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Let others seek for empty joysAt ball or concert, rout or play;Whilst, far from fashion's idle noise,Her gilded domes, and trappings gay,I while the wintry eve away,—'Twixt book and lute the hours divideAnd marvel how I e'er could strayFrom thee—my own Fireside!

All that a fish drinks goes out at the gills.(Spent as soon as got.)

Did we not flatter ourselves, the flattery of others could never hurt us.

—Rochefoucauld.

Boswell: "No quality will get a man more friends than a disposition to admire the qualities of others. I do not mean flattery, but a sincere admiration."Johnson: "Nay, Sir, flattery pleases very generally. In the first place, the flatterer may think what he says to be true; but in the second place, whether he thinks so or not, he certainly thinks those whom he flatters of consequence enough to be flattered."

—Boswell's Johnson.

Flowers.—These children of the meadows, born of sunshine and of showers!

—Whittier.

Flowers.—Pretty daughters of the Earth and Sun.

What a desolate place would be a world without a flower! It would be a face without a smile—a feast without a welcome Are not flowers the stars of the earth? and are not the stars we see at night the flowers of heaven?

It is my faith that every flower which blowsEnjoys the air it breathes.

—Wordsworth.

How many a flower is born to blush unseen,And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

—Gray.

I never cast a flower away,The gift of one who cared for me;A little flower—a faded flower,But it was done reluctantly.

—L. E. Landon.

Flowers are the pledges of fruit.

—From the Danish.

He who gives advice to a fool, beats the air with a stick.

None is a fool always, everyone sometimes.

Infallible Test.—A theological student, supposed to be deficient in judgment, was asked by a professor, in thecourse of a class examination, "Pray, how would you discover a fool?" "By the questions he would ask," was the rather stunning reply.

One never needs one's wits so much as when one has to do with a fool.

Nothing is so silly as to insist on being the only person who is right.

How ill white hairs become a fool and jester.

If all fools wore white caps, the majority of us would look like a flock of geese.

Young folks tell what they do, old ones what they have done, and the others (fools) what they intend to do.

Where force prevails, right perishes.

—Spanish.

If there is a harvest ahead, even a distant one, it is poor thrift to be stingy of your seed-corn!

—Carlyle.

Stranger, if thou hast learned a truth which needsNo school of long experience, that the worldIs full of guilt and misery, and hast seenEnough of all its sorrows, crimes and caresTo tire thee of it, enter this wild woodAnd view the haunts of Nature. The calm shadeShall bring a kindred calm, and the sweet breezeThat makes the green leaves dance, shall waft a balmTo thy sick heart.

—Bryant.

A retentive memory may be a good thing, but the ability to forget is the true token of greatness.

If there beOne of you all that ever from my presenceI have with sadden'd heart unkindly sent,I here, in meek repentance, of him craveA brother's hand, in token of forgiveness.

'Tis easier for the generous to forgiveThan for the offender to ask it.

A gentleman went to a friend, in great anger at a real injury he had received, which he intended to resent. After relating the particulars, he enquired if it would not bemanlyto resent it? His friend replied, "Yes; it would doubtless bemanlyto resent it, but it would begodliketo forgive it."

How beautifully fallsForgiveness—'tis the attribute of God—From human lips that bless'd word, Forgive;Thrice happy he whose heart has been so schooledThat he can give it utterance; it impartsCelestial grandeur to the human soul,And maketh man an angel.

We forgive just as long as we love.

Hast thou a grudge within thy breast,Which time will not repair?Is hatred still a lurking guestTo intercept thy prayer?"Forgive, and thou shalt be forgiven"Is the decree of heaven."Till seven times! shall I forgive?"Was asked our gracious Lord,List to his answer, heed and live,"Seventy times seven" 's His word."Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven;"Doubt not the word of heaven.

