He passed me on the street,And never guessedThe strength he gave my heart,And needed rest.His noble face so shoneWith holiness,The very sight of itCould not but bless.I met him only onceUpon my way,Many years ago,And yet to-dayThat face of light and strengthStill dwells with me;The man "had been with God"—'Twas plain to see.
He passed me on the street,And never guessedThe strength he gave my heart,And needed rest.
His noble face so shoneWith holiness,The very sight of itCould not but bless.
I met him only onceUpon my way,Many years ago,And yet to-day
That face of light and strengthStill dwells with me;The man "had been with God"—'Twas plain to see.
—Edith Campbell Babbitt.
Men of age * * * content themselves with a mediocrity of success.
—Bacon.
Experience shows that success is due less to ability than to zeal. The winner is he who gives himself to his work.
If you would go to the top, first go to the bottom.
The worst use that can be made of success is to boast of it.
—Sir Arthur Helps.
Mediocrity succeeds best in the world.
—Colton.
At a gathering in Australia, not long since, four persons met, three of whom were shepherds on a sheep-farm. One of these had taken a degree at Oxford, another at Cambridge, the third at a German university. The fourth was their employer, a squatter, rich in flocks and herds, but scarcely able to read and write, much less to keep accounts.
A sense of the power and luxury in money, beyond all the wonder tales, has suddenly come to us.
In times like these, it is good to remember Agassiz, who refused to lecture at five hundred dollars a night because he was too busy to make money; Spurgeon, who refused to go to America to deliver fifty lectures at one thousand dollars a night, saying he could do better—he could stay in London and try to save fifty souls; and Emerson, who steadfastly declined to increase his income beyond one thousand two hundred dollars because he wanted his time to think.
—F. Bellamy in Everybody's Magazine.
Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt,Nothing's so hard but search will find it out.
Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt,Nothing's so hard but search will find it out.
—Herrick.
Those who accomplish great things always begin with little things.
That success costs too dear, which is attained by any sacrifice oftruth,honor, orjustice.
He who waits to be absolutely sure of the success of an undertaking, will never undertake it.
The poor have little,—beggars, none;The rich too much,—enough, not one.
The poor have little,—beggars, none;The rich too much,—enough, not one.
The man who has a sufficiency, generally smiles at the artificial wants of others.
The summer dayEndures not ever: toil ye while ye may.
The summer dayEndures not ever: toil ye while ye may.
—Hesiod, a Greek, 850 B. C.
Sun.—The glorious lamp of heaven; with one eye vieweth all the world.
—Shakespeare.
When the sun shines on you you see your friends.
Sundays observe: think when the bells do chime,'Tis angel's music; therefore come not late.
Sundays observe: think when the bells do chime,'Tis angel's music; therefore come not late.
—George Herbert.
A boy of twelve, said to his little companion: "Do you know why Sunday was instituted from the seventh to the first day of the week." "No, I don't," replied the little boy, "I wish you would tell me." "Well, I will, and I know it is true, for my father told me: It was instituted from Saturday to Sunday in remembrance of Christ's resurrection from the dead on the first day of the week."
—Belhaven.
The ways of superiors, are generally carried by inferiors, to excess.
It is easy to swim when another holds up your head.
—From the Danish.
Sympathy is the golden key that unlocks the hearts of others.
—S. Smith.
A respectable merchant of London having become embarrassed in his circumstances, and his misfortunes being one day the subject of conversation in the Royal Exchange, several persons expressed the great sympathy they felt for him; whereupon a foreigner who was present, said, "I feel five hundred pounds for him; what doyoufeel?"
A clasp of hands will oft revealA sympathy that makes us feelOurselves again; we lose our care:And in our heart's first glad reboundAt tender sympathy new found,The world once more seems bright and fair.
A clasp of hands will oft revealA sympathy that makes us feelOurselves again; we lose our care:And in our heart's first glad reboundAt tender sympathy new found,The world once more seems bright and fair.
