{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_21130/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_21130","id":"gutenberg_21130","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21130","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Maxims","Quotations"],"text":"Produced by Bill Tozier, Barbara Tozier and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n BOOK OF\n\n WISE SAYINGS\n\n _SELECTED LARGELY FROM EASTERN SOURCES_\n\n BY\n\n W. A. CLOUSTON\n\n _Author of \"Popular Tales and Fictions,\" \"Literary\n Coincidences, and other Papers,\" \"Flowers\n from a Persian Garden,\" etc._\n\n\n\n \"Concise sentences, like darts, fly abroad and make\n impressions, while long discourses are tedious and not\n regarded.\"--BACON.\n\n \"Many are the sayings of the wise,\n In ancient and in modern books enrolled.\"--MILTON.\n\n\n\n LONDON\n PUBLISHED BY HUTCHINSON & CO.\n\n AT 34 PATERNOSTER ROW\n 1893\n\n\n\n\n PRINTED AT NIMEGUEN (HOLLAND)\n BY H. C. A. THIEME OF NIMEGUEN (HOLLAND)\n\n AND\n\n TALBOT HOUSE, ARUNDEL STREET\n LONDON, W.C.\n\n\n\n\n TO\n\n FRANCIS THORNTON BARRETT,\n\n CHIEF LIBRARIAN,\n MITCHELL LIBRARY, GLASGOW,\n\n THIS LITTLE BOOK,\n\n WITH FRIENDLY GREETINGS,\n\n IS INSCRIBED.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nCynics may ask, how many have profited by the innumerable proverbs\nand maxims of prudence which have been current in the world time out\nof mind? They will say that their only use is to repeat them after\nsome unhappy wight has \"gone wrong.\" When, for instance, a man has\nplayed \"ducks and drakes\" with his money, the fact at once calls up\nthe proverb which declares that \"wilful waste leads to woful want\";\nbut did not the \"waster\" know this well-worn saying from his early\nyears _downwards_? What good, then, did it do him? Again, how many\nhave been benefited by the saying of the ancient Greek poet, that\n\"evil communications corrupt good manners\"?--albeit they had it\nfrequently before them in their school \"copy-books.\" Are the maxims\nof morality useless, then, because they are so much disregarded?\n\nWhen a man has reached middle-age he generally feels with tenfold\nforce the truth of those \"sayings of the wise\" which he learned in\nhis early years, and has cause to regret, as well as wonder, that he\nhad not all along followed their wholesome teaching. For it is to\nthe young, who are about to cross the threshold of active life, that\nsuch terse convincing sentences are more especially addressed, and,\nspite of the proverbial heedlessness of youth, there will be found\nmany who are not deaf to this kind of instruction, if their moral\nenvironment be favourable. But, even after the spring-time of youth\nis past, there are occasions when the mind is peculiarly susceptible\nto the force of a pithy maxim, which may tend to the reforming of\none's way of life. There is commonly more practical wisdom in a\nstriking aphorism than in a round dozen of \"goody\" books--that is to\nsay, books which are not good in the highest sense, because their\nthemes are overlaid with commonplace and wearisome reflections.\n\nMay we not find the \"whole duty of man\" condensed into a few brief\nsentences, which have been expressed by thoughtful men in all ages\nand in countries far apart?--such as: \"Love thy neighbour as\nthyself,\" \"Do unto others as ye would that they should do unto you.\"\nThe chief themes of all teachers of morality are: benevolence and\nbeneficence; tolerance of the opinions of others; self-control; the\nacquisition of knowledge--that jewel beyond price; the true uses of\nwealth; the advantages of resolute, manly exertion; the dignity of\nlabour; the futility of worldly pleasures; the fugacity of time;\nman's individual insignificance. They are never weary of inculcating\ntaciturnity in preference to loquacity, and the virtues of patience\nand resignation. They iterate and reiterate the fact that true\nhappiness is to be found only in contentment; and they administer\nconsolation and infuse hope by reminding us that as dark days are\nfollowed by bright days, so times of bitter adversity are followed\nby seasons of sweet prosperity; and thus, like the immortal Sir\nHudibras, when \"in doleful dumps\", we may \"cheer ourselves with ends\nof verse, and sayings of philosophers.\"\n\nIn the following small selection of aphorisms, a considerable\nproportion are drawn from Eastern literature. Indian wisdom is\nrepresented by passages from the great epics, the _Mahabharata_ and\nthe _Ramayana_; the _Panchatantra_ and the _Hitopadesa_, two\nSanskrit versions of the famous collection of apologues known in\nEurope as the Fables of Bidpai, or Pilpay; the _Dharma-sastra_ of\nManu; Bharavi, Magha, Bhartrihari, and other Hindu poets. Specimens\nof the mild teachings of Buddha and his more notable followers are\ntaken from the _Dhammapada_ (Path of Virtue) and other canonical\nworks; pregnant sayings of the Jewish Fathers, from the Talmud;\nMoslem moral philosophy is represented by extracts from Arabic and\nPersian writers (among the great poets of Persia are, Firdausi,\nSa'di, Hafiz, Nizami, Omar Khayyam, Jami); while the proverbial\nwisdom of the Chinese and the didactic writings of the sages of\nBurmah are also occasionally cited.\n\nThe ordinary reader will probably be somewhat surprised to discover\nin the aphorisms of the ancient Greeks and Hindus several close\nparallels to the doctrines of the Old and New Testaments, and he\nwill have reasoned justly if he conclude that the so-called\n\"heathens\" could have derived their spiritual light only from the\nsame Source as that which inspired the Hebrew prophets and the\nChristian apostles.\n\nAmong English writers of aphorisms Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, is\npre-eminent, but none of his pithy sentences find place here,\nbecause they are procurable in many inexpensive forms, (_e.g._,\n_Counsels from my Lord Bacon_, 1892), and must be familiar to what is\ntermed \"the average general reader.\" _The Enchiridion_ of Frances\nQuarles and the _Resolves_ of Owen Feltham are, however, laid under\ncontribution, as also Robert Chamberlain, an author who is probably\nunknown to many pluming themselves on their thorough acquaintance\nwith English literature, some of whose aphorisms (published in 1638,\nunder the title of _Nocturnal Lucubrations_) I have deemed worthy of\nreproduction.\n\nIn more modern times, with the sole exception of William Hazlitt,\nour country has produced no very successful writer of aphorisms.\nColton's _Lacon; or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those\nwho Think_, went through several editions soon after its first\npublication in 1820; it is described by Mr. John Morley--and not\nunfairly--as being \"so vapid, so wordy, so futile as to have a place\namong those books which dispense with parody\"; it is \"an awful\nexample to anyone who is tempted to try his hand at an aphorism.\"\nMr. Morley is hardly less severe in speaking of the \"Thoughts\" in\n_Theophrastus Such_: \"the most insufferable of all deadly-lively\nprosing in our sublunary world.\" However this may be, assuredly\nother works of the author of _Adam Bede_ will be found to furnish\nmany examples of admirable apothegms.\n\nIt only remains to add that, bearing in mind that a great collection\nof gravities commonly proves quite as wearisome reading as a large\ncompilation of gaieties, or facetiae, I have confined my selection of\n\"sayings of the wise\" within the limits of a pocket-volume.\n\n W. A. C.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK OF WISE SAYINGS.\n\n\n1.\n\nThe enemies which rise within the body, hard to be overcome--thy\nevil passions--should manfully be fought: he who conquers these is\nequal to the conquerors of worlds.\n\n _Bharavi._\n\n\n2.\n\nIf passion gaineth the mastery over reason, the wise will not count\nthee amongst men.\n\n _Firdausi._\n\n\n3.\n\nKnowledge is destroyed by associating with the base; with equals\nequality is gained, and with the distinguished, distinction.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n4.\n\nDost thou desire that thine own heart should not suffer, redeem thou\nthe sufferer from the bonds of misery.\n\n _Sa'di._\n\n\n5.\n\nTo friends and eke to foes true kindness show;\nNo kindly heart unkindly deeds will do;\n Harshness will alienate a bosom friend.\nAnd kindness reconcile a deadly foe.\n\n _Omar Khayyam._\n\n\n6.\n\nThere is no greater grief in misery than to turn our thoughts back\nto happier times.[1]\n\n _Dante._\n\n [1] Cf. Goldsmith:\n\n O Memory! thou fond deceiver,\n Still importunate and vain;\n To former joys recurring ever,\n And turning all the past to pain.\n\n\n7.\n\nWe in reality only know when we doubt a little. With knowledge comes\ndoubt.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n8.\n\nIn the hour of adversity be not without hope, for crystal rain falls\nfrom black clouds.\n\n _Nizami._\n\n\n9.\n\nOne common origin unites us all, but every sort of wood does not\ngive the perfume of the lignum aloes.\n\n _Arabic._\n\n\n10.\n\nI asked an experienced elder who had profited by his knowledge of\nthe world, \"What course should I pursue to obtain prosperity?\" He\nreplied, \"Contentment--if you are able, practise contentment.\"\n\n _Selman._\n\n\n11.\n\nEvery moment that a man may be in want of employment, than such I\nhold him to be far better who is forced to labour for nothing.\n\n _Afghan._\n\n\n12.\n\nThe foolish undertake a trifling act, and soon desist, discouraged;\nwise men engage in mighty works, and persevere.\n\n _Magha._\n\n\n13.\n\nThose who wish well towards their friends disdain to please them\nwith words which are not true.\n\n _Bharavi._\n\n\n14.\n\nReason is captive in the hands of the passions, as a weak man in the\nhands of an artful woman.\n\n _Sa'di._\n\n\n15.\n\nLike an earthen pot, a bad man is easily broken, and cannot readily\nbe restored to his former situation; but a virtuous man, like a vase\nof gold, is broken with difficulty, and easily repaired.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n16.\n\nThe son who delights his father by his good actions; the wife who\nseeks only her husband's good; the friend who is the same in\nprosperity and adversity--these three things are the reward of\nvirtue.\n\n _Bhartrihari._\n\n\n17.\n\nLet us not overstrain our abilities, or we shall do nothing with\ngrace. A clown, whatever he may do, will never pass for a gentleman.\n\n _La Fontaine._\n\n\n18.\n\nTo abstain from speaking is regarded as very difficult. It is not\npossible to say much that is valuable and striking.[2]\n\n _Mahabharata._\n\n [2] Cf. James, III, 8.\n\n\n19.\n\nPagodas are, like mosques, true houses of prayer;\n'Tis prayer that church bells waft upon the air;\n Kaaba and temple, rosary and cross,\nAll are but divers tongues of world-wide prayer.\n\n _Omar Khayyam._\n\n\n20.\n\nIn no wise ask about the faults of others, for he who reporteth the\nfaults of others will report thine also.\n\n _Firdausi._\n\n\n21.\n\nHe that holds fast the golden mean,\nAnd lives contentedly between\n The little and the great,\nFeels not the wants that pinch the poor,\nNor plagues that haunt the rich man's door,\n Embittering all his state.\n\n _Horace._\n\n\n22.\n\nNothing is more becoming a man than silence. It is not the preaching\nbut the practice which ought to be considered as the more important.\nA profusion of words is sure to lead to error.\n\n _Talmud._\n\n\n23.\n\nConsider, and you will find that almost all the transactions of the\ntime of Vespasian differed little from those of the present day. You\nthere find marrying and giving in marriage, educating children,\nsickness, death, war, joyous holidays, traffic, agriculture,\nflatterers, insolent pride, suspicions, laying of plots, longing for\nthe death of others, newsmongers, lovers, misers, men canvassing for\nconsulship--yet all these passed away, and are nowhere.\n\n _M. Aurelius._\n\n\n24.\n\nThe friendship of the bad is like the shade of some precipitous bank\nwith crumbling sides, which, falling, buries him who is beneath.\n\n _Bharavi._\n\n\n25.\n\nHis action no applause invites\nWho simply good with good repays;\n He only justly merits praise\nWho wrongful deeds with kind requites.[3]\n\n _Panchatantra._\n\n [3] Matt. V, 43, 44.\n\n\n26.\n\nDeath comes, and makes a man his prey,\n A man whose powers are yet unspent;\n Like one on gathering flowers intent,\nWhose thoughts are turned another way.\n\nBegin betimes to practise good,\n Lest fate surprise thee unawares\n Amid thy round of schemes and cares;\nTo-morrow's task to-day conclude.[4]\n\n _Mahabharata._\n\n [4] Eccles. IX, 10; XII, 1.\n\n\n27.\n\nLet a man's talents or virtues be what they may, we feel\nsatisfaction in his society only as he is satisfied in himself. We\ncannot enjoy the good qualities of a friend if he seems to be none\nthe better for them.\n\n _Hazlitt._\n\n\n28.\n\nIt was a false maxim of Domitian that he who would gain the people\nof Rome must promise all things and perform nothing. For when a man\nis known to be false in his word, instead of a column, which he\nmight be by keeping it, for others to rest upon, he becomes a reed,\nwhich no man will vouchsafe to lean upon. Like a floating island,\nwhen we come next day to seek it, it is carried from the place we\nleft it in, and, instead of earth to build upon, we find nothing but\ninconstant and deceiving waves.\n\n _Feltham._\n\n\n29.\n\nHe is not dead who departs this life with high fame; dead is he,\nthough living, whose brow is branded with infamy.\n\n _Tieck._\n\n\n30.\n\nIn the height of thy prosperity expect adversity, but fear it not.\nIf it come not, thou art the more sweetly possessed of the happiness\nthou hast, and the more strongly confirmed. If it come, thou art the\nmore gently dispossessed of the happiness thou hadst, and the more\nfirmly prepared.\n\n _Quarles._\n\n\n31.\n\nA prudent man will not discover his poverty, his self-torments, the\ndisorders of his house, his uneasiness, or his disgrace.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n32.\n\nMen are of three different capacities: one understands intuitively;\nanother understands so far as it is explained; and a third\nunderstands neither of himself nor by explanation. The first is\nexcellent, the second, commendable, and the third, altogether\nuseless.\n\n _Machiavelli._\n\n\n33.\n\nIt is difficult to understand men, but still harder to know them\nthoroughly.\n\n _Schiller._\n\n\n34.\n\nWorldly fame and pleasure are destructive to the virtue of the mind;\nanxious thoughts and apprehensions are injurious to the health of\nthe body.\n\n _Chinese._\n\n\n35.\n\nAlas, for him who is gone and hath done no good work! The trumpet of\nmarch has sounded, and his load was not bound on.\n\n _Persian._\n\n\n36.\n\nHuman experience, like the stern-lights of a ship at sea, illumines\nonly the path which we have passed over.\n\n _Coleridge._\n\n\n37.\n\nMan is an actor who plays various parts:\nFirst comes a boy, then out a lover starts;\nHis garb is changed for, lo! a beggar's rags;\nThen he's a merchant with full money-bags;\nAnon, an aged sire, wrinkled and lean;\nAt last Death drops the curtain on the scene.