Childhood shows the manAs morning shows the day.—Milton.
Childhood shows the manAs morning shows the day.—Milton.
Be very vigilant over thy child in the April of his understanding, lest the frost of May nip his blossoms. While he is a tender twig, straighten him; whilst he is a new vessel, season him; such as thou makest him, such commonly shalt thou find him. Let his first lesson be obedience, and his second shall be what thou wilt.—Quarles.
A child is an angel dependent on man.—Count de Maistre.
A child's eyes, those clear wells of undefiled thought—what on earth can be more beautiful? Full of hope, love and curiosity, they meet your own. In prayer, how earnest; in joy, how sparkling; in sympathy, how tender! The man who never tried the companionship of a little child has carelessly passed by one of the great pleasures of life, as one passes a rare flower without plucking it or knowing its value.—Mrs. Norton.
If a boy is not trained to endure and to bear trouble, he will grow up a girl; and a boy that is a girl has all a girl's weakness without any of her regal qualities. A woman made out of a woman is God's noblest work; a woman made out of a man is his meanest.—Beecher.
Children are the keys of Paradise.* * * They alone are good and wise,Because their thoughts, their very lives are prayer.—Stoddard.
Children are the keys of Paradise.* * * They alone are good and wise,Because their thoughts, their very lives are prayer.—Stoddard.
Blessed be the hand that prepares a pleasure for a child, for there is no saying when and where it may bloom forth.—Douglas Jerrold.
Many children, many cares; no children, no felicity.—Bovee.
If there is anything that will endureThe eye of God because it still is pure,It is the spirit of a little child,Fresh from His hand, and therefore undefiled.Nearer the gate of Paradise than we,Our children breathe its airs, its angels see;And when they pray, God hears their simple prayer,Yea, even sheathes His sword, in judgment bare.—Stoddard.
If there is anything that will endureThe eye of God because it still is pure,It is the spirit of a little child,Fresh from His hand, and therefore undefiled.Nearer the gate of Paradise than we,Our children breathe its airs, its angels see;And when they pray, God hears their simple prayer,Yea, even sheathes His sword, in judgment bare.—Stoddard.
Every child walks into existence through the golden gate of love.—Beecher.
Of all sights which can soften and humanize the heart of man, there is none that ought so surely to reach it as that of innocent children enjoying the happiness which is their proper and natural portion.—Southey.
Ah! what would the world be to us,If the children were no more?We should dread the desert behind usWorse than the dark before.—Longfellow.
Ah! what would the world be to us,If the children were no more?We should dread the desert behind usWorse than the dark before.—Longfellow.
Jesus was the first great teacher of men who showed a genuine sympathy for childhood. When He said, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven," it was a revelation.—Edward Eggleston.
Where children are there is the golden age.—Novalis.
Christ.—The best of men that ever wore earth about him was a sufferer, a soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit; the first true gentleman that ever breathed.—Decker.
All the glory and beauty of Christ are manifested within, and there He delights to dwell; His visits there are frequent, His condescension amazing, His conversation sweet, His comforts refreshing; and the peace that He brings passeth all understanding.—Thomas à Kempis.
From first to last Jesus is the same; always the same, majestic and simple, infinitely severe and infinitely gentle.—Napoleon I.
He, the Holiest among the mighty, and the Mightiest among the holy, has lifted with His pierced hands empires off their hinges, has turned the stream of centuries out of its channel, and still governs the ages.—Richter.
In His death He is a sacrifice, satisfying for our sins; in the resurrection, a conqueror; in the ascension, a king; in the intercession, a high priest.—Luther.
Jesus Christ was more than man.—Napoleon I.
The sages and heroes of history are receding from us, and history contracts the record of their deeds into a narrower and narrower page. But time has no power over the name and deeds and words of Jesus Christ.—Channing.
Alexander, Cæsar, Charlemagne and I myself have founded empires; but upon what do these creations of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus alone founded His empire upon love; and to this very day millions would die for Him.—Napoleon I.
If the life and death of Socrates were those of a sage, the life and death of Jesus were those of a God.—Rousseau.
Those who have minutely studied the character of the Saviour will find it difficult to determine whether there is most to admire or to imitate in it—there is so much of both.
