Book of Wise Sayings Part 10

There is such a grateful tickling in the mind of man in being commended that even when we know the praises which are bestowed on us are not our due, we are not angry with the author's insincerity.

Feltham.

324.

Too much to lament a misery is the next way to draw on a remediless mischief.

R. Chamberlain.

325.

There is no remembrance which time doth not obliterate, nor pain which death doth not put an end to.

Cervantes.

326.

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.

327.

Plans that are wise and prudent in themselves are rendered vain when the execution of them is carried on negligently and with imprudence.

Guicciardini.

328.

Every man stamps his value on himself. The price we challenge for ourselves is given us. Man is made great or little by his own will.

Schiller.

329.

Hath any wronged thee, be bravely revenged. Slight it, and the work's begun; forgive it, and 'tis finished. He is below himself that is not above an injury.

Quarles.

330.

As gold is tried by the furnace, and the baser metal shown, so the hollow-hearted friend is known by adversity.

Metastasio.

331.

The rose does not bloom without thorns. True, but would that the thorns did not outlive the rose.

Richter.

332.

Truth from the mouth of an honest man and severity from a good-natured man have a double effect.

Hazlitt.

333.

Most virgins marry, just as nuns The same thing the same way renounce; Before they've wit to understand The bold attempt, they take in hand; Or, having stayed and lost their tides, Are out of season grown for brides.

Butler.

334.

The fountain of content must spring up in the mind, and he who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts, and multiply the griefs which he purposes to remove.

Johnson.

335.

In all things, to serve from the lowest station upwards is necessary. To restrict yourself to a trade is best. For the narrow mind, whatever he attempts is still a trade; for the higher, an art; and the highest in doing one thing does all, or, to speak less paradoxically, in the one thing which he does rightly he sees the likeness of all that is done rightly.

Goethe.

336.

Misanthropy ariseth from a man trusting another without having sufficient knowledge of his character, and, thinking him to be truthful, sincere, and honourable, finds a little afterwards that he is wicked, faithless, and then he meets with another of the same character. When a man experiences this often, and more particularly from those whom he considered his most dear and best friends, at last, having frequently made a slip, he hates the whole world, and thinks that there is nothing sound at all in any of them.

Plato.

337.

Pleasure, most often delusive, may be born of delusion. Pleasure, herself a sorceress, may pitch her tents on enchanted ground. But happiness (or, to use a more accurate and comprehensive term, solid well-being) can be built on virtue alone, and must of necessity have truth for its foundation.

Coleridge.

338.

Entangled in a hundred worldly snares, Self-seeking men, by ignorance deluded, Strive by unrighteous means to pile up riches. Then, in their self-complacency, they say, "This acquisition I have made to-day, That will I gain to-morrow, so much pelf Is h.o.a.rded up already, so much more Remains that I have yet to treasure up. This enemy I have destroyed, him also, And others in their turn, I will despatch. I am a lord; I will enjoy myself; I'm wealthy, n.o.ble, strong, successful, happy; I'm absolutely perfect; no one else In all the world can be compared to me. Now will I offer up a sacrifice, Give gifts with lavish hand, and be triumphant." Such men, befooled by endless vain conceits, Caught in the meshes of the world's illusion, Immersed in sensuality, descend Down to the foulest h.e.l.l of unclean spirits.[16]

Mahabharata.

[16] Cf. Luke, XII, 17-20; see also 291.

339.

There needs no other charm, nor conjuror, To raise infernal spirits up, but Fear, That makes men pull their horns in, like a snail, That's both a prisoner to itself and jail; Draws more fantastic shapes than in the grains Of knotted wood, in some men's crazy brains, When all the c.o.c.ks they think they are, and bulls, Are only in the insides of their skulls.

Butler.

340.

He that rectifies a crooked stick bends it the contrary way, so must he that would reform a vice learn to affect its mere contrary, and in time he shall see the springing blossoms of a happy restoration.

R. Chamberlain.

341.

The more weakness the more falsehood; strength goes straight: every cannon ball that has in it hollows and holes goes crooked.

Richter.

342.

Learning dissipates many doubts, and causes things otherwise invisible to be seen, and is the eye of everyone who is not absolutely blind.

Hitopadesa.

343.

Very distasteful is excessive fame To the sour palate of the envious mind, Who hears with grief his neighbours good by name, And hates the fortune that he ne'er shall find.

Pindar.

344.

A more glorious victory cannot be gained over another man than this, that when the injury began on his part the kindness should begin on ours.

Tillotson.

345.

Time, which gnaws and diminishes all things else, augments and increases benefits, because a n.o.ble action of liberality done to a man of reason doth grow continually by his generously thinking of it and remembering it.

Rabelais.

346.

Were all thy fond endeavours vain To chase away the sufferer's smart, Still hover near, lest absence pain His lonely heart.

For friendship's tones have kindlier power Than odorous fruit, or nectared bowl, To soothe, in sorrow's languid hour, The sinking soul.

Sa'di.

347.

The faults of others are easily perceived, but those of oneself are difficult to perceive; a man winnows his neighbour's faults like chaff, but his own fault he hides as a cheat hides the false dice from the gamester.

Dhammapada.

348.

Education and morals will be found almost the whole that goes to make a good man.

Aristotle.

349.

Toil and pleasure, in their natures opposite, are yet linked together in a kind of necessary connection.

Livy.

350.

Enjoy thou the prosperity of others, Although thyself unprosperous; n.o.ble men Take pleasure in their neighbours' happiness.

Mahabharata.

351.

Neither live with a bad man nor be at enmity with him; even as if you take hold of glowing charcoal it will burn you, if you take hold of cold charcoal it will soil you.

Buddhist.

352.

In the sandal-tree are serpents, in the water lotus flowers, but crocodiles also; even virtues are marred by the vicious--in all enjoyments there is something which impairs our happiness.

Hitopadesa.

353.

There is no pleasure of life sprouting like a tree from one root but there is some pain joined to it; and again nature brings good out of evil.

Menander.

354.

The manner of giving shows the character of the giver more than the gift itself. There is a princely manner of giving and accepting.

Lavater.

355.

Perfect ignorance is quiet, perfect knowledge is quiet; not so the transition from the former to the latter.

Carlyle.