To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,To throw a perfume on the violet,To smooth the ice, or add another hueUnto the rainbow, or with taper-lightTo seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish,Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.—Shakespeare.
To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,To throw a perfume on the violet,To smooth the ice, or add another hueUnto the rainbow, or with taper-lightTo seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish,Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.—Shakespeare.
The excesses of our youth are drafts upon our old age, payable with interest, about thirty years after date.—Colton.
The body oppressed by excesses, bears down the mind, and depresses to the earth any portion of the divine spirit we had been endowed with.—Horace.
Every morsel to a satisfied hunger is only a new labor to a tired digestion.—South.
Let pleasure be ever so innocent, the excess is always criminal.—St. Evremond.
Exercise.—A man must often exercise or fast or take physic, or be sick.—Sir W. Temple.
It is exercise alone that supports the spirits, and keeps the mind in vigor.—Cicero.
There are many troubles which you cannot cure by the Bible and the hymn-book, but which you can cure by a good perspiration and a breath of fresh air.—Beecher.
Exercise is the chief source of improvement in all our faculties.—Blair.
You will never live to my age without you keep yourself in breath with exercise.—Sir P. Sidney.
Experience.—To Truth's house there is a single door, which is experience.—Bayard Taylor.
Experience join'd with common sense,To mortals is a providence.—Green.
Experience join'd with common sense,To mortals is a providence.—Green.
Experience does take dreadfully high school-wages, but he teaches like no other.—Carlyle.
No man was ever endowed with a judgment so correct and judicious, in regulating his life, but that circumstances, time and experience, would teach him something new, and apprize him that of those things with which he thought himself the best acquainted, he knew nothing; and that those ideas, which in theory appeared the most advantageous, were found, when brought into practice, to be altogether inapplicable.—Terence.
Experience is a grindstone; and it is lucky for us if we can get brightened by it, and not ground.—H.W. Shaw.
It may serve as a comfort to us in all our calamities and afflictions that he that loses anything and gets wisdom by it is a gainer by the loss.—L'Estrange.
To wilful men,The injuries that they themselves procure,Must be their schoolmasters.—Shakespeare.
To wilful men,The injuries that they themselves procure,Must be their schoolmasters.—Shakespeare.
Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other, and scarce in that; for it is true we may give advice, but we cannot give conduct.—Franklin.
All is but lip wisdom which wants experience.—Sir P. Sidney.
Extravagance.—He who is extravagant will quickly become poor; and poverty will enforce dependence, and invite corruption.—Dr. Johnson.
The man who builds, and wants wherewith to pay,Provides a home from which to run away.—Young.
The man who builds, and wants wherewith to pay,Provides a home from which to run away.—Young.
Faith.—What we believe, we must believe wholly and without reserve; wherefore the only perfect and satisfying object of faith is God. A faith that sets bounds to itself, that will believe so much and no more, that will trust thus far and no farther, is none.
Faith is the key that unlocks the cabinet of God's treasures; the king's messenger from the celestial world, to bring all the supplies we need out of the fullness that there is in Christ.—J. Stephens.
Faith builds a bridge from this world to the next.—Young.
It is impossible to be a hero in anything unless one is first a hero in faith.—Jacobi.
Faith is not the lazy notion that a man may with careless confidence throw his burden upon the Saviour and trouble himself no further, a pillow upon which he lulls his conscience to sleep, till he drops into perdition; but a living and vigorous principle, working by love, and inseparably connected with true repentance as its motive and with holy obedience as its fruits.
Faith is the root of all good works. A root that produces nothing is dead.—Bishop Wilson.
The person who has a firm trust in the Supreme Being is powerful in his power, wise by his wisdom, happy by his happiness.—Addison.
The highest historical probability can be adduced in support of the proposition that, if it were possible to annihilate the Bible, and with it all its influences, we should destroy with it the whole spiritual system of the moral world.—Edward Everett.