Hast thou a grudge within thy breast,Which time will not repair?Is hatred still a lurking guestTo intercept thy prayer?"Forgive, and thou shalt be forgiven"Is the decree of heaven.

"Till seven times! shall I forgive?"Was asked our gracious Lord,List to his answer, heed and live,"Seventy times seven" 's His word."Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven;"Doubt not the word of heaven.

—Unknown.

He that cannot forgive others, breaks down the bridge over which he must pass himself, for every one has need to be forgiven.

—Lord Herbert.

The world never forgives; it is only God and our mothers that can do that.

—Ellen F. Fowler.

Forgiveness that covers only part of the wrong, is like two fingers given in a handshake.

—Wells.

The story is told of a British soldier who had broken every rule of the army and on whom every form of punishment had been inflicted without avail. He sinned again. His commanding officer was in despair as to what should be done. A fellow officer said, "Suppose you try forgiveness." The guilty soldier was summoned. On being asked what he had to say in palliation of his offense, he hung his head and replied: "Nothing, except I'm very sorry." "Well," said the officer, "We have decided to forgive you." The culprit looked dazed, burst into tears, saluted, and went out to become one of the best soldiers in the army.

—From The Rise of a Soul.By James I. Vance.

Individuals sometimes forgive, but bodies and societies never do.

Nothing is more dangerous to men than a sudden change of fortune.

—Quintilian.

The continuance of good fortune forms no ground of ultimate security.

Fortune gives too much to many, but to none enough.

—Martial.

Good-fortune comes to some people while they are asleep, i. e., without their seeking it.

Good fortune that comes seldom, comes more welcome.

—Dryden.

How often it is, in the twinkling of an eye one vicissitude of fortune follows another.

—Horatius.

That which we acquire with most difficulty, we retain the longest; as those who have earned a fortune are usually more careful of it than those who have inherited one.

—Cotton.

Fortune knocks once at least at every one's door.

If fortune favors you, do not be too elated; if she frowns, do not despond too much.

Manners often make fortunes.

Fortune sometimes makes quick despatch, and in a dayMay strip you bare as beggary itself.

—Cumberland.

The Result of Fortune:—The generality of men sink in virtue as they rise in fortune.

—Sir J. Beaumont.

Don't live in hope with your arms folded. Fortune smiles on those who roll up their sleeves and put their shoulders to the wheel.

Whil'st fortun'd favour'd; friends, you smil'd on me:But, when she fled, a friend I could not see.

—Burton.

Collins, the freethinker, met a plain countryman going to church. He asked him where he was going. "To church sir." "What to do there?" "To worship God." "Pray, whether is your God a great or little God?" "He is both, sir." "How can He be both?" "He is so great that the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him, and so little that He can dwell in my heart." Collins declared that this simple answer had an effect upon his mind such as all the volumes which learned men had written against him had not.

The bird once out of hand is hard to recover.

—From the Danish.

A time like this demandsStrong minds, stout hearts, true faith and ready hands;Men whom the lust of office cannot kill,Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy,Men who possess opinion and a will,Men who have honor, men who will not lie,Men who can stand before a demagogueAnd scorn his treacherous flatteries without winking,Tall men, sun crowned, who live above the fogIn public duty, and in private thinking;For while the rabble with their thumb worn creeds,Their large professions, and their little deedsMingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps,Wrong rules the land and waiting Justice sleeps!

—Unknown.

He who attacks an absent friend, or who does not defend him when spoken ill of by another—that man is a dark character; beware of him.

Be my friend, and teach me to be thine!

My shadow, wheresoe'er I wend,Is with me, like a flattering friend.But chiefly when the sun in JuneIs climbing to its highest noon,My fond attendant closes near,As I were growing still more dear;And then, to show its love complete,Falls even servile at my feet,Where, proud of place, it scarcely nodsBefore the temple of the Gods.But when the evening sun descends,It seems to seek for other friends,Making a dial of the town,To tell that Timon's day goes down;And when the stormy night comes on,I look, and lo! my shade is—gone.