I lay in sorrow, deep distressed:My grief a proud man heard;His looks were cold, he gave me gold,But not a kindly word.My sorrow passed,—I paid him backThe gold he gave to me;Then stood erect and spoke my thanks,And blessed his charity.I lay in want, in grief and pain:A poor man passed my way;He bound my head, he gave me bread,He watched me night and day.How shall I pay him back again,For all he did to me?Oh, gold is great, but greater farIs Heavenly Sympathy.
I lay in sorrow, deep distressed:My grief a proud man heard;His looks were cold, he gave me gold,But not a kindly word.My sorrow passed,—I paid him backThe gold he gave to me;Then stood erect and spoke my thanks,And blessed his charity.
I lay in want, in grief and pain:A poor man passed my way;He bound my head, he gave me bread,He watched me night and day.How shall I pay him back again,For all he did to me?Oh, gold is great, but greater farIs Heavenly Sympathy.
—Charles Mackay.
The human heart sighs for sympathy and solace, in the dark hour of suffering and sorrow.
—Rev. Thos. M. McConnell.
These two complain, but no one sympathizes with them:He who lends money without witnesses;And he who is lorded over by his wife.
These two complain, but no one sympathizes with them:He who lends money without witnesses;And he who is lorded over by his wife.
—The Talmud.
For him who does everything in its proper time, one day is worth three.
There is nothing like addressing men at the proper time.
The world is always ready to receive talent with open arms.
—O. W. Holmes.
Talent is something, but tact is everything.
—Scargill.
All talk at once, to none respect is shown.
Talking.—What a spendthrift is he of his tongue!
—Shakespeare.
They always talk who never think.
—Prior.
He who talks much is sometimes right.
—Spanish.
The talker sows, the listener reaps.
—Italian.
You can doubtless name a number of people who talk too much—including yourself!
A man of sense talks little, and listens much.
—Chinese.
A Quiet Rebuke.—When Washington's secretary excused himself for the lateness of his attendance, and laid the blame on his watch, his master quietly said—"Then you must get another watch, or I another secretary."
The cost takes away the taste: I should really like the thing, but I dislike the expense.
To teach is to learn twice over.
Nothing dies sooner than a tear.
Do not make woman weep, for God counts her tears.
—From The Talmud.
He has strangledHis language in his tears.
He has strangledHis language in his tears.
—Shakespeare.
There are few things more beautiful than tears, whether they are shed for ourselves or others; they are the meek and silent effusions of sincere feeling.
Tears sometimes have the weight of words.
—Ovid.
Tears are the diamonds of the eye.
See the tide working upward to his eye,And stealing from him in large silent drops,Without his leave.
See the tide working upward to his eye,And stealing from him in large silent drops,Without his leave.
—Young.
Control your temper, for if it does not obey you, it will govern you.
—Horace.
Good temper is like a sunny day.
—French.
If you have a good temper, keep it; if you have a bad one, don't lose it.
When you're in the right you can afford to keep your temper, and when you're in the wrong you can't afford to lose it.
Some temptations come to the industrious, but all temptations attack the idle.
—Spurgeon.
Toil is a foil against temptation.
The chief reason why no Christian should attend the theatre is the character of a large majority of plays put on the stage.
Listen to what the play-writers and actors themselves say:
M. Dumas, a French writer of plays, wrote: "Never take your daughter to the theatre; it is not merely the work that is immoral, it is the place."
W. C. Macready, the great actor, said: "None of my children shall ever, with my consent, enter a theatre, or have any visiting connection with actors or actresses."
Edwin Booth, the great tragedian, wrote: "My knowledge of the modern theatre is so very meagre that I never permit my wife or daughter to witness a play without previously ascertaining its character. The theatre is permitted to be a mere shop for gain, open to every huckster of immoral adventures,—jimcracks."
Fanny Kemble, the actress, confessed that life on the stage was unhealthy to morals, and said: "I never presented myself before an audience without a shirking feeling of reluctance, or without thinking the excitement I had undergone unhealthy, and the personal exhibition odious."
—Southern Churchman.
An ounce of practice is worth a ton of theory.
Everything that has a beginning comes to an end.