He had great faith in loaves of breadFor hungry people, young and old,And hope inspired; kind words he saidTo those he sheltered from the cold.In words he did not put his trust;His faith in words he never writ;He loved to share his cup and crustWith all mankind who needed it.He put his trust in Heaven and heWorked well with hand and head;And what he gave in charitySweetened his sleep and daily bread.
He had great faith in loaves of breadFor hungry people, young and old,And hope inspired; kind words he saidTo those he sheltered from the cold.In words he did not put his trust;His faith in words he never writ;He loved to share his cup and crustWith all mankind who needed it.He put his trust in Heaven and heWorked well with hand and head;And what he gave in charitySweetened his sleep and daily bread.
No cloud can overshadow a true Christian but his faith will discern a rainbow in it.—Bishop Horne.
Faith in God, faith in man, faith in work: this is the short formula in which we may sum up the teachings of the founders of New England,—a creed ample enough for this life and the next.—Lowell.
Fame.—None despise fame more heartily than those who have no possible claim to it.—J. Petit-Senn.
He who would acquire fame must not show himself afraid of censure. The dread of censure is the death of genius.—Simms.
Though fame is smoke, its fumes are frankincense to human thoughts.—Byron.
He lives in fame that died in virtue's cause.—Shakespeare.
Whatever may be the temporary applause of men, or the expressions of public opinion, it may be asserted without fear of contradiction, that no true and permanent fame can be founded, except in labors which promote the happiness of mankind.—Charles Sumner.
Fame usually comes to those who are thinking about something else,—very rarely to those who say to themselves, "Go to, now let us be a celebrated individual!"—Holmes.
It is a very indiscreet and troublesome ambition which cares so much about fame; about what the world says of us; to be always looking in the faces of others for approval; to be always anxious about the effect of what we do or say; to be always shouting, to hear the echoes of our own voices.—Longfellow.
The way to fame is like the way to heaven—through much tribulation.—Sterne.
Nor fame I slight, nor for her favors call:She comes unlook'd for, if she comes at all.—Pope.
Nor fame I slight, nor for her favors call:She comes unlook'd for, if she comes at all.—Pope.
Write your name in kindness, love and mercy on the hearts of the thousands you come in contact with year by year, and you will never be forgotten.—Chalmers.
The drying up a single tear has moreOf honest fame, than shedding seas of gore.—Byron.
The drying up a single tear has moreOf honest fame, than shedding seas of gore.—Byron.
Fashion.—Fashion's smile has given wit to dullness and grace to deformity, and has brought everything into vogue, by turns, except virtue.—Colton.
A woman would be in despair if Nature had formed her as fashion makes her appear.—Mlle. De l'Espinasse.
Fashion is not public opinion, or the result of embodiment of public opinion. It may be that public opinion will condemn the shape of a bonnet, as it may venture to do always, and with the certainty of being right nine times in ten: but fashion will place it upon the head of every woman in America; and, were it literally a crown of thorns, she would smile contentedly beneath the imposition.—J.G. Holland.
Fashion is among the last influences under which a human being who respects himself, or who comprehends the great end of life, would desire to be placed.—Channing.
The Empress of France had but to change the position of a ribbon to set all the ribbons in Christendom to rustling. A single word from her convulsed the whalebone market of the world.—J.G. Holland.
A fashionable woman is always in love—with herself.—La Rochefoucauld.
Change of fashions is the tax which industry imposes on the vanity of the rich.—Chamfort.
Fashion, a word which knaves and fools may useTheir knavery and folly to excuse.—Churchill.
Fashion, a word which knaves and fools may useTheir knavery and folly to excuse.—Churchill.
Fear.—The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.—Psalm 111:10.
O, fear not in a world like this,And thou shalt know ere long,—Know how sublime a thing it isTo suffer and be strong.—Longfellow.
O, fear not in a world like this,And thou shalt know ere long,—Know how sublime a thing it isTo suffer and be strong.—Longfellow.
Fear not the proud and the haughty; fear rather him who fears God.—Saadi.
Fear guides more to their duty than gratitude; for one man who is virtuous from the love of virtue, from the obligation he thinks he lies under to the Giver of all, there are ten thousand who are good only from their apprehension of punishment.—Goldsmith.