Christianity.—A Christian is God Almighty's gentleman.—Hare.
The real security of Christianity is to be found in its benevolent morality, in its exquisite adaptation to the human heart, in the facility with which its scheme accommodates itself to the capacity of every human intellect, in the consolation which it bears to every house of mourning, in the light with which it brightens the great mystery of the grave.—Macaulay.
It is the truth divine, speaking to our whole being: occupying, calling into action, and satisfying man's every faculty, supplying the minutest wants of his being, and speaking in one and the same moment to his reason, his conscience and his heart. It is the light of reason, the life of the heart, and the strength of the will.—Pierre.
Since its introduction, human nature has made great progress, and society experienced great changes; and in this advanced condition of the world, Christianity, instead of losing its application and importance, is found to be more and more congenial and adapted to man's nature and wants. Men have outgrown the other institutions of that period when Christianity appeared, its philosophy, its modes of warfare, its policy, its public and private economy; but Christianity has never shrunk as intellect has opened, but has always kept in advance of men's faculties, and unfolded nobler views in proportion as they have ascended. The highest powers and affections which our nature has developed, find more than adequate objects in this religion. Christianity is indeed peculiarly fitted to the more improved stages of society, to the more delicate sensibilities of refined minds, and especially to that dissatisfaction with the present state, which always grows with the growth of our moral powers and affections.—Channing.
It is a refiner as well as a purifier of the heart; it imparts correctness of perception, delicacy of sentiment, and all those nicer shades of thought and feeling which constitute elegance of mind.—Mrs. John Sanford.
I desire no other evidence of the truth of Christianity than the Lord's Prayer.—Madame de Stael.
Had it been published by a voice from heaven, that twelve poor men, taken out of boats and creeks, without any help of learning, should conquer the world to the cross, it might have been thought an illusion against all reason of men; yet we know it was undertaken and accomplished by them.—Stephen Charnock.
A few persons of an odious and despised country could not have filled the world with believers, had they not shown undoubted credentials from the divine person who sent them on such a message.—Addison.
Company.—Nature has left every man a capacity of being agreeable, though not of shining in company; and there are a hundred men sufficiently qualified for both who, by a very few faults, that they might correct in half an hour, are not so much as tolerable.—Swift.
It is certain that either wise bearing or ignorant carriage is caught as men take diseases one of another; therefore, let men take heed of their company.—Shakespeare.
The most agreeable of all companions is a simple, frank man, without any high pretensions to an oppressive greatness; one who loves life, and understands the use of it; obliging alike at all hours; above all, of a golden temper and steadfast as an anchor. For such an one we gladly exchange the greatest genius, the most brilliant wit, the profoundest thinker.—Lessing.
No man can possibly improve in any company for which he has not respect enough to be under some degree of restraint.—Chesterfield.
A companion is but another self; wherefore it is an argument that a man is wicked if he keep company with the wicked.—St. Clement.
Let them have ever so learned lectures of breeding, that which will most influence their carriage will be the company they converse with, and the fashion of those about them.—Locke.
Conceit.—Be not wise in your own conceits.—Romans 12:16.
Conceit is the most contemptible and one of the most odious qualities in the world. It is vanity driven from all other shifts, and forced to appeal to itself for admiration.—Hazlitt.
The certain way to be cheated is to fancy one's self more cunning than others.—Charron.
Conceit is to nature what paint is to beauty; it is not only needless, but impairs what it would improve.—Pope.
Be very slow to believe that you are wiser than all others; it is a fatal but common error. Where one has been saved by a true estimation of another's weakness, thousands have been destroyed by a false appreciation of their own strength.—Colton.
We go and fancy that everybody is thinking of us. But he is not; he is like us—he is thinking of himself.—Charles Reade.
Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him.—Proverbs 26:12.
A man who is proud of small things shows that small things are great to him.—Madame de Girardin.
Self-made men are most always apt to be a little too proud of the job.—H.W. Shaw.
Nature has sometimes made a fool, but a coxcomb is always of a man's own making.—Addison.
He who gives himself airs of importance exhibits the credentials of impotence.—Lavater.
The more any one speaks of himself, the less he likes to hear another talked of.—Lavater.
