O, but man, proud man!Dress'd in a little brief authority;Most ignorant of what he's most assured.
O, but man, proud man!Dress'd in a little brief authority;Most ignorant of what he's most assured.
—Shakespeare.
I've learned to judge of men by their own deeds,I do not make the accident of birthThe standard of their merit.
I've learned to judge of men by their own deeds,I do not make the accident of birthThe standard of their merit.
What a piece of work is man!How noble in reason! How infinite in faculties!In form and moving how express and admirable!In action how like an angel!In appearance how like a god!The beauty of the world! the paragon of animals!
What a piece of work is man!How noble in reason! How infinite in faculties!In form and moving how express and admirable!In action how like an angel!In appearance how like a god!The beauty of the world! the paragon of animals!
—Shakespeare.
Direct not him, whose way himself will choose.
He that can please nobody, is not so much to be pitied as he that nobody can please.
—Colton.
To quarrel with a drunken man is harming the absent.
Goethe said that there is no man so commonplace that a wise man may not learn something from him. Sir Walter Scott could not travel in a coach without gleaning some information or discovering some new trait of character in his companions.
I have seen the wicked in great power,And spreading himself, like a green bay-tree;Yet he passed away, and, lo! he was not;Yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.Mark the perfect man,And behold the upright,For the end of that man is peace.
I have seen the wicked in great power,And spreading himself, like a green bay-tree;Yet he passed away, and, lo! he was not;Yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.Mark the perfect man,And behold the upright,For the end of that man is peace.
—Psalms xxxvii, 35-37v.
He who stands high is seen from afar.
—From the Danish.
I confess that increasing years bring with them an increasing respect for men who do not succeed in life, as those words are commonly used.
—G. S. Hillard.
Beauty is good for women, firmness for men.
—Bion.
A man who is always forgetting his best intentions may be said to be a thoroughfare of good resolutions.
It is a matter of the simplest demonstration, that no man can be really appreciated, but by his equal or superior.
—Ruskin.
It takes a great man to make a good listener.
—Sir Arthur Helps.
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but rising every time we fall. A gem is not polished without rubbing, nor is a man perfected without trials.
—Goldsmith.
Be content with the day as it is; look for the good in everything.
An honest man is believed without an oath, for his reputation swears for him.
A thread will tie an honest man better than a rope will do a rogue.
Would you make men trustworthy? Trust them.Would you make them true? Believe them.We win by tenderness.We conquer by forgiveness.
Would you make men trustworthy? Trust them.Would you make them true? Believe them.We win by tenderness.We conquer by forgiveness.
—Robertson.
If there is any person to whom you unfortunately feel a dislike that is the person of whom you ought never to speak.
—Richard Cecil.
He is not yet born who can please everybody.
Fenimore Cooper asserts, in one of his books, that there is "an instinctive tendency in men to look at any man who has become distinguished." Said Carlyle: "True, surely, and moreover, an instinctive desire in men to become distinguished and be looked at, too!"
It is not what he has, nor even what he does, which directly expresses the worth of a man, but what he is.
—Amiel.
Man is not allowed to know what will happen—tomorrow.
—Statius.
A horse is not known by his furniture, but by his qualities; so men should be esteemed for virtue, not wealth.
Man looks aloft, and with erected eyesBeholds his own hereditary skies.
Man looks aloft, and with erected eyesBeholds his own hereditary skies.
—Dryden's Ovid.
The best club for a married man is an armchair in front of a big fire-place at home.
Men take each other's measure when they meet for the first time.
Does one see wolves taking to the road in order to plunder other wolves, as does inhuman man?
No man can end with being superior, who will not begin with being inferior.
—Sydney Smith.
Never speak of a man in his own presence.It is always indelicate, and may be offensive.
Never speak of a man in his own presence.It is always indelicate, and may be offensive.
—Dr. Johnson.
No man is always wise.
—Pliny.
An obstinate man does not hold opinions, but they hold him.
They that stand high have many blasts to shake them.
—Shakespeare.
Men possessed with an idea cannot be reasoned with.
—Froude.
The life of an old man is like a lighted candle in a draft.
—Japanese.
The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor the man perfected without trials.
—From the Chinese.
He was—describe him who can,An abridgement of all that was pleasant in man;A truer, nobler, trustier heart,More loving or more loyal, never beatWithin a human breast.
He was—describe him who can,An abridgement of all that was pleasant in man;A truer, nobler, trustier heart,More loving or more loyal, never beatWithin a human breast.
Some men remain poor because they haven't enough friends, and some because they have too many.