The fear of God is freedom, joy, and peace;And makes all ills that vex us here to cease.—Waller.
The fear of God is freedom, joy, and peace;And makes all ills that vex us here to cease.—Waller.
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?—Psalm 27:1.
Fear is implanted in us as a preservative from evil.—Dr. Johnson.
God planted fear in the soul as truly as He planted hope or courage. Fear is a kind of bell, or gong, which rings the mind into quick life and avoidance upon the approach of danger. It is the soul's signal for rallying.—Beecher.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment.—1 John 4:18.
Fear is the tax that conscience pays to guilt.—George Sewell.
Fear not; for I am with thee.—Isaiah 43:5.
Fidelity.—To God, thy country, and thy friend be true.—Vaughan.
He who is faithful over a few things is a lord of cities. It does not matter whether you preach in Westminster Abbey or teach a ragged class, so you be faithful. The faithfulness is all.—George Macdonald.
His words are bonds, his oaths are oracles;His love sincere, his thoughts immaculate;His tears, pure messengers sent from his heart;His heart as far from fraud as heaven from earth.—Shakespeare.
His words are bonds, his oaths are oracles;His love sincere, his thoughts immaculate;His tears, pure messengers sent from his heart;His heart as far from fraud as heaven from earth.—Shakespeare.
Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity. Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellences and endowments of the human mind.—Cicero.
Give us a man, young or old, high or low, on whom we know we can thoroughly depend, who will stand firm when others fail; the friend faithful and true, the adviser honest and fearless, the adversary just and chivalrous,—in such a one there is a fragment of the Rock of Ages.—Dean Stanley.
Flattery.—Those are generally good at flattering who are good for nothing else.—South.
If any man flatters me, I'll flatter him again, though he were my best friend.—Franklin.
No flatt'ry, boy! an honest man can't live by't;It is a little sneaking art, which knavesUse to cajole and soften fools withal.If thou hast flatt'ry in thy nature, out with't;Or send it to a court, for there 'twill thrive.—Otway.
No flatt'ry, boy! an honest man can't live by't;It is a little sneaking art, which knavesUse to cajole and soften fools withal.If thou hast flatt'ry in thy nature, out with't;Or send it to a court, for there 'twill thrive.—Otway.
A man who flatters a woman hopes either to find her a fool or to make her one.—Richardson.
Flatterers are the worst kind of enemies.—Tacitus.
It is better to fall among crows than flatterers; for those devour the dead only, these the living.—Antisthenes.
Nothing is so great an instance of ill-manners as flattery.—Swift.
Men find it more easy to flatter than to praise.—Jean Paul.
'Tis an old maxim in the schools,That flattery's the food of fools;Yet now and then your men of witWill condescend to take a bit.—Swift.
'Tis an old maxim in the schools,That flattery's the food of fools;Yet now and then your men of witWill condescend to take a bit.—Swift.
Ah! when the means are gone, that buy this praise,The breath is gone whereof this praise is made.—Shakespeare.
Ah! when the means are gone, that buy this praise,The breath is gone whereof this praise is made.—Shakespeare.
Flattery is false money, which would not be current were it not for our vanity.—La Rochefoucauld.
Who flatters is of all mankind the lowest,Save he who courts the flattery.—Hannah More.
Who flatters is of all mankind the lowest,Save he who courts the flattery.—Hannah More.
Meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips.—Proverbs 20:19.
Men are like stone jugs,—you may lug them where you like by the ears.—Dr. Johnson.
Commend a fool for his wit and a knave for his honesty, and they will receive you into their bosoms.—Fielding.
Flowers.—Flowers are the sweetest things that God ever made and forgot to put a soul into.—Beecher.
In Eastern lands they talk in flowers,And they tell in a garland their loves and cares:Each blossom that blooms in their garden bowersOn its leaves a mystic language bears.—Percival.
In Eastern lands they talk in flowers,And they tell in a garland their loves and cares:Each blossom that blooms in their garden bowersOn its leaves a mystic language bears.—Percival.