Conduct.—I will govern my life, and my thoughts, as if the whole world were to see the one, and to read the other; for what does it signify to make anything a secret to my neighbor, when to God (who is the searcher of our hearts) all our privacies are open?—Seneca.
The integrity of men is to be measured by their conduct, not by their professions.—Junius.
Have more than thou showest,Speak less than thou knowest,Lend less than thou owest,Learn more than thou trowest,Set less than thou throwest.—Shakespeare.
Have more than thou showest,Speak less than thou knowest,Lend less than thou owest,Learn more than thou trowest,Set less than thou throwest.—Shakespeare.
A man, like a watch, is to be valued for his manner of going.—William Penn.
I would, God knows, in a poor woodman's hutHave spent my peaceful days, and shared my crustWith her who would have cheer'd me, rather farThan on this throne; but being what I am,I'll be it nobly.—Joanna Baillie.
I would, God knows, in a poor woodman's hutHave spent my peaceful days, and shared my crustWith her who would have cheer'd me, rather farThan on this throne; but being what I am,I'll be it nobly.—Joanna Baillie.
Only addDeeds to thy knowledge answerable, add faith,Add virtue, patience, temperance, add love,By name to come call'd charity, the soulOf all the rest: then wilt thou not be loathTo leave this Paradise, but shalt possessA Paradise within thee, happier far.—Milton.
Only addDeeds to thy knowledge answerable, add faith,Add virtue, patience, temperance, add love,By name to come call'd charity, the soulOf all the rest: then wilt thou not be loathTo leave this Paradise, but shalt possessA Paradise within thee, happier far.—Milton.
Take heed lest passion swayThy judgment to do aught which else free-willWould not admit.—Milton.
Take heed lest passion swayThy judgment to do aught which else free-willWould not admit.—Milton.
Confidence.—Whatever distrust we may have of the sincerity of those who converse with us, we always believe they will tell us more truth than they do to others.—La Rochefoucauld.
Never put much confidence in such as put no confidence in others.—Hare.
When young, we trust ourselves too much, and we trust others too little when old. Rashness is the error of youth, timid caution of age. Manhood is the isthmus between the two extremes; the ripe and fertile season of action, when alone we can hope to find the head to contrive, united with the hand to execute.—Colton.
He who believes in nobody knows that he himself is not to be trusted.—Auerbach.
Trust not him that hath once broken faith.—Shakespeare.
People have generally three epochs in their confidence in man. In the first they believe him to be everything that is good, and they are lavish with their friendship and confidence. In the next, they have had experience, which has smitten down their confidence, and they then have to be careful not to mistrust every one, and to put the worst construction upon everything. Later in life, they learn that the greater number of men have much more good in them than bad, and that even when there is cause to blame, there is more reason to pity than condemn; and then a spirit of confidence again awakens within them.—Fredrika Bremer.
Trust him little who praises all, him less who censures all, and him least who is indifferent about all.—Lavater.
Conscience.—Conscience is a clock which, in one man, strikes aloud and gives warning; in another, the hand points silently to the figure, but strikes not. Meantime, hours pass away, and death hastens, and after death comes judgment.—Jeremy Taylor.
Oh! Conscience! Conscience! Man's most faithful friend,Him canst thou comfort, ease, relieve, defend:But if he will thy friendly checks forego,Thou art, oh! wo for me, his deadliest foe!—Crabbe.
Oh! Conscience! Conscience! Man's most faithful friend,Him canst thou comfort, ease, relieve, defend:But if he will thy friendly checks forego,Thou art, oh! wo for me, his deadliest foe!—Crabbe.
In the commission of evil, fear no man so much as thyself; another is but one witness against thee, thou art a thousand; another thou mayest avoid, thyself thou canst not. Wickedness is its own punishment.—Quarles.
A good conscience is a continual Christmas.—Franklin.
Be mine that silent calm repast,A conscience cheerful to the last:That tree which bears immortal fruit,Without a canker at the root;That friend which never fails the just,When other friends desert their trust.—Dr. Cotton.
Be mine that silent calm repast,A conscience cheerful to the last:That tree which bears immortal fruit,Without a canker at the root;That friend which never fails the just,When other friends desert their trust.—Dr. Cotton.
No man ever offended his own conscience, but first or last it was revenged upon him for it.—South.