—Atlantic Monthly.

Ah, how good it feels;The hand of an old friend!

If you want enemies, excel others; if you want friends, let others excel you.

A man may have a thousand intimate acquaintances and not a friend among them all. If you have one friend, think yourself happy.

Go slowly to the entertainment of your friends, but quickly to their misfortunes.

Leave a friend! So base I am not. I followed him in his prosperity, when the skies were clear and shining, and will not leave him when storms begin to rise; as gold is tried by the furnace, and the baser metal is shown, so the hollow-hearted friend is known by adversity.

—Metastasio.

Do not lose sight of old attachments for the sake of making new friendships.

A man who is fond of disputing, will, in time, have few friends to dispute with.

I once had money and a friend,By both I set great store;I lent my money to my friend,He was my friend no more.If I had my money and my friend,As I had once before,I'd keep my money to myself,And lose my friend no more.

I once had money and a friend,By both I set great store;I lent my money to my friend,He was my friend no more.

If I had my money and my friend,As I had once before,I'd keep my money to myself,And lose my friend no more.

—Living Age.

If you have a friend worth loving,Love him. Yes, and let him knowThat you love him, ere life's eveningTinge his brow with sunset glow;Why should good words ne'er be saidOf a friend till he is dead?

It is more dishonorable to distrust a friend than to be deceived by him.

—Rochefoucauld.

No life is so strong and complete, But it sometimes yearns for the smile of a friend.

—Wallace Bruce.

He was never a friend who ceased to be so—for a slight cause.

—Seneca.

A friend cannot be known in prosperity; and an enemy cannot be hidden in adversity.

When a friend asks, there should be no tomorrow.

The best mirror is an old friend.

I am not of that feather to shake off my friend when he must need me. I do know him, a gentleman that well deserves a help, which he shall have: I'll pay the debt and free him.

—Shakespeare.

A cut or slight from a foe or stranger, may be scarred over, but a stab from a friend you love hardly ever heals.

—H. L. Meader.

He that telleth thee that thou art always wrong, may be deceived; but he that saith that thou art always right, is surely not telling the truth.

No man can be happy without a friend, nor be sure of his friend till he is unfortunate.

He that ceases to be a friend never was a good one.

One there is above all others,Well deserves the name of Friend!His is love beyond a brother's,Costly, free, and knows no end:They who once His kindness prove,Find it everlasting love!

—Newton.

If you wink at your friend's vices you make them your own.

Without a friend the world is but a wilderness.

—German.

Absolute friends are very rare.

Friends, but few on earth, and therefore dear.

—Pollok.

It is to chance we owe our relatives, to choice our friends.

Equals make the best friends.

False friends are like our shadows, keeping close to us while we walk in the sunshine, but leaving us the instant we cross into the shade.

—Bovee.

There are plenty acquaintances in the world, but very few real friends.

—Chinese.

By my skill I have got many acquaintances, my manners very many friends.

Friends are lost by calling often, and calling seldom.

We ought always to make choice of persons of such worth and honor for our friends, that, if they should even cease to be so, they will not abuse our confidence, nor give us cause to fear them as enemies.

—Addison.

Let us make the best of our friends while we have them, for how long we shall keep them is uncertain.

Friends are like melons. Shall I tell you why?To find one good, you must a hundred try.

—Claude Mermet.

Friends are sometimes like titled husbands, easy to get, if you have enough money.

—H. L. Meader.

Make new friends, but keep the old;Those are silver, these are gold.

My treasures are my friends.

Without friends, no one would choose to live, even if he had all other good things.

Old friends and old ways ought not to be disdained.

—Danish.

Friends, but few on earth, and therefore dear.

—Pollok.

The poor man's assets are his friends.

Purchase not friends by gifts; when thou ceasest to give such will cease to love.

—Fuller.