Do little things now; so shall big things come to thee by and by asking to be done.
—Persian Proverb.
Don't despise a slight wound, or a poor relative.
Never despise small things, for we were all infants before we became men, and pupils, ere we became teachers.
Thought.—How often must we repeat it?—rules the world.
—Carlyle.
At a dinner when Daniel Webster was Secretary of State, after a period of silence which fell upon the company of some twenty gentlemen who were present, one of the guests said, "Mr. Webster, will you tell us what was the most important thought that ever occupied your mind?" Webster slowly passed his hand over his forehead, and in a low tone enquired of one near him, "Is there any one here who does not know me?" "No; all are your friends." "The most important thought that ever occupied my mind," said Webster, "was that of my individual responsibility to God." And after speaking on this subject in the most solemn strain for fully ten minutes, he silently rose from the table and retired to his room. This incident serves to illustrate the attitude of great minds towards eternal things. Great men are not scoffers. The men of flippant jeers and godless jests are invariably men of small calibre and shallow intellect.
First thoughts are not always the best.
—Alfieri.
In matters of conscience, first thoughts are best; in matters of prudence last thoughts are the best.
—Rev. Robert Hall.
To be without evil thoughts is God's best gift.
—Aeschylus.
It is said, the thumb is stronger than all the other fingers together.
Such was the spirit of a venerable[1913-A]patriarch—who shed on a very humble station the lustre of brilliant graces—that, when the storm sent others in haste to their homes, he was wont to leave his own, and to stand with upturned face, raised eye, and with his grey head uncovered, to watch the flash and listen to the music of the roaring thunder. How fine his reply to those who expressed their wonder at his aspect and attitude—"It's my Father's voice, and I like well to hear it!" What a sublime example of the perfect love that casteth out fear?
—From Memoir of Guthrie.
[1913-A]Jamie Stewart, Dr. Guthrie's first preceptor.
[1913-A]Jamie Stewart, Dr. Guthrie's first preceptor.
There is scarcely any one who may not, like a trout, be taken by tickling.
—Southey.
Time is a great master, he sets many things right.
With thee conversing I forget all time.
—Milton.
The happier the time, the quicker it passes.
—Pliny, the Younger.
Since time is not a person we can overtake when he is past, let us honor him with mirth and cheerfulness of heart while he is passing.
—Goethe.
How noiseless falls the foot of time.
—W. R. Spencer.
An hour lost in the morning is never found all day.
Time passes like the wind.
—Portuguese.
Spare moments are the gold dust of time.
Time unveils truth.
—Portuguese.
"From time immemorial," said Judge Asher Carruth, of London, "Southern people have been lavish in bestowingtitles. I think there is something in the Southern temperament which explains this. I didn't start out on this, however, for a philosophical disquisition, but rather to tell how a certain Kentucky gentleman established valid title to the rank of Colonel. He went to Cincinnati once with a friend, who enjoyed many acquaintances there; and who introduced him to every one as Colonel Brown. Everything went along smoothly until finally one Cincinnatian asked of the introducer:
"I suppose your friend Colonel Brown was in the Confederate army?"
"No, sir; he was not."
"Well, then, he fought on the Union side?"
"You are wrong there, too."
"Oh, I see now; he got his title by serving in the State militia?"
"No, he never entered the militia."
"Then, how did he get to be a colonel?"
"He drew a sword, sir, at a church fair!"
Tobacco-takers.—Dr. Caldwell says that there are but three animals that can abide tobacco, namely:—The African rock goat—the most loathsome creature on earth,The foul tobacco worm,And the rational creature, man!
Talk less about the years to come—Live, love and labor more to-day.
Talk less about the years to come—Live, love and labor more to-day.
—Alice Carey.
Better be preparing for tomorrow, than regretting yesterday.
To-morrow is, ah, whose?
—D. M. Mullock.
What cannot be told, had better not be done.
Never hold any one by the button or the hand, in order to be heard out; for if people are unwilling to hear you, you had better hold your tongue than them.
—Chesterfield.
Though we have two eyes, we are supplied with but one tongue. Draw your own moral.