He that loses his conscience has nothing left that is worth keeping. Therefore be sure you look to that, and in the next place look to your health; and if you have it praise God and value it next to a good conscience.—Izaak Walton.
Our secret thoughts are rarely heard except in secret. No man knows what conscience is until he understands what solitude can teach him concerning it.—Joseph Cook.
A man never outlives his conscience, and that, for this cause only, he cannot outlive himself.—South.
Rules of society are nothing, one's conscience is the umpire.—Madame Dudevant.
A man, so to speak, who is not able to bow to his own conscience every morning is hardly in a condition to respectfully salute the world at any other time of the day.—Douglas Jerrold.
In matters of conscience first thoughts are best; in matters of prudence last thoughts are best—Rev. Robert Hall.
A man's first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart; his next, to escape the censures of the world. If the last interferes with the former, it ought to be entirely neglected; but otherwise there cannot be a greater satisfaction to an honest mind, than to see those approbations which it gives itself seconded by the applause of the public.—Addison.
Conscience raises its voice in the breast of every man, a witness for his Creator.
We should have all our communications with men, as in the presence of God; and with God, as in the presence of men.—Colton.
I am more afraid of my own heart than of the pope and all his cardinals. I have within me the great pope, self.—Luther.
The most reckless sinner against his own conscience has always in the background the consolation that he will go on in this course only this time, or only so long, but that at such a time he will amend. We may be assured that we do not stand clear with our own consciences so long as we determine or project, or even hold it possible, at some future time to alter our course of action.—Fichte.
There is one court whose "findings" are incontrovertible, and whose sessions are held in the chambers of our own breast.—Hosea Ballou.
Trust that man in nothing who has not a conscience in everything.—Sterne.
He that hath a blind conscience which sees nothing, a dead conscience which feels nothing, and a dumb conscience which says nothing, is in as miserable a condition as a man can be on this side of hell.—Patrick Henry.
Conscience is its own readiest accuser.—Chapin.
If thou wouldst be informed what God has written concerning thee in Heaven look into thine own bosom, and see what graces He hath there wrought in thee.—Fuller.
Yet still there whispers the small voice within,Heard thro' gain's silence, and o'er glory's din;Whatever creed be taught or land be trod,Man's conscience is the oracle of God!—Byron.
Yet still there whispers the small voice within,Heard thro' gain's silence, and o'er glory's din;Whatever creed be taught or land be trod,Man's conscience is the oracle of God!—Byron.
The world will never be in any manner of order or tranquillity until men are firmly convinced that conscience, honor and credit are all in one interest; and that without the concurrence of the former the latter are but impositions upon ourselves and others.—Steele.
Contentment.—To secure a contented spirit, measure your desires by your fortune, and not your fortune by your desires.—Jeremy Taylor.
I press to bear no haughty sway;I wish no more than may suffice:I do no more than well I may,Look what I lack, my mind supplies;Lo, thus I triumph like a king,My mind's content with anything.—Byrd.
I press to bear no haughty sway;I wish no more than may suffice:I do no more than well I may,Look what I lack, my mind supplies;Lo, thus I triumph like a king,My mind's content with anything.—Byrd.
Enjoy your own life without comparing it with that of another.—Condorcet.
To be content with little is difficult; to be content with much, impossible.—Marie Ebner-Eschenbach.
My God, give me neither poverty nor riches; but whatsoever it may be Thy will to give, give me with it a heart which knows humbly to acquiesce in what is Thy will.—Gotthold.
One who is contented with what he has done will never become famous for what he will do. He has lain down to die. The grass is already growing over him.—Bovee.
Contentment is a pearl of great price, and whoever procures it at the expense of ten thousand desires makes a wise and a happy purchase.—Balguy.
If men knew what felicity dwells in the cottage of a godly man, how sound he sleeps, how quiet his rest, how composed his mind, how free from care, how easy his position, how moist his mouth, how joyful his heart, they would never admire the noises, the diseases, the throngs of passions, and the violence of unnatural appetites that fill the house of the luxurious and the heart of the ambitious.—Jeremy Taylor.
He is richest who is content with the least; for content is the wealth of nature.—Socrates.
Poor and content, is rich and rich enough;But riches, fineless, is as poor as winter,To him that ever fears he shall be poor.—Shakespeare.