A poor man, though living in the crowded mart, no one will notice; a rich man, though dwelling amid the remote hills, his distant relative will visit.
Art may make a suit of clothes, but nature must produce the man.
—Hume.
The real man is one who always finds excuses for others, but never for himself.
It is not good that man should be alone.
—Genesis 2, 18v.
Silent men, like still waters, are sometimes deep and dangerous.
Man is a social creature, and we are made to be helpful to each other; we are like the wheels of a watch, that none of them can do their work alone, without the concurrence of the rest.
Strive not too anxiously for thy support, thy Maker will provide. No sooner is a man born, than milk for his support streams from the breast.
—Chinese.
He that swells in prosperity will be sure to shrink in adversity.
—Colton.
The difference, he, Johnson, observed between a well-bred and an ill-bred man is this: One immediately attracts your liking, the other your aversion. You love the one till you find reason to dislike him; you dislike the other till you find reason to love him.
—Boswell's Life of Johnson.
He is a general disturber of other's peace and serenity. Everybody with whom he has to do is thrown from time to time into a state of fever; he is systematically late; regular only in his irregularity.
—Smiles.
No is a surly, honest fellow, speaks his mind rough and round at once.
A true man never frets about his place in the world, but just slides into it by the gravitation of his nature, and swings there as easily as a star.
He had nothing and was content. He became rich and is discontented.
Thou canst mould him into any shape like soft clay.
—Horace.
None but the well-bred man knows how to confess a fault, or acknowledge himself in error.
A well-bred man is always sociable and complaisant.
—Montaigne.
The question is asked concerning the property of every rich man who dies; and it was answered very happily by Cloots, who was executor upon the estate of the late Mr. Snodgrass. His neighbor, Mr. Nailroad, was an exceedingly inquisitive man. The day after the funeral, Nailroad visited Cloots, and, with an inspecting face, began to question him. "Mr. Cloots," says he, "if it is not improper, will you inform me how much my particular friend Snodgrass left?" "Certainly," said Cloots:—"Heleftevery cent he was worth in the world, and didn't take a copper with him."
Who does the best his circumstances allow,Does well, acts nobly; angels could do no more.
Who does the best his circumstances allow,Does well, acts nobly; angels could do no more.
—Young.
If you would know a man truly, know him off duty, when the duties of the day are over and he has left his post.
—Observer.
Men who want to do everything their own way must make a world to suit them, for it can not be done in this.
The man whom I call deserving the name, is one whose thoughts and exertions are for others, rather than himself.
—Blanchard.
If a man write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mouse-trap than his neighbor, though he build his house in the wilderness, the world will make a beaten path to his door.
—Emerson.
He who doth not speak an unkind word to his fellow-creatures is master of the whole world.
Those who think must govern those who toil.
The wise man shapes himself according to his environments, as water to the shape of the vessel into which it is poured.
—Japanese.
At the working-man's house hunger may look in, but dare not enter.
I am almost frozen by the distance you are from me.
Manners carry the world for the moment; character, for all time.
—Alcott.
Behavior is a mirror in which every one displays his image.
—Goethe.
The distinguishing trait of people accustomed to good society is a calm, imperturbable quiet, which pervades all their actions and habits, from the greatest to the least. They eat in quiet, move in quiet, live in quiet, and lose their wife, or even their money in quiet; while others cannot take up either a spoon, or an affront, without making such an amazing noise about it.
—Bulwer-Lytton.
Manners are the shadows of virtue.
—Sydney Smith.
Vulgar people can't be still.
—O. W. Holmes.
In society want of sense is not so unpardonable as want of manners.
—Lavater.
The wealthy and the noble when they expend large sums in decorating their houses with the rare and costly efforts of genius, with busts, and with cartoons from the pencil of a Raphael, are to be commended, if they do not stand stillhere, but go on to bestow some pains and cost, that the master himself be not inferior to the mansion, and that the owner be not the only thing that islittle, amidst everything else that isgreat. The house may draw visitors, but it is the possessor alone that can detain them.
Marriage is the bloom or blight of all men's happiness.
—Byron.
There is no one thing more lovely in this life, more full of the divine courage, than when a young maiden, from her past life, from her happy childhood, when she rambled over every field and moor around her home; when a mother anticipated her wants and soothed her little cares, when her brothers and sisters grew from merry playmates, to loving, trustful friends; from Christmas gatherings and romps,the summer festivals in bower or garden; from the secure backgrounds of her childhood, and girlhood, and maidenhood, looks out into the dark and unilluminated future away from all that, and yet unterrified, undaunted, leans her fair cheek upon her lover's breast, and whispers—"Dear heart! I cannot see, but I believe. The past was beautiful, but the future I can trust—with thee!"