How the universal heart of man blesses flowers! They are wreathed round the cradle, the marriage altar, and the tomb.—Mrs. L.M. Child.
There is not the least flower but seems to hold up its head and to look pleasantly, in the secret sense of the goodness of its Heavenly Maker.—South.
Flowers knew how to preach divinity before men knew how to dissect and botanize them.—H.N. Hudson.
And with childlike credulous affectionWe behold their tender buds expand;Emblems of our own great resurrection,Emblems of the bright and better land.—Longfellow.
And with childlike credulous affectionWe behold their tender buds expand;Emblems of our own great resurrection,Emblems of the bright and better land.—Longfellow.
Fools.—He who provides for this life, but takes no care for eternity, is wise for a moment, but a fool forever.—Tillotson.
The wise man has his follies no less than the fool; but it has been said that herein lies the difference,—the follies of the fool are known to the world, but are hidden from himself; the follies of the wise are known to himself, but hidden from the world.—Colton.
People are never so near playing the fool as when they think themselves wise.—Lady Montagu.
To pardon those absurdities in ourselves which we cannot suffer in others is neither better nor worse than to be more willing to be fools ourselves than to have others so.—Pope.
Surely he is not a fool that hath unwise thoughts, but he that utters them.—Bishop Hall.
It would be easier to endow a fool with intellect than to persuade him that he had none.—Babinet.
At thirty man suspects himself a fool;Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan;At fifty, chides his infamous delay,Pushes his prudent purpose to resolve,Resolves—and re-resolves; then dies the same.—Young.
At thirty man suspects himself a fool;Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan;At fifty, chides his infamous delay,Pushes his prudent purpose to resolve,Resolves—and re-resolves; then dies the same.—Young.
It is the peculiar quality of a fool to perceive the faults of others, and to forget his own.—Cicero.
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.—Pope.
A fool is often as dangerous to deal with as a knave, and always more incorrigible.—Colton.
Always win fools first. They talk much, and what they have once uttered they will stick to; whereas there is always time, up to the last moment, to bring before a wise man arguments that may entirely change his opinion.—Helps.
Young men think old men are fools; but old men know young men are fools.—Chapman.
None but a fool is always right.—Hare.
People have no right to make fools of themselves, unless they have no relations to blush for them.—Haliburton.
Forbearance.—Learn from Jesus to love and to forgive. Let the blood of Jesus, which implores pardon for you in heaven, obtain it from you for your brethren here upon earth.—Valpy.
The kindest and the happiest pairWill find occasion to forbear;And something every day they liveTo pity, and perhaps forgive.—Cowper.
The kindest and the happiest pairWill find occasion to forbear;And something every day they liveTo pity, and perhaps forgive.—Cowper.
It is a noble and a great thing to cover the blemishes and to excuse the failings of a friend; to draw a curtain before his stains, and to display his perfections; to bury his weaknesses in silence, but to proclaim his virtues upon the house-top.—South.
Forgiveness.—If ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you.—Matthew 6:14.
He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven.—Lord Herbert.
They who forgive most shall be most forgiven.—Bailey.
The brave only know how to forgive.—Sterne.
The gospel comes to the sinner at once with nothing short of complete forgiveness as the starting-point of all his efforts to be holy. It does not say, "Go and sin no more, and I will not condemn thee." It says at once, "Neither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more."—Horatius Bonar.
Life, that ever needs forgiveness, has, for its first duty, to forgive.—Lytton.
Alas! if my best Friend, who laid down His life for me, were to remember all the instances in which I have neglected Him, and to plead them against me in judgment, where should I hide my guilty head in the day of recompense? I will pray, therefore, for blessings on my friends, even though they cease to be so, and upon my enemies, though they continue such.—Cowper.
Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.—The Lord's Prayer.
God's way of forgiving is thorough and hearty,—both to forgive and to forget; and if thine be not so, thou hast no portion of His.—Leighton.