[5]\n\n _Bhartrihari._\n\n [5] Cf. Shakspeare:\n\n \"All the world's a stage,\" etc.--_As You Like It_,\n Act II, _sc._ 7.\n\n\n38.\n\nThrough avarice a man loses his understanding, and by his thirst for\nwealth he gives pain to the inhabitants of both worlds.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n39.\n\nMen soon the faults of others learn,\n A few their virtues, too, find out;\n But is there one--I have a doubt--\nWho can his own defects discern?\n\n _Sanskrit._\n\n\n40.\n\nIn learning, age and youth go for nothing; the best informed take\nthe precedence.\n\n _Chinese._\n\n\n41.\n\nMention not a blemish which is thy own in detraction of a neighbour.\n\n _Talmud._\n\n\n42.\n\nAffairs succeed by patience, and he that is hasty falleth headlong.\n\n _Sa'di._\n\n\n43.\n\nA man who has learnt little grows old like an ox: his flesh grows,\nbut his knowledge does not grow.\n\n _Dhammapada._\n\n\n44.\n\nUnsullied poverty is always happy, while impure wealth brings with\nit many sorrows.\n\n _Chinese._\n\n\n45.\n\nBoth white and black acknowledge women's sway,\n So much the better and the wiser too,\nDeeming it most convenient to obey,\n Or possibly they might their folly rue.[6]\n\n _Persian._\n\n [6] Cf. Pope:\n\n Would men but follow what the sex advise,\n All things would prosper, all the world grow wise.\n\n\n46.\n\nWe are never so much disposed to quarrel with others as when we are\ndissatisfied with ourselves.\n\n _Hazlitt._\n\n\n47.\n\nNo one is more profoundly sad than he who laughs too much.\n\n _Richter._\n\n\n48.\n\nThe heaven that rolls around cries aloud to you while it displays\nits eternal beauties, and yet your eyes are fixed upon the earth\nalone.\n\n _Dante._\n\n\n49.\n\nThis world is a beautiful book, but of little use to him who cannot\nread it.\n\n _Goldoni._\n\n\n50.\n\nSorrows are like thunder-clouds: in the distance they look black,\nover our heads, hardly gray.\n\n _Richter._\n\n\n51.\n\nThe gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected\nwithout trials.\n\n _Chinese._\n\n\n52.\n\nHealth is the greatest gift, contentedness the best riches.\n\n _Dhammapada._\n\n\n53.\n\nGreat and unexpected successes are often the cause of foolish\nrushing into acts of extravagance.\n\n _Demosthenes._\n\n\n54.\n\nLet none with scorn a suppliant meet,\n Or from the door untended spurn\nA dog; an outcast kindly treat;\n And so thou shalt be blest in turn.\n\n _Mahabharata._\n\n\n55.\n\nChoose knowledge, if thou desirest a blessing from the Universal\nProvider; for the ignorant man cannot raise himself above the earth,\nand it is by knowledge that thou must render thy soul praiseworthy.\n\n _Firdausi._\n\n\n56.\n\nGood fortune is a benefit to the wise, but a curse to the foolish.\n\n _Chinese._\n\n\n57.\n\nIn this thing one man is superior to another, that he is better able\nto bear adversity and prosperity.\n\n _Philemon._\n\n\n58.\n\nThe rays of happiness, like those of light, are colourless when\nunbroken.\n\n _Longfellow._\n\n\n59.\n\nThere are three things which, in great quantity, are bad, and, in\nlittle, very good: leaven, salt, and liberality.\n\n _Talmud._\n\n\n60.\n\nWho aims at excellence will be above mediocrity; who aims at\nmediocrity will be far short of it.\n\n _Burmese._\n\n\n61.\n\nKeep thy heart afar from sorrow, and be not anxious about the\ntrouble which is not yet come.\n\n _Firdausi._\n\n\n62.\n\nIf thy garments be clean and thy heart be foul, thou needest no key\nto the door of hell.\n\n _Sa'di._\n\n\n63.\n\nWe ought never to mock the wretched, for who can be sure of being\nalways happy?\n\n _La Fontaine._\n\n\n64.\n\nTo those who err in judgment, not in will, anger is gentle.\n\n _Sophocles._\n\n\n65.\n\nNot only is the old man twice a child, but also the man who is\ndrunk.\n\n _Plato._\n\n\n66.\n\nWrapt up in error is the human mind,\n And human bliss is ever insecure;\nKnow we what fortune yet remains behind?\n Know we how long the present shall endure?\n\n _Pindar._\n\n\n67.\n\nA wise man adapts himself to circumstances, as water shapes itself\nto the vessel that contains it.\n\n _Chinese._\n\n\n68.\n\nHe who formerly was reckless and afterwards became sober brightens\nup this world like the moon when freed from clouds.\n\n _Dhammapada._\n\n\n69.\n\nWhen a base fellow cannot vie with another in merit he will attack\nhim with malicious slander.\n\n _Sa'di._\n\n\n70.\n\nIf a man be not so happy as he desires, let this be his comfort--he\nis not so wretched as he deserves.\n\n _R. Chamberlain._\n\n\n71.\n\nIn conversation humour is more than wit, easiness, more than\nknowledge; few desire to learn, or to think they need it; all desire\nto be pleased, or, if not, to be easy.\n\n _Sir W. Temple._\n\n\n72.\n\nThe greatest men sometimes overshoot themselves, but then their very\nmistakes are so many lessons of instruction.\n\n _Tom Browne._\n\n\n73.\n\nWe may be as good as we please, if we please to be good.\n\n _Barrow._\n\n\n74.\n\nThe round of a passionate man's life is in contracting debts in his\npassion which his virtue obliges him to pay. He spends his time in\noutrage and acknowledgment, injury and reparation.\n\n _Johnson._\n\n\n75.\n\nTo reprehend well is the most necessary and the hardest part of\nfriendship. Who is it that does not sometimes merit a check, and yet\nhow few will endure one? Yet wherein can a friend more unfold his\nlove than in preventing dangers before their birth, or in bringing a\nman to safety who is travelling on the road to ruin? I grant there\nis a manner of reprehending which turns a benefit into an injury,\nand then it both strengthens error and wounds the giver. When thou\nchidest thy wandering friend do it secretly, in season, in love, not\nin the ear of a popular convention, for oftentimes the presence of a\nmultitude makes a man take up an unjust defence, rather than fall\ninto a just shame.\n\n _Feltham._\n\n\n76.\n\nI put no account on him who esteems himself just as the popular\nbreath may chance to raise him.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n77.\n\nHe who seeks wealth sacrifices his own pleasure, and, like him who\ncarries burdens for others, bears the load of anxiety.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n78.\n\nCircumspection in calamity; mercy in greatness; good speeches in\nassemblies; fortitude in adversity: these are the self-attained\nperfections of great souls.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n79.\n\nThe best preacher is the heart; the best teacher is time; the best\nbook is the world; the best friend is God.\n\n _Talmud._\n\n\n80.\n\nA woman will not throw away a garland, though soiled, which her\nlover gave: not in the object lies a present's worth, but in the\nlove which it was meant to mark.\n\n _Bharavi._\n\n\n81.\n\nMen who have not observed discipline, and have not gained treasure\nin their youth, perish like old herons in a lake without fish.\n\n _Dhammapada._\n\n\n82.\n\nAs drops of bitter medicine, though minute, may have a salutary\nforce, so words, though few and painful, uttered seasonably, may\nrouse the prostrate energies of those who meet misfortune with\ndespondency.\n\n _Bharavi._\n\n\n83.\n\nThere are three whose life is no life: he who lives at another's\ntable; he whose wife domineers over him; and he who suffers bodily\naffliction.\n\n _Talmud._\n\n\n84.\n\nLet thy words between two foes be such that if they were to become\nfriends thou shouldst not be ashamed.\n\n _Sa'di._\n\n\n85.\n\nAn indiscreet man is more hurtful than an ill-natured one; for as\nthe latter will only attack his enemies, and those he wishes ill to,\nthe other injures indifferently both his friends and foes.\n\n _Addison._\n\n\n86.\n\nA man of quick and active wit\nFor drudgery is more unfit,\nCompared to those of duller parts,\nThan running nags are to draw carts.\n\n _Butler._\n\n\n87.\n\nAll affectation is the vain and ridiculous attempt of poverty to\nappear rich.\n\n _Lavater._\n\n\n88.\n\nThere never was, there never will be, a man who is always praised,\nor a man who is always blamed.\n\n _Dhammapada._\n\n\n89.\n\nA good man's intellect is piercing, yet inflicts no wound; his\nactions are deliberate, yet bold; his heart is warm, but never\nburns; his speech is eloquent, yet ever true.\n\n _Magha._\n\n\n90.\n\nHe who can feel ashamed will not readily do wrong.\n\n _Talmud._\n\n\n91.\n\nA stranger who is kind is a kinsman; an unkind kinsman is a\nstranger.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n92.\n\nThe good to others kindness show,\n And from them no return exact;\nThe best and greatest men, they know,\n Thus ever nobly love to act.[7]\n\n _Mahabharata._\n\n [7] Cf. Luke, VI, 34, 35.\n\n\n93.\n\nTrees loaded with fruit are bent down; the clouds when charged with\nfresh rain hang down near the earth: even so good men are not\nuplifted through prosperity. Such is the natural character of the\nliberal.\n\n _Bhartrihari._\n\n\n94.\n\nThe man who neither gives in charity nor enjoys his wealth, which\nevery day increases, breathes, indeed, like the bellows of a smith,\nbut cannot be said to live.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n95.\n\nThat energy which veils itself in mildness is most effective of its\nobject.\n\n _Magha._\n\n\n96.\n\nOur writings are like so many dishes, our readers, our guests, our\nbooks, like beauty--that which one admires another rejects; so we\nare approved as men's fancies are inclined.... As apothecaries, we\nmake new mixtures every day, pour out of one vessel into another;\nand as those old Romans robbed all cities of the world to set out\ntheir bad-cited Rome, we skim off the cream of other men's wits,\npick the choice flowers of their tilled gardens, to set out our own\nsterile plots. We weave the same web still, twist the same rope\nagain and again; or, if it be a new invention, 'tis but some bauble\nor toy, which idle fellows write, for as idle fellows to read.[8]\n\n _Burton._\n\n [8] Ferriar has pointed out, in his _Illustrations of\n Sterne_, how these passages from Burton's _Anatomy of\n Melancholy_ have been boldly plagiarised in the\n introduction to the fragment on Whiskers in _Tristram\n Shandy_: \"Shall we for ever make new books as\n apothecaries make new mixtures, by only pouring out of\n one vessel into another? Are we for ever to be twisting\n and untwisting the same rope?\" And Dr. Johnson, who was\n a great admirer of Burton, adopts the illustration of\n the plundering Romans in his _Rambler_, No. 143.\n\n\n97.\n\nIt is our follies that make our lives uncomfortable. Our errors of\nopinion, our cowardly fear of the world's worthless censure, and our\neagerness after unnecessary gold have hampered the way of virtue,\nand made it far more difficult than, in itself, it is.\n\n _Feltham._\n\n\n98.\n\nThere is not half so much danger in the desperate sword of a known\nfoe as in the smooth insinuations of a pretended friend.\n\n _R. Chamberlain._\n\n\n99.\n\nNothing is so oppressive as a secret; it is difficult for ladies to\nkeep it long, and I know even in this matter a good number of men\nwho are women.\n\n _La Fontaine._\n\n\n100.\n\nAll kinds of beauty do not inspire love: there is a kind of it which\npleases only the sight, but does not captivate the affections.\n\n _Cervantes._\n\n\n101.\n\nContentment consisteth not in heaping more fuel, but in taking away\nsome fire.\n\n _Fuller._\n\n\n102.\n\nIt is difficult to personate and act a part long, for where truth is\nnot at the bottom Nature will always be endeavouring to return, and\nwill peep out and betray herself one time or other.\n\n _Tillotson._\n\n\n103.\n\nThe truest characters of ignorance\nAre vanity, pride, and arrogance;\nAs blind men use to bear their noses higher\nThan those that have their eyes and sight entire.\n\n _Butler._\n\n\n104.\n\nIt is better to be well deserving without praise than to live by the\nair of undeserved commendation.\n\n _R. Chamberlain._\n\n\n105.\n\nHe travels safe and not unpleasantly who is guarded by poverty and\nguided by love.\n\n _Sir P. Sidney._\n\n\n106.\n\nNever put thyself in the way of temptation: even David could not\nresist it.\n\n _Talmud._\n\n\n107.\n\nPride is a vice which pride itself inclines every man to find in\nothers and overlook in himself.\n\n _Johnson._\n\n\n108.\n\nBy six qualities may a fool be known: anger, without cause; speech,\nwithout profit; change, without motive; inquiry, without an object;\ntrust in a stranger; and incapacity to discriminate between friend\nand foe.\n\n _Arabic._\n\n\n109.\n\nMen are not to be judged by their looks, habits, and appearances,\nbut by the character of their lives and conversations. 'Tis better\nthat a man's own works than another man's words should praise him.\n\n _Sir R. L'Estrange._\n\n\n110.\n\nTo exert his power in doing good is man's most glorious task.\n\n _Sophocles._\n\n\n111.\n\nThose who are skilled in archery bend their bow only when they are\nprepared to use it; when they do not require it they allow it to\nremain unbent, for otherwise it would be unserviceable when the time\nfor using it arrived. So it is with man. If he were to devote\nhimself unceasingly to a dull round of business, without breaking\nthe monotony by cheerful amusements, he would fall imperceptibly\ninto idiotcy, or be struck with paralysis.\n\n _Herodotus._\n\n\n112.\n\nBlinded by self-conceit and knowing nothing,\nLike elephant infatuate with passion,\nI thought within myself, I all things knew;\nBut when by slow degrees I somewhat learnt\nBy aid of wise preceptors, my conceit,\nLike some disease, passed off; and now I live\nIn the plain sense of what a fool I am.\n\n _Bhartrihari._\n\n\n113.\n\nTime is the most important thing in human life, for what is pleasure\nafter the departure of time? and the most consolatory, since pain,\nwhen pain has passed, is nothing. Time is the wheel-track in which\nwe roll on towards eternity, conducting us to the Incomprehensible.\nIn its progress there is a ripening power, and it ripens us the\nmore, and the more powerfully, when we duly estimate it. Listen to\nits voice, do not waste it, but regard it as the highest finite\ngood, in which all finite things are resolved.\n\n _Von Humboldt._\n\n\n114.\n\nAll that we are is made up of our thoughts; it is founded on our\nthoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speak or act with\na pure thought, happiness will follow him, like a shadow that never\nleaves him.\n\n _Dhammapada._\n\n\n115.\n\nDepend not on another, rather lean\nUpon thyself; trust to thine own exertions:\nSubjection to another's will gives pain;\nTrue happiness consists in self-reliance.\n\n _Manu._\n\n\n116.\n\nIf the friendship of the good be interrupted, their minds admit of\nno long change; as when the stalks of a lotus are broken the\nfilaments within them are more visibly cemented.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n117.\n\nAnger that has no limit causes terror, and unseasonable kindness\ndoes away with respect. Be not so severe as to cause disgust, nor so\nlenient as to make people presume.