Baxter said:—"I must confess, as the experience of my own soul, that the expectation of loving my friends in heaven principally kindles my love to them while on earth. If I thought I should never know, and consequently never love them after this life, I should number them with temporal things, and love them as such; but I now delightfully converse with my pious friends, in a firm persuasion that I shall converse with them forever; and I take comfort in those that are dead or absent, believing that I shall shortly meet them in heaven, and love them with a heavenly love."

A gift kept back where it was hoped, often separateth chief friends.

Strange to say,—I am the only one of my friends I can rely upon.

—Terence.

There is no living without friends.

—Portuguese.

True friends anticipate each other's wants.

Friends are sometimes like mushrooms, they spring up in out-of-the-way places.

At the gate of abundance there are many brothers and friends; at the gate of misfortune there is neither brother nor friend.

It is one of the severest tests of friendship to tell a man of his faults. So to love a man that you cannot bear to see the stain of sin upon him, and to go to him alone and speak painful truths in touching, tender words,—that is friendship, and a friendship as rare as it is precious.

Henceforth there shall be no other contention betwixt you and me, than which shall outdo the other in point of friendship.

Cultivate your neighbor's friendship; he needs you and you need him.

Friendship often ends in love;But love, in friendship—Never.

Renewed friendships require more care than those that have never been broken.

—Rochefoucauld.

Need for making Acquaintance.—If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man should keep his friendshipin constant repair.

—Sam'l Johnson.

Suspicion kills friendship.

—Hugh Black.

Who friendship with a knave hath made,Is judg'd a partner in the trade.

What need of years, long years, to proveThe sense of friendship, or of love!

There is truly nothing purer and warmer than our first friendship, our first love.

—Jean Paul Richter.

The permanency of most friendships depends upon the continuity of good fortune.

Quickly made friendships, are often eagerly and quickly ended.

Rare is true love: true friendship is still rarer.

—Rochefoucauld.

Real friendship is like a sheltering tree.

He is my friend that helps me, and not he that pities me.

Friendship has a powerTo soothe affliction in her darkest hour.

—H. Kirke White.

O summer friendship,Whose flattering leaves, that shadow'd us inOur prosperity, with the least gust drop offIn th' autumn of adversity!

—Massinger.

Love Him, and keep Him for thy Friend, who, when all go away, will not forsake thee, nor suffer thee to perish at the last.

—Thomas A'Kempis.

True friendship is one of the greatest blessings upon earth; it makes the cares and anxieties of life sit easy; provides us with a partner in every affliction to alleviate the burthen, and is a sure resort against every accident and difficulty that can happen.

True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldomknownuntil it is lost.

—Colton.

Those who speak always and those who never speak, are equally unfit for friendship.

He who never gives advice, and he who never takes it are alike unworthy of friendship.

He who is worthy of friendship at all will remember in his prosperity those who were his friends in his adversity.

Value the friendship of him who stands by you in a storm; swarms of insects will surround you in the sunshine.

No matter how poor and mean a man is, his friendship is worth more than his hate.

Good fruit never comes from a bad tree.

—Portuguese.

There is nothing like fun, is there? I haven't any myself, but I do like it in others.

—Haliburton.

Groping for the Door.—O door, so close, yet so far off!

—Miss Mulock.

If you would have your name chime melodiously in the ears of future days, cultivate faith, and not doubt, giving unto every man credit for the good he does, and never attribute base motives to beautiful acts.

—Unknown.

Future:—The future does not come from before to meet us, but comes streaming up from behind over our heads.

—Rahel.

Future—to be met without Fear:—Look not mournfully into the past,—it comes not back again; wisely improve the present,—it is thine; go forth to meet the shadowy future without fear, and with a manly heart.

—Longfellow.

One thing obtained with difficulty is far better than a hundred things procured with ease.

—The Talmud.

Gain, has oft, with treacherous hopes led men to ruin.

—Sophocles.

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