Fortitude.—The greatest man is he who chooses the right with invincible resolution; who resists the sorest temptations from within and without; who bears the heaviest burdens cheerfully; who is the calmest in storms, and whose reliance on truth, on virtue, on God, is the most unfaltering.—Channing.
Fortitude implies a firmness and strength of mind, that enables us to do and suffer as we ought. It rises upon an opposition, and, like a river, swells the higher for having its course stopped.—Jeremy Collier.
True fortitude I take to be the quiet possession of a man's self, and an undisturbed doing his duty, whatever evil besets or danger lies in his way.—Locke.
Fortune.—It is a madness to make fortune the mistress of events, because in herself she is nothing, but is ruled by prudence.—Dryden.
The prudent man really frames his own fortunes for himself.—Plautus.
Let fortune do her worst, whatever she makes us lose, so long as she never makes us lose our honesty and our independence.—Pope.
Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.—Shakespeare.
Every man is the architect of his own fortune.—Sallust.
The bad fortune of the good turns their faces up to heaven; and the good fortune of the bad bows their heads down to the earth.—Saadi.
Fortune favors the bold.—Cicero.
The less we deserve good fortune, the more we hope for it.—Molière.
Freedom.—I would rather be a freeman among slaves than a slave among freemen.—Swift.
There are two freedoms,—the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; the true, where a man is free to do what he ought.—Charles Kingsley.
The cause of freedom is the cause of God.—Bowles.
Stone walls do not a prison make,Nor iron bars a cage;Minds innocent and quiet takeThat for an hermitage;If I have freedom in my love,And in my soul am free,Angels alone that soar above,Enjoy such liberty.—Richard Lovelace.
Stone walls do not a prison make,Nor iron bars a cage;Minds innocent and quiet takeThat for an hermitage;If I have freedom in my love,And in my soul am free,Angels alone that soar above,Enjoy such liberty.—Richard Lovelace.
And ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves,While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.—Robert Treat Paine.
And ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves,While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.—Robert Treat Paine.
Many politicians are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition, that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom. The maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story, who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim.—Macaulay.
To have freedom is only to have that which is absolutely necessary to enable us to be what we ought to be, and to possess what we ought to possess.—Rahel.
When Freedom from her mountain heightUnfurled her standard to the air,She tore the azure robe of night,And set the stars of glory there.She mingled with its gorgeous dyesThe milky baldric of the skies,And striped its pure, celestial whiteWith streakings of the morning light.—Joseph Rodman Drake.
When Freedom from her mountain heightUnfurled her standard to the air,She tore the azure robe of night,And set the stars of glory there.She mingled with its gorgeous dyesThe milky baldric of the skies,And striped its pure, celestial whiteWith streakings of the morning light.—Joseph Rodman Drake.
Freedom is not caprice but room to enlarge.—C.A. Bartol.
Blandishments will not fascinate us, nor will threats of a "halter" intimidate. For, under God, we are determined that, wheresoever, whensoever, or howsoever we shall be called to make our exit, we will die freemen.—Josiah Quincy.
Who then is free?—the wise, who well maintainsAn empire o'er himself; whom neither chains,Nor want, nor death, with slavish fear inspire;Who boldly answers to his warm desire;Who can ambition's vainest gifts despise;Firm in himself, who on himself relies;Polish'd and round, who runs his proper course,And breaks misfortune with superior force.—Horace.
Who then is free?—the wise, who well maintainsAn empire o'er himself; whom neither chains,Nor want, nor death, with slavish fear inspire;Who boldly answers to his warm desire;Who can ambition's vainest gifts despise;Firm in himself, who on himself relies;Polish'd and round, who runs his proper course,And breaks misfortune with superior force.—Horace.
The only freedom worth possessing is that which gives enlargement to a people's energy, intellect, and virtues.—Channing.
He was the freeman whom the truth made free;Who first of all, the bands of Satan broke;Who broke the bands of sin, and for his soul,In spite of fools consulted seriously.—Pollock.
He was the freeman whom the truth made free;Who first of all, the bands of Satan broke;Who broke the bands of sin, and for his soul,In spite of fools consulted seriously.—Pollock.