\n\n _Sa'di._\n\n\n118.\n\nBe patient, if thou wouldst thy ends accomplish; for like patience\nis there no appliance effective of success, producing certainly\nabundant fruit of actions, never damped by failure, conquering all\nimpediments.\n\n _Bharavi._\n\n\n119.\n\nAs rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, passion breaks through\nan unreflecting mind.\n\n _Dhammapada._\n\n\n120.\n\nMost men, even the most accomplished, are of limited faculties;\nevery one sets a value on certain qualities in himself and others:\nthese alone he is willing to favour, these alone will he have\ncultivated.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n121.\n\nPoverty, we may say, surrounds a man with ready-made barriers, which\nif they do mournfully gall and hamper, do at least prescribe for\nhim, and force on him, a sort of course and goal; a safe and beaten,\nthough a circuitous, course. A great part of his guidance is secure\nagainst fatal error, is withdrawn from his control. The rich, again,\nhas his whole life to guide, without goal or barrier, save of his\nown choosing, and, tempted, is too likely to guide it ill.\n\n _Carlyle._\n\n\n122.\n\nBy Fate full many a heart has been undone,\nAnd many a sprightly rose made woe-begone;\n Plume thee not on thy lusty youth and strength:\nFull many a bud is blasted ere its bloom.\n\n _Omar Khayyam._\n\n\n123.\n\nThe best thing is to be respected, the next, is to be loved; it is\nbad to be hated, but still worse to be despised.\n\n _Chinese._\n\n\n124.\n\nTo be envied is a nobler fate than to be pitied.\n\n _Pindar._\n\n\n125.\n\nHe only does not live in vain\nWho all the means within his reach\n Employs--his wealth, his thought, his speech--\nT'advance the weal of other men.\n\n _Sanskrit._\n\n\n126.\n\nIf you injure a harmless person, the evil will fall back upon you,\nlike light dust thrown up against the wind.\n\n _Buddhist._\n\n\n127.\n\nIn the life of every man there are sudden transitions of feeling,\nwhich seem almost miraculous. At once, as if some magician had\ntouched the heavens and the earth, the dark clouds melt into the\nair, the wind falls, and serenity succeeds the storm. The causes\nwhich produce these changes may have been long at work within us,\nbut the changes themselves are instantaneous, and apparently without\nsufficient cause.\n\n _Longfellow._\n\n\n128.\n\nMan is an intellectual animal, therefore an everlasting\ncontradiction to himself. His senses centre in himself, his ideas\nreach to the ends of the universe; so that he is torn in pieces\nbetween the two without the possibility of its ever being otherwise.\nA mere physical being or a pure spirit can alone be satisfied with\nitself.\n\n _Hazlitt._\n\n\n129.\n\nThe pure in heart, who fear to sin,\nThe good, kindly in word and deed--\nThese are the beings in the world\nWhose nature should be called divine.\n\n _Buddhist._\n\n\n130.\n\nIf thou desirest that the pure in heart should praise thee, lay\naside anger; be not a man of many words; and parade not thy virtues\nin the face of others.\n\n _Firdausi._\n\n\n131.\n\nA wise man takes a step at a time; he establishes one foot before he\ntakes up the other: an old place should not be forsaken recklessly.\n\n _Sanskrit._\n\n\n132.\n\nThe fish dwell in the depths of the waters, and the eagles in the\nsides of heaven; the one, though high, may be reached with the\narrow, and the other, though deep, with the hook; but the heart of\nman at a foot's distance cannot be known.[9]\n\n _Burmese._\n\n [9] Cf. Proverbs, XXV, 3.\n\n\n133.\n\nThe life of man is the incessant walk of nature, wherein every\nmoment is a step towards death. Even our growing to perfection is a\nprogress to decay. Every thought we have is a sand running out of\nthe glass of life.\n\n _Feltham._\n\n\n134.\n\nI have observed that as long as a man lives and exerts himself he\ncan always find food and raiment, though, it may be, not of the\nchoicest description.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n135.\n\nThere are no riches like the sweetness of content, nor poverty\ncomparable to the want of patience.\n\n _R. Chamberlain._\n\n\n136.\n\n'Tis not for gain, for fame, from fear\n That righteous men injustice shun,\nAnd virtuous men hold virtue dear:\nAn inward voice they seem to hear,\n Which tells them duty must be done.\n\n _Mahabharata._\n\n\n137.\n\nAs far and wide the vernal breeze\nSweet odours waft from blooming trees,\nSo, too, the grateful savour spreads\nTo distant lands of virtuous deeds.\n\n _Sanskrit._\n\n\n138.\n\nIn this world, however little happiness may have been our portion,\nyet have we no desire to die. Whether he can speak of life as\ncheerful and delicate, or as full of pain, anxiety, and sorrow,\nnever yet have I seen one who wished to die.\n\n _Firdausi._\n\n\n139.\n\nWhen morning silvers the dark firmament,\nWhy shrills the bird of dawning his lament?\n It is to show in dawn's bright looking-glass\nHow of thy careless life a night is spent.\n\n _Omar Khayyam._\n\n\n140.\n\nBe thou generous, and gentle, and forgiving; as God hath scattered\nupon thee, scatter thou upon others.\n\n _Sa'di._\n\n\n141.\n\nIn the body restraint is good; good is restraint in speech; in\nthought restraint is good: good is restraint in all things.\n\n _Dhammapada._\n\n\n142.\n\nMen say that everyone is naturally a lover of himself, and that it\nis right that it should be so. This is a mistake; for in fact the\ncause of all the blunders committed by man arises from this\nexcessive self-love. For the lover is blinded by the object loved,\nso that he passes a wrong judgment upon what is just, good, and\nbeautiful, thinking that he ought always to honour what belongs to\nhimself, in preference to truth. For he who intends to be a great\nman ought to love neither himself nor his own things, but only what\nis just, whether it happens to be done by himself or by another.\n\n _Plato._\n\n\n143.\n\nA man eminent in learning has not even a little virtue if he fears\nto practise it. What precious things can be shown to a blind man\nwhen he holds a lamp in his hand?\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n144.\n\nThe first forty years of our life give the text, the next thirty\nfurnish the commentary upon it, which enables us rightly to\nunderstand the true meaning and connection of the text with its\nmoral and its beauties.\n\n _Schopenhauer._\n\n\n145.\n\nGood actions lead to success, as good medicines to a cure: a healthy\nman is joyful, and a diligent man attains learning; a just man gains\nthe reward of his virtue.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n146.\n\nPurpose without power is mere weakness and deception; and power\nwithout purpose is mere fatuity.\n\n _Sa'di._\n\n\n147.\n\nSuffering is the necessary consequence of sin, just as when you eat\na sour fruit a stomach complaint ensues.\n\n _Burmese._\n\n\n148.\n\nRiches disclose in a man's character the bad qualities formerly\nconcealed in his poverty.\n\n _Arabic._\n\n\n149.\n\nWhate'er the work a man performs,\nThe most effective aid to its completion--\nThe most prolific source of true success--\nIs energy, without despondency.\n\n _Ramayana._\n\n\n150.\n\nHumility is a virtue all preach, none practise, and yet everybody is\ncontent to hear. The master thinks it good doctrine for his servant,\nthe laity for the clergy, and the clergy for the laity.\n\n _Selden._\n\n\n151.\n\nAuthority intoxicates,\nAnd makes mere sots of magistrates;\nThe fumes of it invade the brain,\nAnd make men giddy, proud, and vain;\nBy this the fool commands the wise,\nThe noble with the base complies,\nThe sot assumes the rule of wit,\nAnd cowards make the base submit.\n\n _Butler._\n\n\n152.\n\nNo man learns to know his inmost nature by introspection, for he\nrates himself sometimes too low, and often too high, by his own\nmeasurement. Man knows himself only by comparing himself with other\nmen; it is life that touches his genuine worth.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n153.\n\nIncrease in goodness as long as thou art here, that, when thou\ndepartest, in that thou mayest still be joyful. According to our\nwords and deeds in this life will be the remembrance of us in the\nworld.\n\n _Firdausi._\n\n\n154.\n\nParents' affection is best shown by their teaching their children\nindustry and self-denial.\n\n _Burmese._\n\n\n155.\n\nThere are three things to beware of through life: when a man is\nyoung, let him beware of his appetites; when he is middle-aged, of\nhis passions; and when old, of covetousness, especially.\n\n _Confucius._\n\n\n156.\n\nHe who has given satisfaction to the best of his time has lived for\nages.\n\n _Schiller._\n\n\n157.\n\nI never yet found pride in a noble nature nor humility in an\nunworthy mind.\n\n _Feltham._\n\n\n158.\n\nWorldly fame is but a breath of wind, that blows now this way, now\nthat, and changes name as it changes sides.\n\n _Dante._\n\n\n159.\n\nTrue modesty and true pride are much the same thing. Both consist in\nsetting a just value on ourselves--neither more nor less.\n\n _Hazlitt._\n\n\n160.\n\nNever does a man portray his own character more vividly than in his\nmanner of portraying another.\n\n _Richter._\n\n\n161.\n\nA foolish husband fears his wife; a prudent wife obeys her husband.\n\n _Chinese._\n\n\n162.\n\nHe who devises evil for another falls at last into his own pit, and\nthe most cunning finds himself caught by what he had prepared for\nanother. But virtue without guile, erect like the lofty palm, rises\nwith greater vigour when it is oppressed.\n\n _Metastasio._\n\n\n163.\n\nLaughing is peculiar to man, but all men do not laugh for the same\nreason. There is the attic salt which springs from the charm in the\nwords, from the flash of wit, from the spirited and brilliant sally.\nThere is the low joke which arises from scurrility and idle conceit.\n\n _Goldoni._\n\n\n164.\n\nThe woman who is resolved to be respected can make herself be so\neven amidst an army of soldiers.\n\n _Cervantes._\n\n\n165.\n\nPetty ambition would seem to be a mean craving after distinction.\n\n _Theophrastus._\n\n\n166.\n\nIt is an old observation that wise men grow usually wiser as they\ngrow older, and fools more foolish.\n\n _Wieland._\n\n\n167.\n\nUse law and physic only for necessity. They that use them otherwise\nabuse themselves into weak bodies and light purses. They are good\nremedies, bad businesses, and worse recreations.\n\n _Quarles._\n\n\n168.\n\nIn some dispositions there is such an envious kind of pride that\nthey cannot endure that any but themselves should be set forth as\nexcellent; so that when they hear one justly praised they will\neither openly detract from his virtues; or, if those virtues be,\nlike a clear and shining light, eminent and distinguished, so that\nhe cannot be safely traduced by the tongue, they will then raise a\nsuspicion against him by a mysterious silence, as if there were\nsomething remaining to be told which overclouded even his brightest\nglory.\n\n _Feltham._\n\n\n169.\n\nEvery man thinks with himself, I am well, I am wise, and laughs at\nothers; and 'tis a general fault amongst them all, that which our\nforefathers approved--diet, apparel, humours, customs, manners--we\nderide and reject in our time as absurd.\n\n _Burton._\n\n\n170.\n\nRepeated sin destroys the understanding\nAnd he whose reason is impaired repeats\nHis sins. The constant practising of virtue\nStrengthens the mental faculties, and he\nWhose judgment stronger grows acts always right.\n\n _Mahabharata._\n\n\n171.\n\nIf you wish to know how much preferable wisdom is to gold, then\nobserve: if you change gold you get silver for it, but your gold is\ngone; but if you exchange one sort of wisdom for another, you obtain\nfresh knowledge, and at the same time keep what you possessed\nbefore.\n\n _Talmud._\n\n\n172.\n\nThe man who listens not to the words of affectionate friends will\ngive joy in the time of distress to his enemies.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n173.\n\nIt is a proverbial expression that every man is the maker of his own\nfortune, and we usually regard it as implying that every man by his\nfolly or wisdom prepares good or evil for himself. But we may view\nit in another light, namely, that we may so accommodate ourselves to\nthe dispositions of Providence as to be happy in our lot, whatever\nmay be its privations.\n\n _Von Humboldt._\n\n\n174.\n\nBe very circumspect in the choice of thy company. In the society of\nthy equals thou shalt enjoy more pleasure; in the society of thy\nsuperiors thou shalt find more profit. To be the best of the company\nis the way to grow worse; the best means to grow better is to be the\nworst there.\n\n _Quarles._\n\n\n175.\n\nAssume in adversity a countenance of prosperity, and in prosperity\nmoderate thy temper.\n\n _Livy._\n\n\n176.\n\nMark this! who lives beyond his means\nForfeits respect, loses his sense;\nWhere'er he goes, through the seven births,\nAll count him knave: him women hate.\n\n _Hindu Poetess._\n\n\n177.\n\nBe cautious in your intercourse with the great; they seldom confer\nobligations on their inferiors but from interested motives. Friendly\nthey appear as long as it serves their turn, but they will render no\nassistance in time of actual need.\n\n _Talmud._\n\n\n178.\n\nMan, though he be gray-headed when he comes back, soon gets a young\nwife. But a woman's time is short within which she can expect to\nobtain a husband. If she allows it to slip away, no one cares to\nmarry her. She sits at home, speculating on the probability of her\nmarriage.\n\n _Aristophanes._\n\n\n179.\n\nHearts are like tapers, which at beauteous eyes\nKindle a flame of love that never dies;\nAnd beauty is a flame, where hearts, like moths,\nOffer themselves a burning sacrifice.\n\n _Omar Khayyam._\n\n\n180.\n\nWhen thou utterest not a word thou hast laid thy hand upon it; when\nthou hast uttered it, it hath laid its hand on thee.\n\n _Sa'di._\n\n\n181.\n\nTo the tongue which bringeth thee words without reason, the answer\nthat best beseemeth thee is--silence.\n\n _Nizami._\n\n\n182.\n\nThe man who talketh much and never acteth will not be held in\nreputation by anyone.\n\n _Firdausi._\n\n\n183.\n\nTwo sources of success are known: wisdom and effort; make them both\nthine own, if thou wouldst haply rise.\n\n _Magha._\n\n\n184.\n\nThe worse the ill that fate on noble souls\nInflicts, the more their firmness; and they arm\nTheir spirits with adamant to meet the blow.\n\n _Hindu Drama._\n\n\n185.\n\nOpportunities lose not, for all delay is madness;\n'Mid bitter sorrow patience show, for 'tis the key of gladness.\n\n _Turkish._\n\n\n186.\n\nMan is the only animal with the powers of laughter, a privilege\nwhich was not bestowed on him for nothing. Let us then laugh while\nwe may, no matter how broad the laugh may be, and despite of what\nthe poet says about \"the loud laugh that speaks the vacant mind.\"\nThe mind should occasionally be vacant, as the land should sometimes\nlie fallow, and for precisely the same reason.