some stain or blemish in a name of note, not grieving that their greatest are so small, inflate themselves with some insane delight, and judge all nature from her feet of clay."

"To get wealth and security by guile Is like one who pours water into a pot of unbaked clay."

"If we could once understand the common clay of earth we should understand everything."

"Times wheel runs back or stops: Potter and clay endure."

"This Great God, Like a mammy bending over her baby, Kneeled down in the dust Toiling over a lump of clay Till He shaped it in His own image."

"All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art."

"How shall we celebrate the day, When God appeared in mortal clay, The mark of worldly scorn."

"Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou?"

"Who are they who speak evil of the clay? The very stars are made of clay like mine!"

"The heart -- which may be broken: happy they! Thrice fortunate! who of that fragile mould, The precious porcelain of human clay, Break with the first fall."