Friendship.—Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.—Cicero.
The man that hails you Tom or Jack,And proves by thumping on your backHis sense of your great merit,Is such a friend, that one had needBe very much his friend indeedTo pardon or to bear it.—Cowper.
The man that hails you Tom or Jack,And proves by thumping on your backHis sense of your great merit,Is such a friend, that one had needBe very much his friend indeedTo pardon or to bear it.—Cowper.
He is a friend indeed who proves himself a friend in need.—Plautus.
Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not.—Proverbs 27:10.
To God, thy country, and thy friend be true.—Vaughan.
There is no man so friendless but that he can find a friend sincere enough to tell him disagreeable truths.—Lytton.
A friendship that makes the least noise is very often the most useful; for which reason I should prefer a prudent friend to a zealous one.—Addison.
A slender acquaintance with the world must convince every man that actions, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of friends; and that the most liberal professions of good-will are very far from being the surest marks of it.—George Washington.
No friend's a friend till he shall prove a friend.—Beaumont and Fletcher.
The qualities of your friends will be those of your enemies,—cold friends, cold enemies; half friends, half enemies; fervid enemies, warm friends.—Lavater.
Purchase no friends by gifts; when thou ceasest to give such will cease to love.—Fuller.
The difficulty is not so great to die for a friend as to find a friend worth dying for.—Henry Home.
Real friendship is a slow grower, and never thrives unless engrafted upon a stock of known and reciprocal merit.—Chesterfield.
There is nothing more becoming any wise man, than to make choice of friends, for by them thou shalt be judged what thou art: let them therefore be wise and virtuous, and none of those that follow thee for gain; but make election rather of thy betters, than thy inferiors.—Sir Walter Raleigh.
'Tis thus that on the choice of friendsOur good or evil name depends.—Gay.
'Tis thus that on the choice of friendsOur good or evil name depends.—Gay.
We may have many acquaintances, but we can have but few friends; this made Aristotle say that he that hath many friends hath none.—Dr. Johnson.
An act, by which we make one friend and one enemy, is a losing game; because revenge is a much stronger principle than gratitude.—Colton.
That friendship will not continue to the end that is begun for an end.—Quarles.
Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in continue firm and constant.—Socrates.
We cannot expect the deepest friendship unless we are willing to pay the price, a self-sacrificing love.—Peloubet.
False friends are like our shadow, keeping close to us while we walk in the sunshine, but leaving us the instant we cross into the shade.—Bovee.
Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing.—Franklin.
The greatest medicine is a true friend.—Sir W. Temple.
True friends visit us in prosperity only when invited, but in adversity they come without invitation.—Theophrastus.
Sudden friendships rarely live to ripeness.—Mlle. de Scudéri.
Who friendship with a knave hath made,Is judg'd a partner in the trade.—Gay.
Who friendship with a knave hath made,Is judg'd a partner in the trade.—Gay.
Thou mayest be sure that he who will in private tell thee of thy faults is thy friend, for he adventures thy dislike and doth hazard thy hatred.—Sir Walter Raleigh.
He is happy that hath a true friend at his need; but he is more truly happy that hath no need of his friend.—Warwick.
I would not enter on my list of friends(Though graced with polish'd manners and fine sense,Yet wanting sensibility) the manWho needlessly sets foot upon a worm.—Cowper.
I would not enter on my list of friends(Though graced with polish'd manners and fine sense,Yet wanting sensibility) the manWho needlessly sets foot upon a worm.—Cowper.
True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends, but in the worth and choice.—Dr. Johnson.
Frugality.—Frugality is founded on the principle that all riches have limits.—Burke.
Frugality may be termed the daughter of prudence, the sister of temperance, and the parent of liberty.—Dr. Johnson.
The world has not yet learned the riches of frugality.—Cicero.
Futurity.—It is vain to be always looking toward the future and never acting toward it.—J.F. Boyes.
The best preparation for the future is the present well seen to, the last duty done.—George Macdonald.
Trust no future howe'er pleasant;Let the dead past bury its dead;Act,—act in the living present,Heart within and God o'erhead!—Longfellow.