Poor and content, is rich and rich enough;But riches, fineless, is as poor as winter,To him that ever fears he shall be poor.—Shakespeare.
Learn to be pleased with everything, with wealth so far as it makes us beneficial to others; with poverty, for not having much to care for; and with obscurity, for being unenvied.—Plutarch.
It is right to be contented with what we have, but never with what we are.—Sir James Mackintosh.
Without content, we shall find it almost as difficult to please others as ourselves.—Greville.
True contentment depends not upon what we have; a tub was large enough for Diogenes, but a world was too little for Alexander.—Colton.
Content with poverty my soul I arm;And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm.—Dryden.
Content with poverty my soul I arm;And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm.—Dryden.
Unless we find repose within ourselves, it is vain to seek it elsewhere.—Hosea Ballou.
The noblest mind the best contentment has.—Spenser.
I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.—Philippians 4:11.
Conversation.—The pith of conversation does not consist in exhibiting your own superior knowledge on matters of small consequence, but in enlarging, improving and correcting the information you possess by the authority of others.—Sir Walter Scott.
There are three things in speech that ought to be considered before some things are spoken—the manner, the place and the time.—Southey.
The secret of tiring is to say everything that can be said on the subject.—Voltaire.
Speak little and well if you wish to be considered as possessing merit.—From the French.
The less men think, the more they talk.—Montesquieu.
He who sedulously attends, pointedly asks, calmly speaks, coolly answers, and ceases when he has no more to say, is in possession of some of the best requisites of man.—Lavater.
Amongst such as out of cunning hear all and talk little, be sure to talk less; or if you must talk, say little.—La Bruyère.
Not only to say the right thing in the right place, but, far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.—G.A. Sala.
When we are in the company of sensible men, we ought to be doubly cautious of talking too much, lest we lose two good things, their good opinion and our own improvement; for what we have to say we know, but what they have to say we know not.—Colton.
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.
There is speaking well, speaking easily, speaking justly and speaking seasonably: It is offending against the last, to speak of entertainments before the indigent; of sound limbs and health before the infirm; of houses and lands before one who has not so much as a dwelling; in a word, to speak of your prosperity before the miserable; this conversation is cruel, and the comparison which naturally arises in them betwixt their condition and yours is excruciating.—La Bruyère.
Egotists cannot converse, they talk to themselves only.—A. Bronson Alcott.
The extreme pleasure we take in talking of ourselves should make us fear that we give very little to those who listen to us.—La Rochefoucauld.
Many can argue, not many converse.—A. Bronson Alcott.
One thing which makes us find so few people who appear reasonable and agreeable in conversation is, that there is scarcely any one who does not think more of what he is about to say than of answering precisely what is said to him.—La Rochefoucauld.
The first ingredient in conversation is truth, the next good sense, the third good humor, and the fourth wit.
It is a secret known but to few, yet of no small use in the conduct of life, that when you fall into a man's conversation, the first thing you should consider is, whether he has a greater inclination to hear you, or that you should hear him.—Steele.
In my whole life I have only known ten or twelve persons with whom it was pleasant to speak—i.e., who keep to the subject, do not repeat themselves, and do not talk of themselves; men who do not listen to their own voice, who are cultivated enough not to lose themselves in commonplaces, and, lastly, who possess tact and good taste enough not to elevate their own persons above their subjects.—Metternich.
Counsel.—I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching.—Shakespeare.
The best receipt—best to work and best to take—is the admonition of a friend.—Bacon.
Consult your friend on all things, especially on those which respect yourself. His counsel may then be useful, where your own self-love might impair your judgment.—Seneca.
Let no man value at little price a virtuous woman's counsel.—George Chapman.
Courage.—The conscience of every man recognizes courage as the foundation of manliness, and manliness as the perfection of human character.—Thomas Hughes.
To struggle when hope is banished!To live when life's salt is gone!To dwell in a dream that's vanished!To endure, and go calmly on!
To struggle when hope is banished!To live when life's salt is gone!To dwell in a dream that's vanished!To endure, and go calmly on!
The brave man is not he who feels no fear,For that were stupid and irrational;But he, whose noble soul its fear subdues,And bravely dares the danger nature shrinks from.—Joanna Baillie.