\n\n _Egerton Smith._\n\n\n187.\n\nThe man of affluence is not in fact more happy than the possessor of\na bare competency, unless, in addition to his wealth, the end of his\nlife be fortunate. We often see misery dwelling in the midst of\nsplendour, whilst real happiness is found in humbler stations.\n\n _Herodotus._\n\n\n188.\n\nLove of money is the disease which renders us most pitiful and\ngrovelling, and love of pleasure is that which renders us most\ndespicable.\n\n _Longinus._\n\n\n189.\n\nHe who labours diligently need never despair. We can accomplish\nevery thing by diligence and labour.\n\n _Menander._\n\n\n190.\n\nLost money is bewailed with deeper sighs\nThan friends, or kindred, and with louder cries.\n\n _Juvenal._\n\n\n191.\n\nIn one short verse I here express\nThe sum of tomes of sacred lore:\nBeneficence is righteousness,\nOppression's sin's malignant core.\n\n _Sanskrit._\n\n\n192.\n\nA wound inflicted by arrows heals, a wood cut down by an axe grows,\nbut harsh words are hateful--a wound inflicted by them does not\nheal. Arrows of different sorts can be extracted from the body, but\na word-dart cannot be drawn out, for it is seated in the heart.\n\n _Mahabharata._\n\n\n193.\n\nTo address a judicious remark to a thoughtless man is a mere\nthreshing of chaff.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n194.\n\nAll the blessings of a household come through the wife, therefore\nshould her husband honour her.\n\n _Talmud._\n\n\n195.\n\nCertain books seem to be written, not that we might learn from them,\nbut in order that we might see how much the author knows.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n196.\n\nAll that is old is not therefore necessarily excellent; all that is\nnew is not despicable on that account alone. Let what is really\nmeritorious be pronounced so by the candid judge after due\ninvestigation; blockheads alone are influenced by the opinion of\nothers.\n\n _Hindu Drama._\n\n\n197.\n\nOne of the diseases of this age is the multitude of books. It is a\nthriftless and a thankless occupation, this writing of books: a man\nwere better to sing in a cobbler's shop, for his pay is a penny a\npatch; but a book-writer, if he get sometimes a few commendations\nfrom the judicious, he shall be sure to reap a thousand reproaches\nfrom the malicious.\n\n _Barnaby Rich._\n\n\n198.\n\nWe rather confess our moral errors, faults, and crimes than our\nignorance.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n199.\n\nThe angel grows up in divine knowledge, the brute, in savage\nignorance, and the son of man stands hesitating between the two.\n\n _Persian._\n\n\n200.\n\nShe is a wife who is notable in her house; she is a wife who beareth\nchildren; she is a wife whose husband is as her life; she is a wife\nwho is obedient to her lord. The wife is half the man; a wife is\nman's dearest friend; a wife is the source of his religion, his\nworldly profit, and his love. He who hath a wife maketh offerings in\nhis house. Those who have wives are blest with good fortune. Wives\nare friends, who, by their kind and gentle speech, soothe you in\nyour retirement. In your distresses they are as mothers, and they\nare refreshment to those who are travellers in the rugged paths of\nlife.\n\n _Mahabharata._\n\n\n201.\n\nHe that is ambitious of fame destroys it. He that increaseth not his\nknowledge diminishes it. He that uses the crown of learning as an\ninstrument of gain will pass away.\n\n _Talmud._\n\n\n202.\n\nWhile the slightest inconveniences of the great are magnified into\ncalamities, while tragedy mouths out their sufferings in all the\nstrains of eloquence, the miseries of the poor are entirely\ndisregarded; and yet some of the lower ranks of people undergo more\nreal hardships in one day than those of a more exalted station\nsuffer in their whole lives.\n\n _Goldsmith._\n\n\n203.\n\nIt is impossible for those who are engaged in low and grovelling\npursuits to entertain noble and generous sentiments. Their thoughts\nmust always necessarily be somewhat similar to their employments.\n\n _Demosthenes._\n\n\n204.\n\nThe interval is immense between corporeal qualifications and\nsciences: the body in a moment is extinct, but knowledge endureth to\nthe end of time.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n205.\n\nIf thou lackest knowledge, what hast thou then acquired? Hast thou\nacquired knowledge, what else dost thou want?\n\n _Talmud._\n\n\n206.\n\nBe modest and simple in your deportment, and treat with indifference\nwhatever lies between virtue and vice. Love the human race; obey\nGod.\n\n _Marcus Aurelius._\n\n\n207.\n\nBootless grief hurts a man's self, but patience makes a jest of an\ninjury.\n\n _R. Chamberlain._\n\n\n208.\n\nPoverty without debt is independence.\n\n _Arabic._\n\n\n209.\n\nJust as the track of birds that cleave the air\nIs not discovered, nor yet the path of fish\nThat skim the water, so the course of those\nWho do good actions is not always seen.\n\n _Mahabharata._\n\n\n210.\n\nHe who has wealth has friends; he who has wealth has relations; he\nwho has wealth is a hero among the people; he who has wealth is even\na sage.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n211.\n\nLike a beautiful flower, full of colour but without scent, are the\nfine but fruitless words of him who does not act accordingly.\n\n _Dhammapada._\n\n\n212.\n\nWhen men are doubtful of the true state of things, their wishes lead\nthem to believe in what is most agreeable.\n\n _Arrianus._\n\n\n213.\n\nMost men the good they have despise,\nAnd blessings which they have not prize:\nIn winter, wish for summer's glow,\nIn summer, long for winter's snow.\n\n _Sanskrit._\n\n\n214.\n\nThe best conduct a man can adopt is that which gains him the esteem\nof others without depriving him of his own.\n\n _Talmud._\n\n\n215.\n\nWhoso associates with the wicked will be accused of following their\nways, though their principles may have made no impression upon him;\njust as if a person were in the habit of frequenting a tavern, he\nwould not be supposed to go there for prayer, but to drink\nintoxicating liquor.\n\n _Sa'di._\n\n\n216.\n\nThe loss of a much-prized treasure is only half felt when we have\nnot regarded its tenure as secure.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n217.\n\nThe dull-hued turkey apes the gait\nOf lordly peacock, richly plumed;\nAnd thus the poetaster shows\nWhen he would fain his verse recite.\n\n _Hindu Poetess._\n\n\n218.\n\nKnowledge acquired by a man of low degree places him on a level with\na prince, as a small river attains the irremeable ocean; and his\nfortune is then exalted.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n219.\n\nAn evil-minded man is quick to see\nHis neighbour's faults, though small as mustard seed;\nBut when he turns his eyes towards his own,\nThough large as _bilva_ fruit, he none descries.\n\n _Mahabharata._\n\n\n220.\n\nTwo persons die remorseful: he who possessed and enjoyed not, and he\nwho knew but did not practise.\n\n _Sa'di._\n\n\n221.\n\nWith regard to a secret divulged and kept concealed, there is an\nexcellent proverb, that the one is an arrow still in our possession,\nthe other is an arrow sent from the bow.\n\n _Jami._\n\n\n222.\n\nThe thing we want eludes our grasp,\nSome other thing is given; sometimes\nOur wish is gained, and gifts unsought\nAre ours; these all are God's own work.\n\n _Hindu Poetess._\n\n\n223.\n\nIf a man conquer in battle a thousand times a thousand men, and if\nanother conquer himself, he is the greater of conquerors.[10]\n\n _Dhammapada._\n\n [10] Cf. Prov. XVI, 32.\n\n\n224.\n\nThe man who is in the highest state of prosperity, and who thinks\nhis fortune is most secure, knows not if it will remain unchanged\ntill the evening.\n\n _Demosthenes._\n\n\n225.\n\nAmongst all possessions knowledge appears pre-eminent. The wise call\nit supreme riches, because it can never be lost, has no price, and\ncan at no time be destroyed.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n226.\n\nThe shadows of the mind are like those of the body. In the morning\nof life they all lie behind us, at noon we trample them under foot,\nand in the evening they stretch long, broad, and deepening before\nus.\n\n _Longfellow._\n\n\n227.\n\nHe who is full of faith and modesty, who shrinks from sin, and is\nfull of learning, who is diligent, unremiss, and full of\nunderstanding--he, being replete with these seven things, is\nesteemed a wise man.\n\n _Burmese._\n\n\n228.\n\nIf your foot slip, you may recover your balance, but if your tongue\nslip, you cannot recall your words.\n\n _Telugu._\n\n\n229.\n\nA vacant mind is open to all suggestions, as the hollow mountain\nreturns all sounds.\n\n _Chinese._\n\n\n230.\n\nWomen are ever masters when they like,\nAnd cozen with their kindness; they have spells\nSuperior to the wand of the magicians;\nAnd from their lips the words of wisdom fall,\nLike softest music on the listening ear.\n\n _Firdausi._\n\n\n231.\n\nA man cannot possess anything that is better than a good wife, or\nanything that is worse than a bad one.\n\n _Simonides._\n\n\n232.\n\nThe wife of bad conduct--constantly pleased with quarrelling--she is\nknown by wise men to be cruel Old Age in the form of a wife.\n\n _Panchatantra._\n\n\n233.\n\nI have often thought that the cause of men's good or ill fortune\ndepends on whether they make their actions fit with the times. A man\nhaving prospered by one mode of acting can never be persuaded that\nit may be well for him to act differently, whence it is that a man's\nFortune varies, because she changes her times and he does not his\nways.\n\n _Machiavelli._\n\n\n234.\n\nBy nature all men are alike, but by education very different.\n\n _Chinese._\n\n\n235.\n\nWhilom, ere youth's conceit had waned, methought\nAnswers to all life's problems I had wrought;\n But now, grown old and wise, too late I see\nMy life is spent, and all my lore is nought.\n\n _Omar Khayyam._\n\n\n236.\n\nWeak men gain their object when allied with strong associates: the\nbrook reaches the ocean by the river's aid.\n\n _Magha._\n\n\n237.\n\nA swan is out of place among crows, a lion among bulls, a horse\namong asses, and a wise man among fools.\n\n _Burmese._\n\n\n238.\n\nWhosoever does not persecute them that persecute him; whosoever\ntakes an offence in silence; he who does good because of love; he\nwho is cheerful under his sufferings--these are the friends of God,\nand of them the Scripture says, \"They shall shine forth like the sun\nat noontide.\"\n\n _Talmud._\n\n\n239.\n\nIt is intolerable that a silly fool, with nothing but empty birth to\nboast of, should in his insolence array himself in the merits of\nothers, and vaunt an honour which does not belong to him.\n\n _Boileau._\n\n\n240.\n\nAsk not a man who his father was but make trial of his qualities,\nand then conciliate or reject him accordingly. For it is no disgrace\nto new wine, if only it be sweet, as to its taste, that it was the\njuice [or daughter] of sour grapes.\n\n _Arabic._\n\n\n241.\n\nThe sun opens the lotuses, the moon illumines the beds of\nwater-lilies, the cloud pours forth its water unasked: even so the\nliberal of their own accord are occupied in benefiting others.\n\n _Bhartrihari._\n\n\n242.\n\nWe blame equally him who is too proud to put a proper value on his\nown merit and him who prizes too highly his spurious worth.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n243.\n\nMen are so simple, and yield so much to necessity, that he who will\ndeceive may always find him that will lend himself to be deceived.\n\n _Machiavelli._\n\n\n244.\n\nObstinate silence implies either a mean opinion of ourselves, or a\ncontempt for our company; and it is the more provoking, as others do\nnot know to which of these causes to attribute it--whether humility\nor pride.\n\n _Hazlitt._\n\n\n245.\n\nIf thou desire not to be poor, desire not to be too rich. He is\nrich, not that possesses much, but he that covets no more; and he is\npoor, not that enjoys little, but he that wants too much. The\ncontented mind wants nothing which it hath not; the covetous mind\nwants, not only what it hath not, but likewise what it hath.\n\n _Quarles._\n\n\n246.\n\nThose noble men who falsehood dread\n In wealth and glory ever grow,\n As flames with greater brightness glow\nWith oil in ceaseless flow when fed.\n\nBut like to flames with water drenched,\n Which, faintly flickering, die away,\n So liars day by day decay,\nTill all their lustre soon is quenched.\n\n _Sanskrit._\n\n\n247.\n\nWatch over thy expenditure, for he who through vain glory spendeth\nuselessly what he hath on empty follies, will receive neither return\nnor praise from anyone.\n\n _Firdausi._\n\n\n248.\n\nIf thou art a man, speak not much about thine own manliness, for not\nevery champion driveth the ball to the goal.\n\n _Sa'di._\n\n\n249.\n\nThe potter forms what he pleases with soft clay, so a man\naccomplishes his works by his own act.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n250.\n\nNo man of high and generous spirit is ever willing to indulge in\nflattery; the good may feel affection for others, but will not\nflatter them.\n\n _Aristotle._\n\n\n251.\n\nAn ass will with his long ears fray\nThe flies that tickle him away;\nBut man delights to have his ears\nBlown maggots in by flatterers.\n\n _Butler._\n\n\n252.\n\nBooks are pleasant, but if by being over-studious we impair our\nhealth and spoil our good humour, two of the best things we have,\nlet us give it over. I, for my part, am one of those who think no\nfruit derived from them can recompense so great a loss.\n\n _Montaigne._\n\n\n253.\n\nHe is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n254.\n\nIf with a stranger thou discourse, first learn,\nBy strictest observation, to discern\nIf he be wiser than thyself, if so,\nBe dumb, and rather choose by him to know;\nBut if thyself perchance the wiser be,\nThen do thou speak, that he may learn by thee.\n\n _Randolph._\n\n\n255.\n\nBeing continually in people's sight, by the satiety which it\ncreates, diminishes the reverence felt for great characters.\n\n _Livy._\n\n\n256.\n\nThere is a great difference between one who can feel ashamed before\nhis own soul and one who is only ashamed before his fellow men.\n\n _Talmud._\n\n\n257.\n\nBy rousing himself, by earnestness, by restraint and control the\nwise man may make for himself an island which no flood can\noverwhelm.\n\n _Dhammapada._\n\n\n258.\n\nThe best way to make ourselves agreeable to others is by seeming to\nthink them so. If we appear fully sensible of their good qualities\nthey will not complain of the want of them in us.\n\n _Hazlitt._\n\n\n259.\n\nTo form a judgment intuitively is the privilege of few; authority\nand example lead the rest of the world. They see with the eyes of\nothers, they hear with the ears of others. Therefore it is very easy\nto think as all the world now think; but to think as all the world\nwill think thirty years hence is not in the power of every one.\n\n _Schopenhauer._\n\n\n260.