Trust no future howe'er pleasant;Let the dead past bury its dead;Act,—act in the living present,Heart within and God o'erhead!—Longfellow.
The state of that man's mind who feels too intense an interest as to future events, must be most deplorable.—Seneca.
God will not suffer man to have the knowledge of things to come; for if he had prescience of his prosperity, he would be careless; and, understanding of his adversity, he would be senseless.—St. Augustine.
Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.—Proverbs 27:1.
The golden age is not in the past, but in the future; not in the origin of human experience, but in its consummate flower; not opening in Eden, but out from Gethsemane.—Chapin.
Why will any man be so impertinently officious as to tell me all prospect of a future state is only fancy and delusion? Is there any merit in being the messenger of ill news. If it is a dream, let me enjoy it, since it makes me both the happier and better man.—Addison.
How narrow our souls become when absorbed in any present good or ill! it is only the thought of the future that makes them great.—Richter.
If there was no future life, our souls would not thirst for it.—Richter.
Gambling.—There is nothing that wears out a fine face like the vigils of the card-table, and those cutting passions which naturally attend them. Hollow eyes, haggard looks and pale complexions are the natural indications.—Steele.
Games of chance are traps to catch school boy novices and gaping country squires, who begin with a guinea and end with a mortgage.—Cumberland.
All gaming, since it implies a desire to profit at the expense of another, involves a breach of the tenth commandment.—Whately.
There is but one good throw upon the dice, which is, to throw them away.—Chatfield.
I look upon every man as a suicide from the moment he takes the dice-box desperately in his hand; and all that follows in his fatal career from that time is only sharpening the dagger before he strikes it to his heart.—Cumberland.
It is the child of avarice, the brother of iniquity and the father of mischief.—Washington.
Generosity.—All my experience of the world teaches me that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the safe side and the just side of a question is the generous side and the merciful side.—Mrs. Jameson.
He who gives what he would as readily throw away gives without generosity; for the essence of generosity is in self-sacrifice.—Henry Taylor.
Generosity is only benevolence in practice.—Bishop Ken.
The secret pleasure of a generous act is the great mind's great bribe.—Dryden.
If there be any truer measure of a man than by what he does, it must be by what he gives.—South.
Some are unwisely liberal; and more delight to give presents than to pay debts.—Sir P. Sidney.
When you give, take to yourself no credit for generosity, unless you deny yourself something in order that you may give.—Henry Taylor.
The generous who is always just, and the just who is always generous, may, unannounced, approach the throne of heaven.—Lavater.
Men of the noblest dispositions think themselves happiest when others share their happiness with them.—Duncan.
In giving, a man receives more than he gives; and the more is in proportion to the worth of the thing given.—George Macdonald.
Let us proportion our alms to our ability, lest we provoke God to proportion His blessings to our alms.—Beveridge.
A friend to everybody is often a friend to nobody, or else in his simplicity he robs his family to help strangers, and becomes brother to a beggar. There is wisdom in generosity, as in everything else.—Spurgeon.
Genius.—Genius is an immense capacity for taking trouble.—Carlyle.
Genius always gives its best at first, prudence at last.—Lavater.
There is hardly a more common error than that of taking the man who has but one talent for a genius.—Helps.
Talent wears well, genius wears itself out; talent drives a brougham in fact; genius, a sun-chariot in fancy.—Ouida.
Genius unexerted is no more genius than a bushel of acorns is a forest of oaks.—Beecher.
The first and last thing which is required of genius is the love of truth.—Goethe.
Genius can never despise labor.—Abel Stevens.
And genius hath electric power,Which earth can never tame;Bright suns may scorch, and dark clouds lower—Its flash is still the same.—Lydia M. Child.
And genius hath electric power,Which earth can never tame;Bright suns may scorch, and dark clouds lower—Its flash is still the same.—Lydia M. Child.
Genius must be born, and never can be taught.—Dryden.
Genius is the gold in the mine, talent is the miner who works and brings it out.—Lady Blessington.