The brave man is not he who feels no fear,For that were stupid and irrational;But he, whose noble soul its fear subdues,And bravely dares the danger nature shrinks from.—Joanna Baillie.
A valiant manOught not to undergo or tempt a danger,But worthily, and by selected ways;He undertakes by reason, not by chance.—Ben Jonson.
A valiant manOught not to undergo or tempt a danger,But worthily, and by selected ways;He undertakes by reason, not by chance.—Ben Jonson.
True courage is cool and calm. The bravest of men have the least of a brutal bullying insolence, and in the very time of danger are found the most serene and free. Rage, we know, can make a coward forget himself and fight. But what is done in fury or anger can never be placed to the account of courage.—Shaftesbury.
Much danger makes great hearts most resolute.—Marston.
Courage consists not in blindly overlooking danger, but in seeing it and conquering it.—Richter.
The truest courage is always mixed with circumspection; this being the quality which distinguishes the courage of the wise from the hardiness of the rash and foolish.—Jones of Nayland.
Physical courage, which despises all danger, will make a man brave in one way; and moral courage, which despises all opinion, will make a man brave in another. The former would seem most necessary for the camp, the latter for council; but to constitute a great man, both are necessary.—Colton.
He who loses wealth loses much; he who loses a friend loses more; but he that loses his courage loses all.—Cervantes.
Courtship.—Every man ought to be in love a few times in his life, and to have a smart attack of the fever. You are better for it when it is over: the better for your misfortune, if you endure it with a manly heart; how much the better for success, if you win it and a good wife into the bargain!—Thackeray.
Men dream in courtship, but in wedlock wake!—Pope.
With women worth the being won,The softest lover ever best succeeds.—Hill.
With women worth the being won,The softest lover ever best succeeds.—Hill.
The pleasantest part of a man's life is generally that which passes in courtship, provided his passion be sincere, and the party beloved kind with discretion. Love, desire, hope, all the pleasing emotions of the soul, rise in the pursuit.—Addison.
How would that excellent mystery, wedded life, irradiate the world with its blessed influences, were the generous impulses and sentiments of courtship but perpetuated in all their exuberant fullness during the sequel of marriage!—Frederic Saunders.
Rejected lovers need never despair! There are four-and-twenty hours in a day, and not a moment in the twenty-four in which a woman may not change her mind.—De Finod.
Courtship consists in a number of quiet attentions, not so pointed as to alarm, nor so vague as not to be understood.—Sterne.
Covetousness.—Covetousness, like a candle ill made, smothers the splendor of a happy fortune in its own grease.—F. Osborn.
The only instance of a despairing sinner left upon record in the New Testament is that of a treacherous and greedy Judas.
He deservedly loses his own property who covets that of another.—Phaedrus.
Covetousness, which is idolatry.—Colossians 3:5.
There is not a vice which more effectually contracts and deadens the feelings, which more completely makes a man's affections centre in himself, and excludes all others from partaking in them, than the desire of accumulating possessions. When the desire has once gotten hold on the heart, it shuts out all other considerations, but such as may promote its views. In its zeal for the attainment of its end, it is not delicate in the choice of means. As it closes the heart, so also it clouds the understanding. It cannot discern between right and wrong; it takes evil for good, and good for evil; it calls darkness light, and light darkness. Beware, then, of the beginning of covetousness, for you know not where it will end.—Bishop Mant.
The covetous person lives as if the world were made altogether for him, and not he for the world; to take in everything, and part with nothing.—South.
Covetous men are fools, miserable wretches, buzzards, madmen, who live by themselves, in perpetual slavery, fear, suspicion, sorrow, discontent, with more of gall than honey in their enjoyments; who are rather possessed by their money than possessors of it.—Burton.
Why are we so blind? That which we improve, we have, that which we hoard is not for ourselves.—Madame Deluzy.
If money be not thy servant, it will be thy master. The covetous man cannot so properly be said to possess wealth, as that it may be said to possess him.—Bacon.
Those who give not till they die show that they would not then if they could keep it any longer.—Bishop Hall.
Criticism.—He whose first emotion, on the view of an excellent production, is to undervalue it, will never have one of his own to show.—Aiken.