—Alphonse Karr.
If you will control the tongue, you will soon be able also to control the mind.
Tongue.—When we advance a little into life, we find that the tongue creates nearly all the mischief of the world.
The tongue is the instrument of the greatest good and the greatest evil that is done in the world.
Let mildness ever attend thy tongue.
It is more necessary to guard the mouth than the chest.
—From the German.
It is related that a peasant once came to a monk to be taught the Scriptures. The holy man began with the Psalm, 39 chapter, 1st verse: "I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue."
The peasant went his way to practice this and never returned. Lifelong was the lesson, and lifelong the endeavor to master it.
The tongue's not steel, yet it often cuts.
A sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.
—Irving.
There are tourists who so busy themselves in traveling that they see nothing.
He'll seldom need aidWho has a good trade.
He'll seldom need aidWho has a good trade.
A useful trade may be said to be like a mine of gold.
I see that conscience, truth, and honesty are madeTo rise and fall, like other wares of trade.
I see that conscience, truth, and honesty are madeTo rise and fall, like other wares of trade.
—Moore.
He who has a trade may travel through the world.
—From the Spanish.
One of the remarks which an American is expected to make on returning from a foreign tour, especially his first return, is: "Well I'm a better American for having gone abroad," meaning that foreign travel has increased his love for his own country—in other words, has toned up his patriotism. * * * * * * * *
Foreign travel will make any intelligent American a better citizen, because an increase of knowledge is a betterment. One honored resident of Washington, a gentleman past middle life, recently returned from his first European tour, and on being asked if he could make the stereotyped report of having been "made a better American," replied: "Yes; I think I am a better American for having had a deal of conceit knocked out of me." That was a profitable experience.
From Baltimore Sun, November, 1906.
He that would make his travels delightful, must first make himself delightful.
It will be observed, that when giving me (Boswell) advice as to my travels, Dr. Johnson did not dwell upon cities, and palaces, and pictures, and shows. He was of Lord Essex's opinion, who advises his kinsman, Roger, Earl of Rutland, "rather to go a hundred miles to speak with one wise man, than five miles to see a fair town."
—Boswell's Johnson.
Deuteronomy xxxiii, 19—"They shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of the treasures hid in the sand."
Among the hardships experienced by the first settlers inNorth America, they were sometimes greatly distressed for food, which led the women and the children to the sea side to look for a ship which they expected with provisions, but no ship appeared for many weeks; they saw in the sand, however, vast quantities of shellfish, since called clams, a species of muscle. Hunger impelled them to taste, and at length they fed wholly upon them, and were as cheerful and well as they had been before in England, enjoying the best provision. It is added, that a good man, after they had all dined one day on clams, without bread, returned thanks to God for causing them to "suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid in the sand." This text, which they had never before observed particularly, was ever after endeared to them.
O leave this barren spot to me:Spare, woodman, spare the beechen tree!Though bush or floweret never growMy dark unwarming shade below;Nor summer bud perfume the dew,Of rosy blush, or yellow hue!Nor fruits of autumn, blossom-born,My green and glossy leaves adorn;Nor murmuring tribes from me deriveTh' ambrosial amber of the hive;Yet leave this barren spot to me:Spare, woodman, spare the beechen tree!Thrice twenty summers I have seenThe sky grow bright, the forest green;And many a wintry wind have stoodIn bloomless, fruitless solitude,Since childhood in my pleasant bowerFirst spent its sweet and sportive hour,Since youthful lovers in my shadeTheir vows of truth and rapture made;And on my trunk's surviving frameCarved many a long-forgotten name.Oh! by the sighs of gentle sound,First breathed upon this sacred ground;By all that Love has whisper'd here,Or Beauty heard with ravished ear;As Love's own altar honor me:Spare, woodman, spare the beechen tree!
O leave this barren spot to me:Spare, woodman, spare the beechen tree!Though bush or floweret never growMy dark unwarming shade below;Nor summer bud perfume the dew,Of rosy blush, or yellow hue!Nor fruits of autumn, blossom-born,My green and glossy leaves adorn;Nor murmuring tribes from me deriveTh' ambrosial amber of the hive;Yet leave this barren spot to me:Spare, woodman, spare the beechen tree!