\n\nPoesy is a beauteous damsel, chaste, honourable, discreet, witty,\nretired, and who keeps herself within the limits of propriety. She\nis a friend of solitude; fountains entertain her, meadows console\nher, woods free her from ennui, flowers delight her; in short, she\ngives pleasure and instruction to all with whom she communicates.\n\n _Cervantes._\n\n\n261.\n\nHow can we learn to know ourselves? By reflection, never, but by our\nactions. Attempt to do your duty, and you will immediately find what\nis in you.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n262.\n\nMan is supreme lord and master\nOf his own ruin and disaster,\nControls his fate, but nothing less\nIn ordering his own happiness:\nFor all his care and providence\nIs too feeble a defence\nTo render it secure and certain\nAgainst the injuries of Fortune;\nAnd oft, in spite of all his wit,\nIs lost by one unlucky hit,\nAnd ruined with a circumstance,\nAnd mere punctilio of a chance.\n\n _Butler._\n\n\n263.\n\nThere is nothing in this world which a resolute man, who exerts\nhimself, cannot attain.\n\n _Somadeva._\n\n\n264.\n\nEre need be shown, some men will act,\nAs trees may fruit without a flower;\nTo some you speak with no result,\nAs seeds may die, and yield no grain.\n\n _Hindu Poetess._\n\n\n265.\n\nSeven things characterise the wise man, and seven the blockhead. The\nwise man speaks not before those who are his superiors, either in\nage or wisdom. He interrupts not others in the midst of their\ndiscourse. He replies not hastily. His questions are relevant to the\nsubject, his answers, to the purpose. In delivering his sentiments\nhe taketh the first in order first, the last, last. What he\nunderstands not he says, \"I understand not.\" He acknowledges his\nerror, and is open to conviction. The reverse of all this\ncharacterises the blockhead.\n\n _Talmud._\n\n\n266.\n\nHow absolute and omnipotent is the silence of the night! And yet the\nstillness seems almost audible. From all the measureless depths of\nair around us comes a half sound, a half whisper, as if we could\nhear the crumbling and falling away of the earth and all created\nthings in the great miracle of nature--decay and reproduction--ever\nbeginning, never ending--the gradual lapse and running of the sand\nin the great hour-glass of Time.\n\n _Longfellow._\n\n\n267.\n\nWhat avails your wealth, if it makes you arrogant to the poor?\n\n _Arabic._\n\n\n268.\n\nAll confidence is dangerous unless it is complete; there are few\ncircumstances in which it is not better either to hide all or to\ntell all.\n\n _La Bruyere._\n\n\n269.\n\nIt is well that there is no one without a fault, for he would not\nhave a friend in the world: he would seem to belong to a different\nspecies.\n\n _Hazlitt._\n\n\n270.\n\nThe mind alike,\nVigorous or weak, is capable of culture,\nBut still bears fruit according to its nature.\n'Tis not the teacher's skill that rears the scholar:\nThe sparkling gem gives back the glorious radiance\nIt drinks from other light, but the dull earth\nAbsorbs the blaze, and yields no gleam again.\n\n _Bhavabhuti._\n\n\n271.\n\nOne man envies the success in life of another, and hates him in\nsecret; nor is he willing to give him good advice when he is\nconsulted, except it be by some wonderful effort of good feeling,\nand there are, alas, few such men in the world. A real friend, on\nthe other hand, exults in his friend's happiness, rejoices in all\nhis joys, and is ready to afford him the best advice.\n\n _Herodotus._\n\n\n272.\n\nThis body is a tent which for a space\nDoes the pure soul with kingly presence grace;\n When he departs, comes the tent-pitcher, Death,\nStrikes it, and moves to a new halting-place.\n\n _Omar Khayyam._\n\n\n273.\n\nSpeak but little, and that little only when thy own purposes require\nit. Heaven has given thee two ears but only one tongue, which means:\nlisten to two things, but be not the first to propose one.\n\n _Hafiz._\n\n\n274.\n\nThe natural hostility of beasts is laid aside when flying from\npursuers; so also when danger is impending the enmity of rivals is\nended.\n\n _Bharavi._\n\n\n275.\n\nHe who toils with pain will eat with pleasure.\n\n _Chinese._\n\n\n276.\n\nA day of fortune is like a harvest-day, we must be busy when the\ncorn is ripe.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n277.\n\nThe fame of good men's actions seldom goes beyond their own doors,\nbut their evil deeds are carried a thousand miles' distance.\n\n _Chinese._\n\n\n278.\n\nA subtle-witted man is like an arrow, which, rending little surface,\nenters deeply, but they whose minds are dull resemble stones dashing\nwith clumsy force, but never piercing.\n\n _Magha._\n\n\n279.\n\nIt is good to tame the mind, which is difficult to hold in, and\nflighty, rushing wheresoever it listeth: a tamed mind brings\nblessings.\n\n _Dhammapada._\n\n\n280.\n\nThe man who every sacred science knows,\nYet has not strength to keep in check the foes\nThat rise within him, mars his Fortune's fame,\nAnd brings her by his feebleness to shame.\n\n _Bharavi._\n\n\n281.\n\nWhat a rich man gives and what he consumes, that is his real worth.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n282.\n\nHe who does not think too much of himself is much more esteemed than\nhe imagines.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n283.\n\nIt is a kind of policy in these days to prefix a fantastical title\nto a book which is to be sold; for as larks come down to a day-net,\nmany vain readers will tarry and stand gazing, like silly\npassengers, at an antic picture in a painter's shop that will not\nlook at a judicious piece.\n\n _Burton._\n\n\n284.\n\nWith many readers brilliancy of style passes for affluence of\nthought: they mistake buttercups in the grass for immeasurable gold\nmines under the ground.\n\n _Longfellow._\n\n\n285.\n\nThe doctrine that enters only into the ear is like the repast one\ntakes in a dream.\n\n _Chinese._\n\n\n286.\n\nAdorn thy mind with knowledge, for knowledge maketh thy worth.\n\n _Firdausi._\n\n\n287.\n\nMen hail the rising sun with glee,\nThey love his setting glow to see,\nBut fail to mark that every day\nIn fragments bears their life away.\n\nAll Nature's face delight to view,\nAs changing seasons come anew;\nNone sees how each revolving year\nAbridges swiftly man's career.\n\n _Ramayana._\n\n\n288.\n\nThe good man shuns evil and follows good; he keeps secret that which\nought to be hidden; he makes his virtues manifest to all; he does\nnot forsake one in adversity; he gives in season: such are the marks\nof a worthy friend.\n\n _Bhartrihari._\n\n\n289.\n\nNo one hath come into the world for a continuance save him who\nleaveth behind him a good name.[11]\n\n _Sa'di._\n\n [11] Cf. 29.\n\n\n290.\n\nGross ignorance produces a dogmatic spirit. He who knows nothing\nthinks he can teach others what he has himself just been learning.\nHe who knows much scarcely believes that what he is saying is\nunknown to others, and consequently speaks with more hesitation.\n\n _La Bruyere._\n\n\n291.\n\nWhen you see a man elated with pride, glorying in his riches and\nhigh descent, rising even above fortune, look out for his speedy\npunishment; for he is only raised the higher that he may fall with a\nheavier crash.\n\n _Menander._\n\n\n292.\n\nThe ridiculous is produced by any defect that is unattended by pain,\nor fatal consequences; thus, an ugly and deformed countenance does\nnot fail to cause laughter, if it is not occasioned by pain.\n\n _Aristotle._\n\n\n293.\n\nHappy the man who early learns the difference between his wishes and\nhis powers.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n294.\n\nThere is nothing more pitiable in the world than an irresolute man\nvacillating between two feelings, who would willingly unite the two,\nand who does not perceive that nothing can unite them.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n295.\n\nBeauty in a modest woman is like fire at a distance, or like a sharp\nsword: neither doth the one burn nor the other wound him that comes\nnot too near them.\n\n _Cervantes._\n\n\n296.\n\nWe are more sociable and get on better with people by the heart than\nthe intellect.\n\n _La Bruyere._\n\n\n297.\n\nA good man may fall, but he falls like a ball [and rebounds]; the\nignoble man falls like a lump of clay.\n\n _Bhartrihari._\n\n\n298.\n\nDo not anxiously expect what is not yet come; do not vainly regret\nwhat is already past.\n\n _Chinese._\n\n\n299.\n\nThe way to subject all things to thyself is to subject thyself to\nreason; thou shalt govern many if reason govern thee. Wouldst thou\nbe a monarch of a little world, command thyself.\n\n _Quarles._\n\n\n300.\n\nIf our inward griefs were written on our brows, how many who are\nenvied now would be pitied. It would seem that they had their\ndeadliest foe in their own breast, and their whole happiness would\nbe reduced to mere seeming.\n\n _Metastasio._\n\n\n301.\n\nThere are many who talk on from ignorance rather than from\nknowledge, and who find the former an inexhaustible fund of\nconversation.\n\n _Hazlitt._\n\n\n302.\n\nWhoever brings cheerfulness to his work, and is ever active, dashes\nthrough the world's labours.\n\n _Tieck._\n\n\n303.\n\nGrossness is not difficult to define: it is obtrusive and\nobjectionable pleasantry.\n\n _Theophrastus._\n\n\n304.\n\nDo not consider any vice as trivial, and therefore practise it; do\nnot consider any virtue as unimportant, and therefore neglect it.\n\n _Chinese._\n\n\n305.\n\nTo bad as well as good, to all,\nA generous man compassion shows;\n On earth no mortal lives, he knows,\nWho does not oft through weakness fall.\n\n _Ramayana._\n\n\n306.\n\nThe good extend their loving care\n To men, however mean or vile;\nE'en base Chandalas'[12] dwellings share\n Th' impartial sunbeam's silver smile.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n [12] Chandalas, or Pariahs, are the lowest, or of no caste.\n\n\n307.\n\nLet a man accept with confidence valuable knowledge even from a\nperson of low degree, good instruction regarding duty even from a\nhumble man, and a jewel of a wife even from an ignoble family.\n\n _Manu._\n\n\n308.\n\nWe cannot too soon convince ourselves how easily we may be dispensed\nwith in the world. What important personages we imagine ourselves to\nbe! We think that we alone are the life of the circle in which we\nmove; in our absence, we fancy that life, existence, breath will\ncome to a general pause, and, alas, the gap which we leave is\nscarcely perceptible, so quickly is it filled again; nay, it is\noften the place, if not of something better, at least for something\nmore agreeable.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n309.\n\nThe friendships formed between good and evil men differ. The\nfriendship of the good, at first faint like the morning light,\ncontinually increases; the friendship of the evil at the very\nbeginning is like the light of midday, and dies away like the light\nof evening.[13]\n\n _Bhartrihari._\n\n [13] In many parts of the East there is practically no\n twilight.\n\n\n310.\n\nA hundred long leagues is no distance for him who would quench the\nthirst of covetousness; but a contented mind has no solicitude for\ngrasping wealth.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n311.\n\nThe noble-minded dedicate themselves to the promotion of the\nhappiness of others--even of those who injure them. True happiness\nconsists in making happy.\n\n _Bharavi._\n\n\n312.\n\nA benefit given to the good is like characters engraven on a stone;\na benefit given to the evil is like a line drawn on water.\n\n _Buddhist._\n\n\n313.\n\nThe undertaking of a careless man succeeds not, though he use the\nright expedients: a clever hunter, though well placed in ambush,\nkills not his quarry if he falls asleep.\n\n _Bharavi._\n\n\n314.\n\nAll love, at first, like generous wine,\nFerments and frets until 'tis fine;\nBut when 'tis settled on the lee,\nAnd from th' impurer matter free,\nBecomes the richer still the older,\nAnd proves the pleasanter the colder.\n\n _Butler._\n\n\n315.\n\nSafe in thy breast close lock up thy intents,\nFor he that knows thy purpose best prevents.\n\n _Randolph._\n\n\n316.\n\nFrugality should ever be practised, but not excessive parsimony.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n317.\n\nHe who receives a favour must retain a recollection of it for all\ntime to come; but he who confers should at once forget it, if he is\nnot to show a sordid and ungenerous spirit. To remind a man of a\nkindness conferred on him, and to talk of it, is little different\nfrom a reproach.\n\n _Demosthenes._\n\n\n318.\n\nPride not thyself on thy religious works,\nGive to the poor, but talk not of thy gifts:\nBy pride religious merit melts away,\nThe merit of thy alms, by ostentation.\n\n _Manu._\n\n\n319.\n\nThe empty beds of rivers fill again;\nTrees leafless now renew their vernal bloom;\n Returning moons their lustrous phase resume;\nBut man a second youth expects in vain.[14]\n\n _Somadeva._\n\n [14] Cf. Job, XIV, 7.\n\n\n320.\n\nShall He to thee His aid refuse\nWho clothes the swan in dazzling white,\n Who robes in green the parrot bright,\nThe peacocks decks in rainbow hues?[15]\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n [15] Cf. Matt. VI, 25, 26.\n\n\n321.\n\nA bad man is as much pleased as a good man is distressed to speak\nill of others.\n\n _Mahabharata._\n\n\n322.\n\nEvery bird has its decoy, and every man is led and misled in his own\npeculiar way.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n323.\n\nThere is such a grateful tickling in the mind of man in being\ncommended that even when we know the praises which are bestowed on\nus are not our due, we are not angry with the author's insincerity.\n\n _Feltham._\n\n\n324.\n\nToo much to lament a misery is the next way to draw on a remediless\nmischief.\n\n _R. Chamberlain._\n\n\n325.\n\nThere is no remembrance which time doth not obliterate, nor pain\nwhich death doth not put an end to.\n\n _Cervantes._\n\n\n326.\n\nLook not mournfully into the Past. It comes not back again. Wisely\nimprove the Present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy\nFuture, without fear, and with a manly heart.\n\n _Longfellow._\n\n\n327.\n\nPlans that are wise and prudent in themselves are rendered vain when\nthe execution of them is carried on negligently and with imprudence.\n\n _Guicciardini._\n\n\n328.\n\nEvery man stamps his value on himself. The price we challenge for\nourselves is given us. Man is made great or little by his own will.\n\n _Schiller._\n\n\n329.\n\nHath any wronged thee, be bravely revenged. Slight it, and the\nwork's begun; forgive it, and 'tis finished. He is below himself\nthat is not above an injury.\n\n _Quarles._\n\n\n330.\n\nAs gold is tried by the furnace, and the baser metal shown, so the\nhollow-hearted friend is known by adversity.\n\n _Metastasio._\n\n\n331.\n\nThe rose does not bloom without thorns. True, but would that the\nthorns did not outlive the rose.\n\n _Richter._\n\n\n332.\n\nTruth from the mouth of an honest man and severity from a\ngood-natured man have a double effect.\n\n _Hazlitt._\n\n\n333.