Pearls of Thought Part 4

Art does not imitate, but interpret.--_Mazzini._

The artist is the child in the popular fable, every one of whose tears was a pearl. Ah! the world, that cruel step-mother, beats the poor child the harder to make him shed more pearls.--_Heinrich Heine._

In art there is a point of perfection, as of goodness or maturity in nature; he who is able to perceive it, and who loves it, has perfect taste; he who does not feel it, or loves on this side or that, has an imperfect taste.--_Bruyere._

Never judge a work of art by its defects.--_Washington Allston._

~Asceticism.~--I recommend no sour ascetic life. I believe not only in the thorns on the rosebush, but in the roses which the thorns defend.

Asceticism is the child of sensuality and superst.i.tion. She is the secret mother of many a secret sin. G.o.d, when he made man's body, did not give us a fibre too much, nor a pa.s.sion too many. I would steal no violet from the young maiden's bosom; rather would I fill her arms with more fragrant roses. But a life merely of pleasure, or chiefly of pleasure, is always a poor and worthless life, not worth the living; always unsatisfactory in its course, always miserable in its end.--_Theodore Parker._

In hope to merit heaven by making earth a h.e.l.l.--_Byron._

Three forms of asceticism have existed in this weak world. Religious asceticism, being the refusal of pleasure and knowledge for the sake--as supposed--of religion; seen chiefly in the Middle Ages. Military asceticism, being the refusal of pleasure and knowledge for the sake of power; seen chiefly in the early days of Sparta and Rome. And monetary asceticism, consisting in the refusal of pleasure and knowledge for the sake of money; seen in the present days of London and Manchester.--_Ruskin._

~Aspiration.~--The negro king desired to be portrayed as white. But do not laugh at the poor African; for every man is but another negro king, and would like to appear in a color different from that with which Fate has bedaubed him.--_Heinrich Heine._

There is no sorrow I have thought more about than that--to love what is great, and try to reach it, and yet to fail.--_George Eliot._

The heart is a small thing, but desireth great matters. It is not sufficient for a kite's dinner, yet the whole world is not sufficient for it.--_Quarles._

There must be something beyond man in this world. Even on attaining to his highest possibilities, he is like a bird beating against his cage.

There is something beyond, O deathless soul, like a sea-sh.e.l.l, moaning for the bosom of the ocean to which you belong!--_Chapin._

Oh for a muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention! A kingdom for a stage, princes to act, and monarchs to behold the swelling scene.--_Shakespeare._

The heavens are as deep as our aspirations are high.--_Th.o.r.eau._

It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we _must_ hunger after them.--_George Eliot._

~a.s.sociates.~--Costly followers are not to be liked; lest while a man maketh his train longer, he makes his wings shorter.--_Bacon._

Be very circ.u.mspect in the choice of thy company. In the society of thine equals thou shall enjoy more pleasure; in the society of thy superiors thou shalt find more profit. To be the best in the company is the way to grow worse; the best means to grow better is to be the worst there.--_Quarles._

A man should live with his superiors as he does with his fire: not too near, lest he burn; nor too far off, lest he freeze.--_Diogenes._

As there are some flowers which you should smell but slightly to extract all that is pleasant in them, and which, if you do otherwise, emit what is unpleasant and noxious, so there are some men with whom a slight acquaintance is quite sufficient to draw out all that is agreeable; a more intimate one would be unsatisfactory and unsafe.--_Landor._

Those who are unacquainted with the world take pleasure in the intimacy of great men; those who are wiser dread the consequences.--_Horace._

~Atheism.~--By burning an atheist, you have lent importance to that which was absurd, interest to that which was forbidding, light to that which was the essence of darkness. For atheism is a system which can communicate neither warmth nor illumination except from those f.a.gots which your mistaken zeal has lighted up for its destruction.--_Colton._

One of the most daring beings in creation, a contemner of G.o.d, who explodes his laws by denying his existence.--_John Foster._

~Authority.~--Reasons of things are rather to be taken by weight than tale.--_Jeremy Collier._

The world is ruled by the subordinates, not by their chiefs.--_Charles Buxton._

~Authors.~--Authors may be divided into falling stars, planets, and fixed stars: the first have a momentary effect. The second have a much longer duration. But the third are unchangeable, possess their own light, and work for all time.--_Schopenhaufer._

Satire lies about men of letters during their lives, and eulogy after their death.--_Voltaire._

It is commonly the personal character of a writer which gives him his public significance. It is not imparted by his genius. Napoleon said of Corneille, "Were he living I would make him a king;" but he did not read him. He read Racine, yet he said nothing of the kind of Racine. It is for the same reason that La Fontaine is held in such high esteem among the French. It is not for his worth as a poet, but for the greatness of his character which obtrudes in his writings.--_Goethe._

Choose an author as you choose a friend.--_Roscommon._

Herder and Schiller both in their youth intended to study as surgeons, but Destiny said: "No, there are deeper wounds than those of the body,--heal the deeper!" and they wrote.--_Richter._

A woman who writes commits two sins: she increases the number of books, and decreases the number of women.--_Alphonse Karr._

Thanks and honor to the glorious masters of the pen.--_Hood._

The society of dead authors has this advantage over that of the living: they never flatter us to our faces, nor slander us behind our backs, nor intrude upon our privacy, nor quit their shelves until we take them down.--_Colton._

Clear writers, like clear fountains, do not seem so deep as they are, the turbid looks most profound.--_Landor._

When we look back upon human records, how the eye settles upon writers as the main landmarks of the past.--_Bulwer-Lytton._

~Autumn.~--Season of mist and mellow fruitfulness.--_Keats._

The Sabbath of the year.--_Logan._

~Avarice.~--Though avarice will preserve a man from being necessitously poor, it generally makes him too timorous to be wealthy.--_Thomas Paine._

Avarice is more unlovely than mischievous.--_Landor._

The German poet observes that the Cow of Isis is to some the divine symbol of knowledge, to others but the milch cow, only regarded for the pounds of b.u.t.ter she will yield. O tendency of our age, to look on Isis as the milch cow!--_Bulwer-Lytton._

Worse poison to men's souls, doing more murders in this loathsome world than any mortal drug.--_Shakespeare._

Avarice is generally the last pa.s.sion of those lives of which the first part has been squandered in pleasure, and the second devoted to ambition. He that sinks under the fatigue of getting wealth, lulls his age with the milder business of saving it.--_Johnson._

B.

~Babblers.~--Who think too little, and who talk too much.--_Dryden._

They always talk who never think.--_Prior._

Talkers are no good doers.--_Shakespeare._

~Babe.~--It is curious to see how a self-willed, haughty girl, who sets her father and mother and all at defiance, and can't be managed by anybody, at once finds her master in a baby. Her sister's child will strike the rock and set all her affections flowing.--_Charles Buxton._

~Bargain.~--What is the disposition which makes men rejoice in good bargains? There are few people who will not be benefited by pondering over the morals of shopping.--_Beecher._

A dear bargain is always disagreeable, particularly as it is a reflection upon the buyer's judgment.--_Pliny._

~Bashfulness.~--Bashfulness may sometimes exclude pleasure, but seldom opens any avenue to sorrow or remorse.--_Johnson._

Bashfulness is a great hindrance to a man, both in uttering his sentiments and in understanding what is proposed to him; 'tis therefore good to press forward with discretion, both in discourse and company of the better sort.--_Bacon._