Thrice twenty summers I have seenThe sky grow bright, the forest green;And many a wintry wind have stoodIn bloomless, fruitless solitude,Since childhood in my pleasant bowerFirst spent its sweet and sportive hour,Since youthful lovers in my shadeTheir vows of truth and rapture made;And on my trunk's surviving frameCarved many a long-forgotten name.Oh! by the sighs of gentle sound,First breathed upon this sacred ground;By all that Love has whisper'd here,Or Beauty heard with ravished ear;As Love's own altar honor me:Spare, woodman, spare the beechen tree!
—Thomas Campbell.
(This piece was written for Miss Mary Campbell, the poet's sister; it appeared first in theMorning Chronicle.
The tree, the subject of the lines still ornaments the grounds at Ardwell, in Scotland, the seat of James Murray McCulloch, Esq.)
Like a tree, am I sheltering others by my life?
The greater the difficulty the more glory in surmounting it. Skilful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.
When I waken in the mornI'm sad, I must confess,To think that ere I can go outI must get up and dress.
When I waken in the mornI'm sad, I must confess,To think that ere I can go outI must get up and dress.
Deuteronomy xxii, 4.—"Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or ass fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them; thou shalt surely help him lift them up again."
Mr. George Herbert, the poet, when walking to Salisbury, saw a poor man, with a poorer horse, fallen under his load. Mr. Herbert perceiving this, put off his canonical coat, and helped the poor man to unload, and after to load his horse. The poor man blessed him for it, and he blessed the poor man, and gave him money to refresh both himself and his horse; and told him, "If he loved himself, he should be merciful to his beast." At his coming to his musical friends at Salisbury, they began to wonder that Mr. George Herbert, who used to be so clean, came in such a condition; but he told them the occasion; and when one of the company told him, "he had disparaged himself by so dirty an employment," his answer was, "That the thought of what he had done would prove music to him at midnight; and the omission of it would have upbraided and made discord in his conscience, whensoever he should pass by the place."
I wrote down my troubles every day;And after a few short years,When I turned to the heart-aches passed away,I read them with smiles,—not tears.
I wrote down my troubles every day;And after a few short years,When I turned to the heart-aches passed away,I read them with smiles,—not tears.
To tell our troubles, is often the way to lighten them.
During the Rabbi's absence from home, two of his sons died. Their mother hiding her grief, awaited the father's return, and then said to him. "My husband, some time since two jewels of inestimable value were placed with me for safe keeping. He who left them with me calledfor them to-day, and I delivered them into His hands." "That is right," said the Rabbi approvingly. "We must always return cheerfully and faithfully all that is placed in our care." Shortly after this, the Rabbi asked for his sons, and the mother, taking him by the hand, led him gently to the chamber of death. Meir gazed upon his sons, and realizing the truth, wept bitterly. "Weep not, beloved husband," said his noble wife; "didst thou not say to me we must return cheerfully, when called for, all that has been placed under our care? God gave us these jewels; He left them with us for a time, and we gloried in their possession; but now that He calls for His own, we should not repine."
In Boswell's Life of Johnson, he says:—Nextmorning, while we were at breakfast, Johnson gave a very earnest recommendation of what he himself practised with the utmost conscientiousness: I mean a strict attention to truth, even in the most minute particulars. "Accustom your children," said he, "constantly to this: If a thing happened at one window, and they, when relating it, say that it happened at another, do not let it pass, but instantly check them; you do not know where deviation from truth will end."
Dare to be true: Nothing can need a lie.
I once asked a deaf and dumb boy, "What is truth?" He replied by thrusting his finger forward in a straight line. I then asked him "What is falsehood?" when he made a zigzag with his finger. Try to remember this; let whoeverwill, take a zigzag path,—go you on in your course as straight as an arrow to its mark, and shrink from falsehood, as you would from a viper.
—Barnaby.