\n\nMost virgins marry, just as nuns\nThe same thing the same way renounce;\nBefore they've wit to understand\nThe bold attempt, they take in hand;\nOr, having stayed and lost their tides,\nAre out of season grown for brides.\n\n _Butler._\n\n\n334.\n\nThe fountain of content must spring up in the mind, and he who has\nso little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing\nanything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless\nefforts, and multiply the griefs which he purposes to remove.\n\n _Johnson._\n\n\n335.\n\nIn all things, to serve from the lowest station upwards is\nnecessary. To restrict yourself to a trade is best. For the narrow\nmind, whatever he attempts is still a trade; for the higher, an art;\nand the highest in doing one thing does all, or, to speak less\nparadoxically, in the one thing which he does rightly he sees the\nlikeness of all that is done rightly.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n336.\n\nMisanthropy ariseth from a man trusting another without having\nsufficient knowledge of his character, and, thinking him to be\ntruthful, sincere, and honourable, finds a little afterwards that he\nis wicked, faithless, and then he meets with another of the same\ncharacter. When a man experiences this often, and more particularly\nfrom those whom he considered his most dear and best friends, at\nlast, having frequently made a slip, he hates the whole world, and\nthinks that there is nothing sound at all in any of them.\n\n _Plato._\n\n\n337.\n\nPleasure, most often delusive, may be born of delusion. Pleasure,\nherself a sorceress, may pitch her tents on enchanted ground. But\nhappiness (or, to use a more accurate and comprehensive term, solid\nwell-being) can be built on virtue alone, and must of necessity have\ntruth for its foundation.\n\n _Coleridge._\n\n\n338.\n\nEntangled in a hundred worldly snares,\nSelf-seeking men, by ignorance deluded,\nStrive by unrighteous means to pile up riches.\nThen, in their self-complacency, they say,\n\"This acquisition I have made to-day,\nThat will I gain to-morrow, so much pelf\nIs hoarded up already, so much more\nRemains that I have yet to treasure up.\nThis enemy I have destroyed, him also,\nAnd others in their turn, I will despatch.\nI am a lord; I will enjoy myself;\nI'm wealthy, noble, strong, successful, happy;\nI'm absolutely perfect; no one else\nIn all the world can be compared to me.\nNow will I offer up a sacrifice,\nGive gifts with lavish hand, and be triumphant.\"\nSuch men, befooled by endless vain conceits,\nCaught in the meshes of the world's illusion,\nImmersed in sensuality, descend\nDown to the foulest hell of unclean spirits.[16]\n\n _Mahabharata._\n\n [16] Cf. Luke, XII, 17-20; see also 291.\n\n\n339.\n\nThere needs no other charm, nor conjuror,\nTo raise infernal spirits up, but Fear,\nThat makes men pull their horns in, like a snail,\nThat's both a prisoner to itself and jail;\nDraws more fantastic shapes than in the grains\nOf knotted wood, in some men's crazy brains,\nWhen all the cocks they think they are, and bulls,\nAre only in the insides of their skulls.\n\n _Butler._\n\n\n340.\n\nHe that rectifies a crooked stick bends it the contrary way, so must\nhe that would reform a vice learn to affect its mere contrary, and\nin time he shall see the springing blossoms of a happy restoration.\n\n _R. Chamberlain._\n\n\n341.\n\nThe more weakness the more falsehood; strength goes straight: every\ncannon ball that has in it hollows and holes goes crooked.\n\n _Richter._\n\n\n342.\n\nLearning dissipates many doubts, and causes things otherwise\ninvisible to be seen, and is the eye of everyone who is not\nabsolutely blind.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n343.\n\nVery distasteful is excessive fame\n To the sour palate of the envious mind,\nWho hears with grief his neighbours good by name,\n And hates the fortune that he ne'er shall find.\n\n _Pindar._\n\n\n344.\n\nA more glorious victory cannot be gained over another man than this,\nthat when the injury began on his part the kindness should begin on\nours.\n\n _Tillotson._\n\n\n345.\n\nTime, which gnaws and diminishes all things else, augments and\nincreases benefits, because a noble action of liberality done to a\nman of reason doth grow continually by his generously thinking of it\nand remembering it.\n\n _Rabelais._\n\n\n346.\n\nWere all thy fond endeavours vain\n To chase away the sufferer's smart,\nStill hover near, lest absence pain\n His lonely heart.\n\nFor friendship's tones have kindlier power\n Than odorous fruit, or nectared bowl,\nTo soothe, in sorrow's languid hour,\n The sinking soul.\n\n _Sa'di._\n\n\n347.\n\nThe faults of others are easily perceived, but those of oneself are\ndifficult to perceive; a man winnows his neighbour's faults like\nchaff, but his own fault he hides as a cheat hides the false dice\nfrom the gamester.\n\n _Dhammapada._\n\n\n348.\n\nEducation and morals will be found almost the whole that goes to\nmake a good man.\n\n _Aristotle._\n\n\n349.\n\nToil and pleasure, in their natures opposite, are yet linked\ntogether in a kind of necessary connection.\n\n _Livy._\n\n\n350.\n\nEnjoy thou the prosperity of others,\nAlthough thyself unprosperous; noble men\nTake pleasure in their neighbours' happiness.\n\n _Mahabharata._\n\n\n351.\n\nNeither live with a bad man nor be at enmity with him; even as if\nyou take hold of glowing charcoal it will burn you, if you take hold\nof cold charcoal it will soil you.\n\n _Buddhist._\n\n\n352.\n\nIn the sandal-tree are serpents, in the water lotus flowers, but\ncrocodiles also; even virtues are marred by the vicious--in all\nenjoyments there is something which impairs our happiness.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n353.\n\nThere is no pleasure of life sprouting like a tree from one root but\nthere is some pain joined to it; and again nature brings good out of\nevil.\n\n _Menander._\n\n\n354.\n\nThe manner of giving shows the character of the giver more than the\ngift itself. There is a princely manner of giving and accepting.\n\n _Lavater._\n\n\n355.\n\nPerfect ignorance is quiet, perfect knowledge is quiet; not so the\ntransition from the former to the latter.\n\n _Carlyle._\n\n\n356.\n\nSuperstition is the religion of feeble minds; and they must be\ntolerated in an admixture of it in some trifling or enthusiastic\nshape or other; else you will deprive weak minds of a resource found\nnecessary to the strongest.\n\n _Burke._\n\n\n357.\n\nFair words without good deeds to a man in misery are like a saddle\nof gold clapped upon a galled horse.\n\n _Chamberlain._\n\n\n358.\n\nThere is a rabble among the gentry as well as the commonalty; a sort\nof plebeian heads whose fancy moves with the same wheel as these\nmen--in the same level with mechanics, though their fortunes do\nsometimes gild their infirmities and their purses compound for their\nfollies.\n\n _Sir Thomas Browne._\n\n\n359.\n\nIt is a common remark that men talk most who think least; just as\nfrogs cease their quacking when a light is brought to the\nwater-side.\n\n _Richter._\n\n\n360.\n\nOur time is like our money; when we change a guinea the shillings\nescape as things of small account; when we break a day by idleness\nin the morning, the rest of the hours lose their importance in our\neyes.\n\n _Sir Walter Scott._\n\n\n361.\n\nVociferation and calmness of character seldom meet in the same\nperson.\n\n _Lavater._\n\n\n362.\n\nWit and wisdom differ. Wit is upon the sudden turn, wisdom is in\nbringing about ends.\n\n _Selden._\n\n\n363.\n\nReal and solid happiness springs from moderation.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n364.\n\nIn all the world there is no vice\nLess prone t'excess than avarice;\nIt neither cares for food nor clothing:\nNature's content with little, that with nothing.\n\n _Butler._\n\n\n365.\n\nBeside the streamlet seated, mark how life glides on:\nThat sign, how swift each moment goes, to me's enough.\nBehold this world's delights, and view its various pains:\nIf not to you, the joy it shows to me's enough.\n\n _Hafiz._\n\n\n366.\n\nThe lake no longer water holds--\nOff fly the fowls, the lilies stay:\nIf friends are friends when wealth is gone,\nThe lily's constancy they share.\n\n _Hindu Poetess._\n\n\n367.\n\nLet us be well persuaded that everyone of us possesses happiness in\nproportion to his virtue and wisdom, and according as he acts in\nobedience to their suggestion.\n\n _Aristotle._\n\n\n368.\n\nAll property which comes to hand by means of violence, or infamy, or\nbaseness, however large it may be, is tainted and unblest. On the\nother hand, whatever is obtained by honest profit, small though it\nbe, brings a blessing with it.[17]\n\n _Akhlak-i-Jalali._\n\n [17] See 44.\n\n\n369.\n\nWe should know mankind better if we were not so anxious to resemble\none another.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n370.\n\nRoot out the love of self, as you might the autumn lotus with your\nhand.\n\n _Buddhist._\n\n\n371.\n\nWhoever has the seed of virtue and honour implanted in his breast\nwill drop a sympathising tear on the woes of his neighbour.\n\n _Nakhshabi._\n\n\n372.\n\nDo naught to others which, if done to thee, would cause thee pain:\nthis is the sum of duty.[18]\n\n _Mahabharata._\n\n [18] Cf. Matt. VII, 12.\n\n\n373.\n\nA bad man, though raised to honour, always returns to his natural\ncourse, as a dog's tail, though warmed by the fire and rubbed with\noil, retains its form.[19]\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n [19] Cf. Arab proverb: \"A dog's tail never can be made\n straight.\"\n\n\n374.\n\nThe man who cannot blush, and who has no feelings of fear, has\nreached the acme of impudence.\n\n _Menander._\n\n\n375.\n\nIt is the usual consolation of the envious, if they cannot maintain\ntheir superiority, to represent those by whom they are surpassed as\ninferior to some one else.\n\n _Plutarch._\n\n\n376.\n\nSuch as the chain of causes we call Fate, such is the chain of\nwishes: one links on to another; the whole man is bound in the chain\nof wishing for ever.\n\n _Seneca._\n\n\n377.\n\nI do remember stopping by the way,\nTo watch a potter thumping his wet clay;\n And with its all-obliterated tongue\nIt murmured, \"Gently, brother, gently, pray!\"\n\n _Omar Khayyam._\n\n\n378.\n\nIf you only knew the evils which others suffer, you would willingly\nsubmit to those which you now bear.\n\n _Philemon._\n\n\n379.\n\nChildren form a bond of union than which the human heart finds none\nmore enduring.\n\n _Livy._\n\n\n380.\n\nThe sweetest pleasures soonest cloy,\nAnd its best flavour temperance gives to joy.\n\n _Juvenal._\n\n\n381.\n\nTo our own sorrows serious heed we give,\nBut for another's we soon cease to grieve.\n\n _Pindar._\n\n\n382.\n\nCan anything be more absurd than that the nearer we are to our\njourney's end, we should lay in the more provision for it?\n\n _Cicero._\n\n\n383.\n\nSet about whatever you intend to do; the beginning is half the\nbattle.\n\n _Ausonius._\n\n\n384.\n\nAll smatterers are more brisk and pert\nThan those who understand an art;\nAs little sparkles shine more bright\nThan glowing coals that gave them light.\n\n _Butler._\n\n\n385.\n\nNo prince, how great soever, begets his predecessors, and the\nnoblest rivers are not navigable to the fountain.\n\n _A. Marvell._\n\n\n386.\n\nThe guilty man may escape, but he cannot be sure of doing so.\n\n _Epicurus._\n\n\n387.\n\nIn everything you will find annoyances, but you ought to consider\nwhether the advantages do not predominate.\n\n _Menander._\n\n\n388.\n\nDreams in general take their rise from those incidents which have\nmost occupied the thoughts during the day.\n\n _Herodotus._\n\n\n389.\n\nSleeping, we image what awake we wish;\nDogs dream of bones, and fishermen of fish.[20]\n\n _Theocritus._\n\n [20] Cf. Arab proverb: \"The dream of the cat is always about\n mice.\"\n\n\n390.\n\nA man who does not endeavour to _seem_ more than he is will\ngenerally be thought nothing of. We habitually make such large\ndeductions for pretence and imposture that no real merit will stand\nagainst them. It is necessary to set off our good qualities with a\ncertain air of plausibility and self-importance, as some attention\nto fashion is necessary.\n\n _Hazlitt._\n\n\n391.\n\nThere is nothing more beautiful than cheerfulness in an old face,\nand among country people it is always a sign of a well-regulated\nlife.\n\n _Richter._\n\n\n392.\n\nFrom things which have been obtained after having been long desired\nmen almost never derive the pleasure and delight which they had\nanticipated.\n\n _Guicciardini._\n\n\n393.\n\nSeest thou good days? Prepare for evil times. No summer but hath its\nwinter. He never reaped comfort in adversity that sowed not in\nprosperity.\n\n _Quarles._\n\n\n394.\n\nEvery man knows his own but not others' defects and miseries; and\n'tis the nature of all men still to reflect upon themselves their\nown misfortunes, not to examine or consider other men's, not to\nconfer themselves with others; to recount their own miseries but not\ntheir good gifts, fortunes, benefits which they have, to ruminate on\ntheir adversity, but not once to think on their prosperity, not what\nthey have but what they want.\n\n _Burton._\n\n\n395.\n\nSome people, you would think, are made up of nothing but title and\ngenealogy; the stamp of dignity defaces in them the very character\nof humanity, and transports them to such a degree of haughtiness\nthat they reckon it below them to exercise good nature or good\nmanners.\n\n _L'Estrange._\n\n\n396.\n\nHe alone is poor who does not possess knowledge.\n\n _Talmud._\n\n\n397.\n\nIt is not enough to know; we must apply what we know. It is not\nenough to will; we must also act.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n398.\n\nWords of blame from those who are hostile to a great man cannot\ninjure him. The moon is not hurt when barked at by a dog.\n\n _Arabic._\n\n\n399.\n\nThe value of three things is justly appreciated by all classes of\nmen: youth, by the old; health, by the diseased; and wealth, by the\nneedy.\n\n _Omar Khayyam._\n\n\n400.\n\nAs one might nurse a tiny flame,\nThe able and far-seeing man,\nE'en with the smallest capital,\nCan raise himself to wealth.\n\n _Buddhist._\n\n\n401.\n\nBy a husband wealth is accumulated; by a wife is its preservation.\n\n _Burmese._\n\n\n402.\n\nIt is very hard for the mind to disengage itself from a subject on\nwhich it has been long employed. The thoughts will be rising of\nthemselves from time to time, though we have given them no\nencouragement, as the tossings and fluctuations of the sea continue\nseveral hours after the winds are laid.\n\n _Addison._\n\n\n403.\n\nHypocrisy will serve as well\nTo propagate a church as zeal;\nAs persecution and promotion\nDo equally advance devotion:\nSo round white stones will serve, they say,\nAs well as eggs, to make hens lay.\n\n _Butler._\n\n\n404.\n\nMan differs from other animals particularly in this, that he is\nimitative, and acquires his rudiments of knowledge in this way;\nbesides, the delight in imitation is universal.