Neither praise nor blame is the object of true criticism. Justly to discriminate, firmly to establish, wisely to prescribe and honestly to award—these are the true aims and duties of criticism.—Simms.
Censure and criticism never hurt anybody. If false, they can't hurt you unless you are wanting in manly character; and if true, they show a man his weak points, and forewarn him against failure and trouble.—Gladstone.
It is easy to criticise an author, but it is difficult to appreciate him.—Vauvenargues.
It is much easier to be critical than to be correct.—Beaconsfield.
There is a certain meddlesome spirit, which, in the garb of learned research, goes prying about the traces of history, casting down its monuments, and marring and mutilating its fairest trophies. Care should be taken to vindicate great names from such pernicious erudition.—Washington Irving.
He who would reproach an author for obscurity should look into his own mind to see whether it is quite clear there. In the dusk the plainest writing is illegible.—Goethe.
A man must serve his time to ev'ry trade,Save censure; critics all are ready-made.
A man must serve his time to ev'ry trade,Save censure; critics all are ready-made.
Cunning.—In a great business there is nothing so fatal as cunning management.—Junius.
Cunning leads to knavery; it is but a step from one to the other, and that very slippery; lying only makes the difference; add that to cunning, and it is knavery.—La Bruyère.
Cunning is the art of concealing our own defects, and discovering other people's weaknesses.—Hazlitt.
A cunning man overreaches no one half as much as himself.—Beecher.
The animals to whom nature has given the faculty we call cunning know always when to use it, and use it wisely; but when man descends to cunning, he blunders and betrays.—Thomas Paine.
The most sure method of subjecting yourself to be deceived, is to consider yourself more cunning than others.—La Rochefoucauld.
Death.—God's finger touch'd him, and he slept.—Tennyson.
But no! that look is not the last;We yet may meet where seraphs dwell,Where love no more deplores the past,Nor breathes that withering word—Farewell!—Peabody.
But no! that look is not the last;We yet may meet where seraphs dwell,Where love no more deplores the past,Nor breathes that withering word—Farewell!—Peabody.
How beautiful it is for a man to die on the walls of Zion! to be called like a watch-worn and weary sentinel, to put his armor off, and rest in heaven.—N.P. Willis.
I looked, and behold a pale horse; and his name that sat on him was Death.—Revelation 6:8.
When we see our enemies and friends gliding away before us, let us not forget that we are subject to the general law of mortality, and shall soon be where our doom will be fixed forever.—Dr. Johnson.
I have seen those who have arrived at a fearless contemplation of the future, from faith in the doctrine which our religion teaches. Such men were not only calm and supported, but cheerful in the hour of death; and I never quitted such a sick chamber without a hope that my last end might be like theirs.—Sir Henry Halford.
One may live as a conqueror, a king or a magistrate; but he must die as a man. The bed of death brings every human being to his pure individuality; to the intense contemplation of that deepest and most solemn of all relations, the relation between the creature and his Creator. Here it is that fame and renown cannot assist us; that all external things must fail to aid us; that even friends, affection and human love and devotedness cannot succor us.—Webster.
There is no death. The thing that we call deathIs but another, sadder name for life.—Stoddard.
There is no death. The thing that we call deathIs but another, sadder name for life.—Stoddard.
To die,—to sleep,—No more;—and by a sleep to say we endThe heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocksThat flesh is heir to.—Shakespeare.
To die,—to sleep,—No more;—and by a sleep to say we endThe heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocksThat flesh is heir to.—Shakespeare.
All that nature has prescribed must be good; and as death is natural to us, it is absurdity to fear it. Fear loses its purpose when we are sure it cannot preserve us, and we should draw resolution to meet it, from the impossibility to escape it.—Steele.
There is nothing certain in man's life but this, that he must lose it.—Owen Meredith.
Death robs the rich and relieves the poor.—J.L. Basford.
Death is the liberator of him whom freedom cannot release, the physician of him whom medicine cannot cure, and the comforter of him whom time cannot console.—Colton.
Death, so called, is a thing that makes men weep,And yet a third of life is pass'd in sleep.—Byron.
Death, so called, is a thing that makes men weep,And yet a third of life is pass'd in sleep.—Byron.
The finest day of life is that on which one quits it.—Frederick the Great.