Book of Wise Sayings Part 2

Who aims at excellence will be above mediocrity; who aims at mediocrity will be far short of it.

Burmese.

61.

Keep thy heart afar from sorrow, and be not anxious about the trouble which is not yet come.

Firdausi.

62.

If thy garments be clean and thy heart be foul, thou needest no key to the door of h.e.l.l.

Sa'di.

63.

We ought never to mock the wretched, for who can be sure of being always happy?

La Fontaine.

64.

To those who err in judgment, not in will, anger is gentle.

Sophocles.

65.

Not only is the old man twice a child, but also the man who is drunk.

Plato.

66.

Wrapt up in error is the human mind, And human bliss is ever insecure; Know we what fortune yet remains behind? Know we how long the present shall endure?

Pindar.

67.

A wise man adapts himself to circ.u.mstances, as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it.

Chinese.

68.

He who formerly was reckless and afterwards became sober brightens up this world like the moon when freed from clouds.

Dhammapada.

69.

When a base fellow cannot vie with another in merit he will attack him with malicious slander.

Sa'di.

70.

If a man be not so happy as he desires, let this be his comfort--he is not so wretched as he deserves.

R. Chamberlain.

71.

In conversation humour is more than wit, easiness, more than knowledge; few desire to learn, or to think they need it; all desire to be pleased, or, if not, to be easy.

Sir W. Temple.

72.

The greatest men sometimes overshoot themselves, but then their very mistakes are so many lessons of instruction.

Tom Browne.

73.

We may be as good as we please, if we please to be good.

Barrow.

74.

The round of a pa.s.sionate man's life is in contracting debts in his pa.s.sion which his virtue obliges him to pay. He spends his time in outrage and acknowledgment, injury and reparation.

Johnson.

75.

To reprehend well is the most necessary and the hardest part of friendship. Who is it that does not sometimes merit a check, and yet how few will endure one? Yet wherein can a friend more unfold his love than in preventing dangers before their birth, or in bringing a man to safety who is travelling on the road to ruin? I grant there is a manner of reprehending which turns a benefit into an injury, and then it both strengthens error and wounds the giver. When thou chidest thy wandering friend do it secretly, in season, in love, not in the ear of a popular convention, for oftentimes the presence of a mult.i.tude makes a man take up an unjust defence, rather than fall into a just shame.

Feltham.

76.

I put no account on him who esteems himself just as the popular breath may chance to raise him.

Goethe.

77.

He who seeks wealth sacrifices his own pleasure, and, like him who carries burdens for others, bears the load of anxiety.

Hitopadesa.

78.

Circ.u.mspection in calamity; mercy in greatness; good speeches in a.s.semblies; fort.i.tude in adversity: these are the self-attained perfections of great souls.

Hitopadesa.

79.

The best preacher is the heart; the best teacher is time; the best book is the world; the best friend is G.o.d.

Talmud.

80.

A woman will not throw away a garland, though soiled, which her lover gave: not in the object lies a present's worth, but in the love which it was meant to mark.

Bharavi.

81.

Men who have not observed discipline, and have not gained treasure in their youth, perish like old herons in a lake without fish.

Dhammapada.

82.

As drops of bitter medicine, though minute, may have a salutary force, so words, though few and painful, uttered seasonably, may rouse the prostrate energies of those who meet misfortune with despondency.

Bharavi.

83.

There are three whose life is no life: he who lives at another's table; he whose wife domineers over him; and he who suffers bodily affliction.

Talmud.

84.

Let thy words between two foes be such that if they were to become friends thou shouldst not be ashamed.

Sa'di.

85.

An indiscreet man is more hurtful than an ill-natured one; for as the latter will only attack his enemies, and those he wishes ill to, the other injures indifferently both his friends and foes.

Addison.

86.

A man of quick and active wit For drudgery is more unfit, Compared to those of duller parts, Than running nags are to draw carts.

Butler.

87.

All affectation is the vain and ridiculous attempt of poverty to appear rich.

Lavater.

88.

There never was, there never will be, a man who is always praised, or a man who is always blamed.

Dhammapada.

89.

A good man's intellect is piercing, yet inflicts no wound; his actions are deliberate, yet bold; his heart is warm, but never burns; his speech is eloquent, yet ever true.

Magha.

90.

He who can feel ashamed will not readily do wrong.

Talmud.

91.

A stranger who is kind is a kinsman; an unkind kinsman is a stranger.

Hitopadesa.

92.

The good to others kindness show, And from them no return exact; The best and greatest men, they know, Thus ever n.o.bly love to act.[7]

Mahabharata.

[7] Cf. Luke, VI, 34, 35.

93.