\n\n _Aristotle._\n\n\n405.\n\nThe hooting fowler seldom takes much game. When a man has a project\nin his mind, digested and fixed by consideration, it is wise to keep\nit secret till the time that his designs arrive at their despatch\nand perfection. He is unwise who brags much either of what he will\ndo or what he shall have, for if what he speaks of fall not out\naccordingly, instead of applause, a mock and scorn will follow him.\n\n _Feltham._\n\n\n406.\n\nWhat is the most profitable? Fellowship with the good. What is the\nworst thing in the world? The society of evil men. What is the\ngreatest loss? Failure in one's duty. Where is the greatest peace?\nIn truth and righteousness. Who is the hero? The man who subdues his\nsenses. Who is the best beloved? The faithful wife. What is wealth?\nKnowledge. What is the most perfect happiness? Staying at home.\n\n _Bhartrihari._\n\n\n407.\n\nIf a man says that it is right to give every one his due, and\ntherefore thinks within his own mind that injury is due from a just\nman to his enemies but kindness to his friends, he was not wise who\nsaid so, for he spoke not the truth, for in no case has it appeared\nto be just to injure any one.[21]\n\n _Plato._\n\n [21] Cf. Matt. V, 43, 44.\n\n\n408.\n\nFaith is like love, it cannot be forced. Therefore it is a dangerous\noperation if an attempt be made to introduce or bind it by state\nregulations; for, as the attempt to force love begets hatred, so\nalso to compel religious belief produces rank unbelief.\n\n _Schopenhauer._\n\n\n409.\n\nWe are like vessels tossed on the bosom of the deep; our passions\nare the winds that sweep us impetuously forward; each pleasure is a\nrock; the whole life is a wide ocean. Reason is the pilot to guide\nus, but often allows itself to be led astray by the storms of pride.\n\n _Metastasio._\n\n\n410.\n\nEmpty is the house of a childless man; as empty is the mind of a\nbachelor; empty are all quarters of the world to an ignorant man;\nbut poverty is total emptiness.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n411.\n\nThe wicked have no stability, for they do not remain in consistency\nwith themselves; they continue friends only for a short time,\nrejoicing in each other's wickedness.\n\n _Aristotle._\n\n\n412.\n\nIt is the natural disposition of all men to listen with pleasure to\nabuse and slander of their neighbour, and to hear with impatience\nthose who utter praises of themselves.\n\n _Demosthenes._\n\n\n413.\n\nA man ought not to return evil for evil, as many think, since at no\ntime ought we to do an injury to our neighbour.[22]\n\n _Plato._\n\n [22] Cf. Rom. XII, 19; 1 Thess. V, 15.\n\n\n414.\n\nIn all that belongs to man you cannot find a greater wonder than\nmemory. What a treasury of all things! What a record! What a journal\nof all! As if provident Nature, because she would have man\ncircumspect, had furnished him with an account-book, to carry always\nwith him. Yet it neither burthens nor takes up room.\n\n _Feltham._\n\n\n415.\n\nHe who will not freely and sadly confess that he is _much_ a fool is\n_all_ a fool.\n\n _Fuller._\n\n\n416.\n\nThe man with hoary head is not revered as aged by the gods, but only\nhe who has true knowledge; he, though young, is old.\n\n _Manu._\n\n\n417.\n\nNo fathers and mothers think their own children ugly, and this\nself-deceit is yet stronger with respect to the offspring of the\nmind.\n\n _Cervantes._\n\n\n418.\n\nIn thy apparel avoid singularity, profuseness, and gaudiness. Be not\ntoo early in the fashion, nor too late. Decency is half way between\naffectation and neglect. The body is the shell of the soul, apparel\nis the husk of that shell; the husk often tells you what the kernel\nis.\n\n _Quarles._\n\n\n419.\n\nWe have more faith in a well-written romance while we are reading it\nthan in common history. The vividness of the representations in the\none case more than counterbalances the mere knowledge of the truth\nof facts in the other.\n\n _Hazlitt._\n\n\n420.\n\nIt is easy to lose important opportunities, and difficult to regain\nthem; therefore when they present themselves it is the more\nnecessary to make every effort to retain them.\n\n _Guicciardini._\n\n\n421.\n\nAmong wonderful things is a sore-eyed man who is an oculist.\n\n _Arabic._\n\n\n422.\n\nGold gives the appearance of beauty even to ugliness; but everything\nbecomes frightful with poverty.\n\n _Boileau._\n\n\n423.\n\nWhen the scale of sensuality bears down that of reason, the baseness\nof our nature conducts us to most preposterous conclusions.\n\n _R. Chamberlain._\n\n\n424.\n\nIdleness is a great enemy to mankind. There is no friend like\nenergy, for, if you cultivate that, it will never fail.\n\n _Bhartrihari._\n\n\n425.\n\nThe greatest difficulties lie where we are not looking for them.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n426.\n\nWe must oblige everybody as much as we can; we have often need of\nassistance from those inferior to ourselves.\n\n _La Fontaine._\n\n\n427.\n\nWe magnify the wealthy man, though his parts be never so poor. The\npoor man we despise, be he never so well qualified. Gold is the\ncoverlet of imperfections. It is the fool's curtain, which hides all\nhis defects from the world.\n\n _Feltham._\n\n\n428.\n\nThere is nothing more operative than sedulity and diligence. A man\nwould wonder at the mighty things which have been done by degrees\nand gentle augmentations. Diligence and moderation are the best\nsteps whereby to climb to any excellence, nay, it is rare that there\nis any other other way.\n\n _Feltham._\n\n\n429.\n\nIn sooth, it is a shame to choose rather to be still borrowing in\nall places, from everybody, than to work and win.\n\n _Rabelais._\n\n\n430.\n\nBehaviour is a mirror in which every one shows his image.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n431.\n\nThere is nothing more daring than ignorance.\n\n _Menander._\n\n\n432.\n\nIt is not easy to stop the fire when the water is at a distance;\nfriends at hand are better than relations afar off.\n\n _Chinese._\n\n\n433.\n\nThe lustre of a virtuous character cannot be defaced, nor can the\nvices of a vicious man ever become lucid. A jewel preserves its\nlustre, though trodden in the mud, but a brass pot, though placed\nupon the head, is brass still.\n\n _Panchatantra._\n\n\n434.\n\nNoble birth is an accident of fortune, noble actions characterise\nthe great.\n\n _Goldoni._\n\n\n435.\n\nSimplicity of character is the natural result of profound thought.\n\n _Hazlitt._\n\n\n436.\n\nWhen anyone is modest, not after praise, but after censure, then he\nis really so.\n\n _Richter._\n\n\n437.\n\nExperience has always shown, and reason shows, that affairs which\ndepend on many seldom succeed.\n\n _Guicciardini._\n\n\n438.\n\nGive not thy tongue too great a liberty, lest it take thee prisoner.\nA word unspoken is like thy sword in thy scabbard; if vented, the\nsword is in another's hand.[23] If thou desire to be held wise, be\nso wise as to hold thy tongue.\n\n _Quarles._\n\n [23] Cf. 221; also Metastasio:\n\n Voce dal fuggita\n Poi richiamar non vale;\n Non si trattien lo strale\n Quando dall' arco usci.\n\n [The word that once escapes the tongue cannot be\n recalled; the arrow cannot be detained which has once\n sped from the bow.]\n\n\n439.\n\nThe old lose one of the greatest privileges of man, for they are no\nlonger judged by their contemporaries.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n440.\n\nWhen the man of a naturally good propensity has much wealth it\ninjures his advancement in wisdom; when a worthless man has much\nwealth it increases his faults.\n\n _Chinese._\n\n\n441.\n\nIn youth a man is deluded by other ideas than those which delude him\nin middle life, and again in his decay he embraces other ideas.\n\n _Mahabharata._\n\n\n442.\n\nTo consider, Is this man of our own or an alien? is a mark of\nlittle-minded persons; but the whole earth is of kin to the\ngenerous-hearted.[24]\n\n _Panchatantra._\n\n [24] Cf. Luke, X, 29, ff.\n\n\n443.\n\nSkill in advising others is easily attained by men; but to practise\nrighteousness themselves is what only a few can succeed in doing.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n444.\n\nHast thou not perfect excellence, 'tis best\n To keep thy tongue in silence, for 'tis this\nWhich shames a man; as lightness does attest\n The nut is empty, nor of value is.\n\n _Sa'di._\n\n\n445.\n\nUnderstand a man by his deeds and words; the impressions of others\nlead to false judgment.\n\n _Talmud._\n\n\n446.\n\nA man of feeble character resembles a reed that bends with every\ngust of wind.\n\n _Magha._\n\n\n447.\n\nThere is no fire like passion; there is no shark like hatred; there\nis no snare like folly; there is no torrent like greed.\n\n _Dhammapada._\n\n\n448.\n\nCommit a sin twice, and it will not seem to thee a sin.\n\n _Talmud._\n\n\n449.\n\nLiberality attended with mild language; learning without pride;\nvalour united with mercy; wealth accompanied with a generous\ncontempt of it--these four qualities are with difficulty acquired.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n450.\n\nInquire about your neighbour before you build, and about your\ncompanions before you travel.\n\n _Arabic._\n\n\n451.\n\nThough you may yourself abound in treasure, teach your son some\nhandicraft; for a heavy purse of gold and silver may run to waste,\nbut the purse of the artisan's industry can never get empty.\n\n _Sa'di._\n\n\n452.\n\nIt is an observation no less just than common that there is no\nstronger test of a man's real character than power and authority,\nexciting, as they do, every passion, and discovering every latent\nvice.\n\n _Plutarch._\n\n\n453.\n\nRather skin a carcass for pay in the public streets than be idly\ndependent on charity.\n\n _Talmud._\n\n\n454.\n\nKnowledge produces mildness of speech; mildness of speech, a good\ncharacter; a good character, wealth; wealth, if virtuous actions\nattend it, happiness.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n455.\n\nO how wonderful is the human voice! It is indeed the organ of the\nsoul. The intellect of man sits enshrined visibly upon his forehead\nand in his eye; and the heart of man is written upon his\ncountenance. But the soul reveals itself in the voice only, as God\nrevealed himself to the prophet in the still small voice, and in a\nvoice from the Burning Bush. The soul of man is audible, not\nvisible. A sound alone betrays the flowing of the eternal fountain\ninvisible to man.\n\n _Longfellow._\n\n\n456.\n\nEvery gift, though small, is in reality great, if it be given with\naffection.[25]\n\n _Philemon._\n\n [25] See also 80.\n\n\n457.\n\nGood words, good deeds, and beautiful expressions\nA wise man ever culls from every quarter,\nE'en as a gleaner gathers ears of corn.\n\n _Mahabharata._\n\n\n458.\n\nIn poverty and other misfortunes of life men think friends to be\ntheir only refuge. The young they keep out of mischief, to the old\nthey are a comfort and aid in their weakness, and those in the prime\nof life they incite to noble deeds.\n\n _Aristotle._\n\n\n459.\n\nHeed not the flatterer's fulsome talk,\n He from thee hopes some trifle to obtain;\nThou wilt, shouldst thou his wishes baulk,\n Ten hundred times as much of censure gain.\n\n _Sa'di._\n\n\n460.\n\nBy the fall of water-drops the pot is filled: such is the increase\nof riches, of knowledge, and of virtue.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n461.\n\nWe deliberate about the parcels of life, but not about life itself,\nand so we arrive all unawares at its different epochs, and have the\ntrouble of beginning all again. And so finally it is that we do not\nwalk as men confidently towards death, but let death come suddenly\nupon us.\n\n _Seneca._\n\n\n462.\n\nIt is no very good symptom, either of nations or individuals, that\nthey deal much in vaticination. Happy men are full of the present,\nfor its bounty suffices them; and wise men also, for its duties\nengage them. Our grand business undoubtedly is not to see what lies\ndimly at a distance, but to do what clearly lies at hand.\n\n _Carlyle._\n\n\n463.\n\nLaw does not put the least restraint\nUpon our freedom, but maintain'st;\nOr, if it does, 'tis for our good,\nTo give us freer latitude:\nFor wholesome laws preserve us free,\nBy stinting of our liberty.\n\n _Butler._\n\n\n464.\n\nIt is only necessary to grow old in order to become more indulgent.\nI see no fault committed that I have not been myself inclined to.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n465.\n\nEven a blockhead may respect inspire,\nSo long as he is suitably attired;\nA fool may gain esteem among the wise,\nSo long as he has sense to hold his tongue.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n466.\n\nA wise man should never resolve upon anything, at least, never let\nthe world know his resolution, for if he cannot reach that he is\nashamed.[26]\n\n _Selden._\n\n [26] See 406.\n\n\n467.\n\nMen's minds are generally ingenious in palliating guilt in\nthemselves.\n\n _Livy._\n\n\n468.\n\nProsperity is acquired by exertion, and there is no fruit for him\nwho doth not exert himself: the fawns go not into the mouth of a\nsleeping lion.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n469.\n\nWickedness, by whomsoever committed, is odious, but most of all in\nmen of learning; for learning is the weapon with which Satan is\ncombated, and when a man is made captive with arms in his hand his\nshame is more excessive.\n\n _Sa'di._\n\n\n470.\n\nHe that will give himself to all manner of ways to get money may be\nrich; so he that lets fly all he knows or thinks may by chance be\nsatirically witty. Honesty sometimes keeps a man from growing rich,\nand civility from being witty.\n\n _Selden._\n\n\n471.\n\nMen are not rich or poor according to what they possess but to what\nthey desire. The only rich man is he that with content enjoys a\ncompetence.\n\n _R. Chamberlain._\n\n\n472.\n\nPoverty is not dishonourable in itself, but only when it arises from\nidleness, intemperance, extravagance, and folly.\n\n _Plutarch._\n\n\n473.\n\nDo nothing rashly; want of circumspection is the chief cause of\nfailure and disaster. Fortune, wise lover of the wise, selects him\nfor her lord who ere he acts reflects.\n\n _Bharavi._\n\n\n474.\n\nFirst think, and if thy thoughts approve thy will,\nThen speak, and after, what thou speak'st fulfil.\n\n _Randolph._\n\n\n475.\n\nIt cannot but be injurious to the human mind never to be called into\neffort: the habit of receiving pleasure without any exertion of\nthought, by the mere excitement of curiosity, and sensibility, may\nbe justly ranked among the worst effects of habitual novel-reading.\n\n _Coleridge._\n\n\n476.\n\nPatience is the chiefest fruit of study; a man that strives to make\nhimself different from other men by much reading gains this chiefest\ngood, that in all fortunes he hath something to entertain and\ncomfort himself withal.\n\n _Selden._\n\n\n477.\n\nFriendship throws a greater lustre on prosperity, while it lightens\nadversity by sharing in its griefs and troubles.