—Hunt.
Advice on Marriage.—An Athenian who was hesitating whether to give his daughter in marriage to a man of worth with a small fortune, or to a rich man who had no other recommendation, went to consult Themistocles on the subject. "I would bestow my daughter," said Themistocles, "upon a man without money, rather than upon money without a man."
—Arvine.
Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.
Cling closer, closer, life to life,Cling closer, heart to heart;The time will come, my own wed wife,When you and I must part!Let nothing break our band but Death,For in the world above'Tis the breaker Death that solderethOur ring of wedded love.
Cling closer, closer, life to life,Cling closer, heart to heart;The time will come, my own wed wife,When you and I must part!Let nothing break our band but Death,For in the world above'Tis the breaker Death that solderethOur ring of wedded love.
—G. Massie.
A man of experience, declares that men, like plants, adapt themselves to conditions. To illustrate his theory, he told of two men, one of whom said to the other, at a pleasantly critical period:
"Do you think two can live as cheaply as one?"
"Before my marriage I thought they could," was the guarded reply.
"And afterward?" anxiously.
"Afterward I found they had to."
Boswell: "Pray, sir, do you not suppose that there are fifty women in the world, with any one of whom a man may be as happy, as with any onewomanin particular?"Johnson: "Ay, sir, fifty thousand."Boswell: "Then, sir, you are not of opinion with some who imagine that certain men and certain women are made for each other, and that they cannot be happy if they miss their counterparts."Johnson: "To be sure not, sir. I believe marriages would in general be as happy, and often more so, if they were all made by the Lord Chancellor, upon a due consideration of the characters and circumstances, without the parties having any choice in the matter."
Boswell's Johnson, p. 283.—Samuel Johnson.
Choose not alone a proper mate,But proper time to marry.
Choose not alone a proper mate,But proper time to marry.
—Cowper.
When a man and woman are married their romance ceases and their history commences.
Wedlock, indeed, hath oft compared beenTo public feasts, where meet a public rout,Where they that are without, would fain go in,And they that are within, would fain go out.
Wedlock, indeed, hath oft compared beenTo public feasts, where meet a public rout,Where they that are without, would fain go in,And they that are within, would fain go out.
—Sir J. Davis.
Marriage somewhat resembles a pair of shears, so joined that they cannot be separated, often moving in opposite directions, yet always punishing anyone who comes between them.
—S. Smith.
Marry in your own Rank.Wise was the man, ay, wise indeed, who first weighed well this maxim, and with his tongue published it abroad, that to marry in one's own class is best by far, and that a peasant should woo the hand neither of any that have waxed wanton by riches, nor of such as pride themselves in high-traced lineage.
—Aeschylus.
Now the rite is duly done,Now the word is spoken,And the spell has made us oneWhich may ne'er be broken;Rest we, dearest, in our home,Roam we o'er the heather;We shall rest, and we shall roam,Shall we not—together?From this hour the summer roseSweeter breathes to charm us;From this hour the winter snowsLighter fall to harm us;Fair or foul—on land or sea—Come the wind or weather,Best or worst, whate'er they be,We shall (D.V.) always share—together!
Now the rite is duly done,Now the word is spoken,And the spell has made us oneWhich may ne'er be broken;Rest we, dearest, in our home,Roam we o'er the heather;We shall rest, and we shall roam,Shall we not—together?
From this hour the summer roseSweeter breathes to charm us;From this hour the winter snowsLighter fall to harm us;Fair or foul—on land or sea—Come the wind or weather,Best or worst, whate'er they be,We shall (D.V.) always share—together!
—Winthrop Mackworth Praed.
Whom first we love, you know one seldom weds.
—Owen Meredith.
A pious elder once said to his son in view of marriage,—"My boy, piety is essential for the life to come, but good temper is the great requisite for happiness in this world."
The reason why so few marriages are happy is because young ladies spend their time in making nets, not in making cages.
—Swift.
If God had designed woman as man's master, He would have taken her from his head; if as his slave, He would have taken her from his feet; but as He designed her for his companion and equal, He took her from his side.
—St. Augustine.
The following was written on a card by an old friend of a young lady's when he sent her some flowers on the eve ofher wedding day:—"I have sent you a few flowers to adorn the dying moments of your single life."
The treasures of the deep are not so preciousAs are the concealed comforts of a manLock'd up in woman's love. I scent the airOf blessings, when I come but near the house.What a delicious breath marriage sends forth—The violet bed's not sweeter!
The treasures of the deep are not so preciousAs are the concealed comforts of a manLock'd up in woman's love. I scent the airOf blessings, when I come but near the house.What a delicious breath marriage sends forth—The violet bed's not sweeter!
—Middleton.
Blessed their life whose marriage prospers well,But if things fall out ill, no happinessAwaits them, within doors or without,—so beware!
Blessed their life whose marriage prospers well,But if things fall out ill, no happinessAwaits them, within doors or without,—so beware!
—Unknown.
Speak it not lightly; 'tis a holy thing—A bond, enduring thro' long distant years,Life will not prove all sunshine; there will comeDark hours for all; oh! will ye, when the nightOf sorrow gathers thickly round your home,Love as ye did in days when smooth and brightSeemed the sure path ye trod, untouched by care,And deemed the future, like the present, fair?Age, with its silvery locks, will come stealing on,And bring the tottering step, the furrow'd cheek,The eye, from whence each lustrous gleam hath gone;And the pale lip, with accents low and weak;Will ye then think upon your youth's gay prime,And, smiling, bid love triumph over time?Speak it not lightly; oh! beware! beware!'Tis no vain promise, no unmeaning word;Before God's altar, now ye both do swear,And by the High and Holy One 'tis heard!Be faithful to each other till life's close;Seek peace below, and you'll get Heaven's repose.
Speak it not lightly; 'tis a holy thing—A bond, enduring thro' long distant years,Life will not prove all sunshine; there will comeDark hours for all; oh! will ye, when the nightOf sorrow gathers thickly round your home,Love as ye did in days when smooth and brightSeemed the sure path ye trod, untouched by care,And deemed the future, like the present, fair?
Age, with its silvery locks, will come stealing on,And bring the tottering step, the furrow'd cheek,The eye, from whence each lustrous gleam hath gone;And the pale lip, with accents low and weak;Will ye then think upon your youth's gay prime,And, smiling, bid love triumph over time?
Speak it not lightly; oh! beware! beware!'Tis no vain promise, no unmeaning word;Before God's altar, now ye both do swear,And by the High and Holy One 'tis heard!Be faithful to each other till life's close;Seek peace below, and you'll get Heaven's repose.
Let him who weds, wed character, not money.
A girl should look happy because she is not married; a wife because she is.
A Gentleman, but a Fool.—Chief Justice Marshall once found himself suddenly brought to a halt by a small tree which intervened between the front wheel and the body of his buggy. Seeing a servant at a short distance, he asked him to bring an axe and cut down the tree. The servant—a colored man—told the judge that there was no occasion for cutting down the tree, but just to back the buggy. Pleased at the good sense of the fellow, Judge Marshall told him that he would leave him something at the inn hard by, where he intended to stop, having then no small change. In due time the man applied, and a dollar was handed him. Being asked if he knew who it was that gave him the dollar, he replied: "No, sir: I concluded he was a gentleman by his leaving the money, but I think he is the biggest fool I ever saw."
If thou art a master, be sometimes blind, and sometimes deaf.
—Fuller.
Let no man be the servant of another who can be his own master.
Our master is our—enemy.
—From Amiel's Journal.
Applicable to those who have formed a useless habit.
Matrimony.—He hath tied a knot with his tongue that he cannot untie with all his teeth.
Numbers, xxxvi. 6,—"Let them marry to whom they think best; only to the family of the tribe of their fathers shall they marry."
Mr. John Martin used to give two advices, both to his children and others, in reference to marriages. One was, "Keep within the bounds of your profession." The other was, "Look at suitableness in age, quality, education, temper, etc." He used to observe, from Genesis, ii, 18, "I will make him a help-meet for him;" that there is not meetness, there will not be much help. He commonly said to his children, with reference to their choice in marriage, "Please God, and please yourselves, and you shall never displease me;" and greatly blamed those parents who conclude matches for their children without their consent. He sometimes mentioned the saying of a pious gentlewoman, who had many daughters.—"The care of most people is how to get good husbands for their daughters; but my care is to fit my daughters to be good wives, and then let God provide for them."
The sum of all that makes a just man happyConsists in the well-choosing of his wife:And there, well to discharge it, does requireEquality of years, of birth, of fortune;For beauty being poor, and not cried upBy birth or wealth, can truly mix with neither.And wealth, when there's such difference in years,And fair descent, must make the yoke uneasy.
The sum of all that makes a just man happyConsists in the well-choosing of his wife:And there, well to discharge it, does requireEquality of years, of birth, of fortune;For beauty being poor, and not cried upBy birth or wealth, can truly mix with neither.And wealth, when there's such difference in years,And fair descent, must make the yoke uneasy.
—Massinger.
1. That man must lead a happy life2. Who is directed by a wife;3. Who's free from matrimonial chains4. Is sure to suffer for his pains.5. Adam could find no solid peace6. Till he beheld a woman's face;7. When Eve was given for a mate,8. Adam was in a happy state.
1. That man must lead a happy life2. Who is directed by a wife;3. Who's free from matrimonial chains4. Is sure to suffer for his pains.
5. Adam could find no solid peace6. Till he beheld a woman's face;7. When Eve was given for a mate,8. Adam was in a happy state.
Epigram: Read alternate lines,—1,3; 2,4; 5,7; 6,8.
—Cowper.
The following admirable lines were inscribed upon a golden crown having five sides, which was found in the tomb of Noosherwan.
First Side.—"Consider the end before you begin, and before you advance, provide a retreat.Give not unnecessary pain to any man, but study the happiness of all.Ground not your dignity upon your power to hurt others."Second Side.—"Take counsel before you commence any measure, and never trust its execution to the inexperienced.Sacrifice your property for your life, and your life for your religion.Spend your time in establishing a good name, and if you desire fortune, learn contentment."Third Side.—"Grieve not for that which is broken, stolen, burnt or lost.Never give order in another man's house; accustom yourself to eat your bread at your own table."Fourth Side.—"Take not a wife from a bad family, and seat not thyself with those who have no shame.Keep thyself at a distance from those who are incorrigible in bad habits, and hold no intercourse with that man who is insensible to kindness.Convert not the goods of others.Be sensible of your own value, estimate justly the worth of others: and war not with those who are far above thee in fortune."Fifth Side.—"Be envious of no man, and avoid being out of temper, or thy life will pass in misery.Respect and protect the females of thy family."
First Side.—"Consider the end before you begin, and before you advance, provide a retreat.
Give not unnecessary pain to any man, but study the happiness of all.Ground not your dignity upon your power to hurt others."
Give not unnecessary pain to any man, but study the happiness of all.
Ground not your dignity upon your power to hurt others."
Second Side.—"Take counsel before you commence any measure, and never trust its execution to the inexperienced.
Sacrifice your property for your life, and your life for your religion.Spend your time in establishing a good name, and if you desire fortune, learn contentment."
Sacrifice your property for your life, and your life for your religion.
Spend your time in establishing a good name, and if you desire fortune, learn contentment."
Third Side.—"Grieve not for that which is broken, stolen, burnt or lost.
Never give order in another man's house; accustom yourself to eat your bread at your own table."
Never give order in another man's house; accustom yourself to eat your bread at your own table."
Fourth Side.—"Take not a wife from a bad family, and seat not thyself with those who have no shame.
Keep thyself at a distance from those who are incorrigible in bad habits, and hold no intercourse with that man who is insensible to kindness.Convert not the goods of others.Be sensible of your own value, estimate justly the worth of others: and war not with those who are far above thee in fortune."
Keep thyself at a distance from those who are incorrigible in bad habits, and hold no intercourse with that man who is insensible to kindness.
Convert not the goods of others.
Be sensible of your own value, estimate justly the worth of others: and war not with those who are far above thee in fortune."
Fifth Side.—"Be envious of no man, and avoid being out of temper, or thy life will pass in misery.
Respect and protect the females of thy family."
Respect and protect the females of thy family."
The meals which are eaten in company are always better digested than those which are taken in solitude.
—Dr. Combe.
The poor man must walk to get meat for his stomach, the rich man to get a stomach for his meat.
Johnson said melancholy people were apt to fly to intemperance for relief, but that it sunk them much deeper in misery. He observed, that laboring men who work hard and live sparingly, are seldom or never troubled with low spirits.
—Boswell's Johnson.
Everyone complains of his memory, and no one complains of his judgment.
—Rochefoucauld.
By attention ideas areregisteredon the memory.
An old deacon was accustomed to offer this prayer: "Help us to forget what we ought not to remember, and to remember what we ought not to forget."
—Weekly Paper.
What nicer, what sweeter, than—The remembrance of a past in boyhood's village days without regret!
What nicer, what sweeter, than—The remembrance of a past in boyhood's village days without regret!
So many we find to be well fed but ill taught.
The Greatest Men Arose from the People.—The greatest scholars, poets, orators, philosophers, warriors, statesmen, inventors, and improvers of the arts, arose from the people. If we had waited till courtiers had invented the arts of printing, clockmaking, navigation, and a thousand others, we should probably have continued in darkness till this hour.