\n\n _Cicero._\n\n\n478.\n\nThere is nothing more becoming a wise man than to make choice of\nfriends, for by them thou shalt be judged what thou art. Let them\ntherefore be wise and virtuous, and none of those that follow thee\nfor gain; but make election rather of thy betters than thy\ninferiors; shunning always such as are poor and needy, for if thou\ngivest twenty gifts and refuse to do the like but once, all that\nthou hast done will be lost, and such men will become thy mortal\nenemies.\n\n _Sir W. Raleigh, to his Son._\n\n\n479.\n\nLearning is like Scanderbeg's sword, either good or bad according to\nhim who hath it: an excellent weapon, if well used; otherwise, like\na sharp razor in the hand of a child.\n\n _R. Chamberlain._\n\n\n480.\n\nThe greater part of mankind employ their first years to make their\nlast miserable.\n\n _La Bruyere._\n\n\n481.\n\nI hate the miser, whose unsocial breast\nLocks from the world his useless stores.\nWealth by the bounteous only is enjoyed,\nWhose treasures, in diffusive good employed,\nThe rich return of fame and friends procure,\nAnd 'gainst a sad reverse a safe retreat secure.\n\n _Pindar._\n\n\n482.\n\nWisdom alone is the true and unalloyed coin for which we ought to\nexchange all things, for this and with this everything is bought and\nsold--fortitude, temperance, and justice; in a word, true virtue\nsubsists with wisdom.\n\n _Plato._\n\n\n483.\n\nIf thou intendest to do a good act, do it quickly, and then thou\nwilt excite gratitude; a favour if it be slow in being conferred\ncauses ingratitude.\n\n _Ausonius._\n\n\n484.\n\n'Tis those who reverence the old\nThat are the men versed in the Faith;\nWorthy of praise while in this life,\nAnd happy in the life to come.\n\n _Buddhist._\n\n\n485.\n\nLow-minded men are occupied solely with their own affairs, but\nnoble-minded men take special interest in the affairs of others. The\nsubmarine fire drinks up the ocean, to fill its insatiable interior;\nthe rain-cloud, that it may relieve the drought of the earth, burnt\nup by the hot season.\n\n _Bhartrihari._\n\n\n486.\n\nThose men are wise who do not desire the unattainable, who do not\nlove to mourn over what is lost, and are not overwhelmed by\ncalamities.\n\n _Mahabharata._\n\n\n487.\n\nLet him take heart who does advance, even in the smallest degree.\n\n _Plato._\n\n\n488.\n\nA truly great man never puts away the simplicity of a child.[27]\n\n _Chinese._\n\n [27] Cf. Pope, in his Epitaph on the poet Gay:\n\n Of manners gentle, of affections mild;\n In wit a man, simplicity, a child.\n\n\n489.\n\nIf thou desirest ease in this life, keep thy secrets undisclosed,\nlike the modest rosebud. Take warning from that lovely flower,\nwhich, by expanding its hitherto hidden beauties when in full bloom,\ngives its leaves and its happiness to the winds.\n\n _Persian._\n\n\n490.\n\nA husband is the chief ornament of a wife, though she have no other\nornament; but, though adorned, without a husband she has no\nornaments.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n491.\n\nHe who has more learning than goodness is like a tree with many\nbranches and few roots, which the first wind throws down; whilst he\nwhose works are greater than his knowledge is like a tree with many\nroots and fewer branches, which all the winds of heaven cannot\nuproot.\n\n _Talmud._\n\n\n492.\n\nHe that would build lastingly must lay his foundation low. The proud\nman, like the early shoots of a new-felled coppice, thrusts out full\nof sap, green in leaves, and fresh in colour, but bruises and breaks\nwith every wind, is nipped with every little cold, and, being\ntop-heavy, is wholly unfit for use. Whereas the humble man retains\nit in the root, can abide the winter's killing blast, the ruffling\nconcussions of the wind, and can endure far more than that which\nappears so flourishing.\n\n _Feltham._\n\n\n493.\n\nThe man who has not anything to boast of but his illustrious\nancestors is like a potato--the only good belonging to him is\nunderground.\n\n _Sir Thos. Overbury._\n\n\n494.\n\nWhen men will not be reasoned out of a vanity, they must be\nridiculed out of it.\n\n _L'Estrange._\n\n\n495.\n\nWomen are ever in extremes, they are either better or worse than\nmen.\n\n _La Bruyere._\n\n\n496.\n\nAn absent friend gives us friendly company when we are well assured\nof his happiness.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n497.\n\nThe man of worth is really great without being proud; the mean man\nis proud without being really great.\n\n _Chinese._\n\n\n498.\n\nLiberality consists less in giving much than in giving at the right\nmoment.\n\n _La Bruyere._\n\n\n499.\n\nOutward perfection without inward goodness sets but the blacker dye\non the mind's deformity.\n\n _R. Chamberlain._\n\n\n500.\n\nAs a solid rock is not shaken by the wind, so wise men falter not\namidst blame or praise.\n\n _Dhammapada._\n\n\n501.\n\nOf what avail is the praise or censure of the vulgar, who make a\nuseless noise like a senseless crow in a forest?\n\n _Mahabharata._\n\n\n502.\n\nHark! here the sound of lute so sweet,\nAnd there the voice of wailing loud;\nHere scholars grave in conclave meet,\nThere howls the brawling drunken crowd;\nHere, charming maidens full of glee,\nThere, tottering, withered dames we see.\nSuch light! Such shade! I cannot tell,\nIf here we live in heaven or hell.\n\n _Bhartrihari._\n\n\n503.\n\nThe every-day cares and duties which men call drudgery are the\nweights and counterpoises of the clock of Time, giving its pendulum\na true vibration, and its hands a regular motion; and when they\ncease to hang upon the wheels, the pendulum no longer sways, the\nhands no longer move, the clock stands still.\n\n _Longfellow._\n\n\n504.\n\nA man of little learning deems that little a great deal; a frog,\nnever having seen the ocean, considers its well a great sea.\n\n _Burmese._\n\n\n505.\n\nTrust not thy secret to a confidant, for he too will have his\nassociates and friends; and it will spread abroad through the whole\ncity, and men will call thee weak-headed.\n\n _Firdausi._\n\n\n506.\n\nLabour like a man, and be ready in doing kindnesses. He is a\ngood-for-nothing fellow who eateth by the toil of another's hand.\n\n _Sa'di._[28]\n\n [28] See also 429, 453.\n\n\n507.\n\nLet every man sweep the snow from before his own doors, and not busy\nhimself about the frost on his neighbour's tiles.\n\n _Chinese._\n\n\n508.\n\nWith knowledge, say, what other wealth\nCan vie, which neither thieves by stealth\nCan take, nor kinsmen make their prey,\nWhich, lavished, never wastes away.\n\n _Sanskrit._\n\n\n509.\n\nWomen's wealth is beauty, learning, that of men.\n\n _Burmese._\n\n\n510.\n\nProsperity attends the lion-hearted man who exerts himself, while we\nsay, destiny will ensure it. Laying aside destiny, show manly\nfortitude by thy own strength: if thou endeavour, and thy endeavours\nfail of success, what crime is there in failing?\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n511.\n\nSpare not, nor spend too much, be this thy care,\nSpare but to spend, and only spend to spare.\nWho spends too much may want, and so complain;\nBut he spends best that spares to spend again.\n\n _Randolph._\n\n\n512.\n\nEverything that is acknowledges the blessing of existence. Shalt not\nthou, by a similar acknowledgment, be happy? If thou pay due\nattention to sounds, thou shalt hear the praise of the Creator\ncelebrated by the whole creation.\n\n _Nakhshabi._\n\n\n513.\n\nThe attribute most noble of the hand\nIs readiness in giving; of the head,\nBending before a teacher; of the mouth,\nVeracious speaking; of a victor's arms,\nUndaunted valour; of the inner heart,\nPureness the most unsullied; of the ears,\nDelight in hearing and receiving truth--These\nare adornments of high-minded men,\nBetter than all the majesty of Empire.\n\n _Bhartrihari._\n\n\n514.\n\nThe mere reality of life would be inconceivably poor without the\ncharm of fancy, which brings in its bosom as many vain fears as idle\nhopes, but lends much oftener to the illusions it calls up a gay\nflattering hue than one which inspires terror.\n\n _Von Humboldt._\n\n\n515.\n\nStupidity has its sublime as well as genius, and he who carries that\nquality to absurdity has reached it, which is always a source of\npleasure to sensible people.\n\n _Wieland._\n\n\n516.\n\nIt is curious to note the old sea-margins of human thought. Each\nsubsiding century reveals some new mystery; we build where monsters\nused to hide themselves.\n\n _Longfellow._\n\n\n517.\n\nWomen never reason and therefore they are, comparatively, seldom\nwrong. They judge instinctively of what falls under their immediate\nobservation or experience, and do not trouble themselves about\nremote or doubtful consequences. If they make no profound\ndiscoveries, they do not involve themselves in gross absurdities. It\nis only by the help of reason and logical inference, according to\nHobbes, that \"man becomes excellently wise or excellently foolish.\"\n\n _Hazlitt._\n\n\n518.\n\nReprove not in their wrath incensed men,\nGood counsel comes clean out of season then;\nBut when his fury is appeased and past,\nHe will conceive his fault and mend at last:\nWhen he is cool and calm, then utter it;\nNo man gives physic in the midst o' th' fit.\n\n _Randolph._\n\n\n519.\n\nIt is not flesh and blood, it is the heart, that makes fathers and\nsons.\n\n _Schiller._\n\n\n520.\n\nDiscontent is like ink poured into water, which fills the whole\nfountain full of blackness. It casts a cloud over the mind, and\nrenders it more occupied about the evil which disquiets it than\nabout the means of removing it.\n\n _Feltham._\n\n\n521.\n\nWe are accustomed to see men deride what they do not understand, and\nsnarl at the good and beautiful because it lies beyond their\nsympathies.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n522.\n\nA just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but\nsets off every talent which a man can be possessed of. It heightens\nall the virtues which it accompanies; like the shades of paintings,\nit raises and rounds every figure, and makes the colours more\nbeautiful, though not so glowing as they would be without it.\n\n _Addison._\n\n\n523.\n\nHappy the man who lives at home, making it his business to regulate\nhis desires.\n\n _La Fontaine._\n\n\n524.\n\nIt is true that men are no fit judges of themselves, because\ncommonly they are partial to their own cause; yet it is as true that\nhe who will dispose himself to judge indifferently of himself can do\nit better than any body else, because a man can see farther into his\nown mind and heart than any one else can.\n\n _Harrington._\n\n\n525.\n\nEnvy is a vice that would pose a man to tell what it should be liked\nfor. Other vices we assume for that we falsely suppose they bring us\neither pleasure, profit, or honour. But in envy who is it can find\nany of these? Instead of pleasure, we vex and gall ourselves. Like\ncankered brass, it only eats itself, nay, discolours and renders it\nnoisome. When some one told Agis that those of his neighbour's\nfamily did envy him, \"Why, then,\" says he, \"they have a double\nvexation--one, with their own evil, the other, at my prosperity.\"\n\n _Feltham._\n\n\n526.\n\nThe most silent people are generally those who think most highly of\nthemselves. They fancy themselves superior to every one else, and,\nnot being sure of making good their secret pretensions, decline\nentering the lists altogether. Thus they \"lay the flattering unction\nto their souls\" that they could have said better things than others,\nor that the conversation was beneath them.\n\n _Hazlitt._\n\n\n527.\n\nIt is commonly a dangerous thing for a man to have more sense than\nhis neighbours. Socrates paid for his superiority with his life; and\nif Aristotle saved his skin, accused as he was of heresy by the\nchief priest Eurymedon, it was because he took to his heels in time.\n\n _Wieland._\n\n\n528.\n\nFlattery may be considered as a mode of companionship, degrading but\nprofitable to him who flatters.\n\n _Theophrastus._\n\n\n529.\n\nRich presents, though profusely given, Are not so dear to righteous\nHeaven As gifts by honest gains supplied, Though small, which faith\nhath sanctified.\n\n _Mahabharata._\n\n\n530.\n\nTo-day is thine to spend, but not to-morrow;\nCounting on morrows breedeth bankrupt sorrow:\n O squander not this breath that Heaven hath lent thee;\nMake not too sure another breath to borrow.\n\n _Omar Khayyam._\n\n\n531.\n\nLeave not the business of to-day to be done to-morrow; for who\nknoweth what may be thy condition to-morrow? The rose-garden, which\nto-day is full of flowers, when to-morrow thou wouldst pluck a rose,\nmay not afford thee one.\n\n _Firdausi._\n\n\n532.\n\nVirtue beameth from a generous spirit as light from the moon, or as\nbrilliancy from Jupiter.\n\n _Nizami._\n\n\n533.\n\nThe worth of a horse is known by its speed, the value of oxen by\ntheir carrying power, the worth of a cow by its milk-giving\ncapacity, and that of a wise man by his speech.\n\n _Burmese._\n\n\n534.\n\nMen of genius are often dull and inert in society, as the blazing\nmeteor when it descends to earth is only a stone.\n\n _Longfellow._\n\n\n535.\n\nIf a man die young he hath left us at dinner; it is bed-time with a\nman of three score and ten; and he that lives a hundred years hath\nwalked a mile after supper. This life is but one day of three meals,\nor one meal of three courses--childhood, youth, and old age. To sup\nwell is to live well, and that's the way to sleep well.\n\n _Overbury._\n\n\n536.\n\nThere is nothing keeps longer than a middling fortune, and nothing\nmelts away sooner than a great one. Poverty treads upon the heels of\ngreat and unexpected riches.\n\n _La Bruyere._\n\n\n537.\n\nSociety is a more level surface than we imagine. Wise men or\nabsolute fools are hard to be met with, as there are few giants or\ndwarfs. The heaviest charge we can bring against the general texture\nof society is that it is commonplace. Our fancied superiority to\nothers is in some one thing which we think most of because we excel\nin it, or have paid most attention to it; whilst we overlook their\nsuperiority to us in something else which they set equal and\nexclusive store by.\n\n _Hazlitt._\n\n\n538.\n\nIt is resignation and contentment that are best calculated to lead\nus safely through life. Whoever has not sufficient power to endure\nprivations, and even suffering, can never feel that he is\narmour-proof against painful emotions; nay, he must attribute to\nhimself, or at least to the morbid sensitiveness of his nature,\nevery disagreeable feeling he may suffer.\n\n _Von Humboldt._\n\n\n539.\n\nPetrarch observes, that we change language, habits, laws, customs,\nmanners, but not vices, not diseases, not the symptoms of folly and\nmadness--they are still the same. And as a river, we see, keeps the\nlike name and place, but not water, and yet ever runs, our times and\npersons alter, vices are the same, and ever be. Look how\nnightingales sang of old, cocks crowed, kine lowed, sheep bleated,\nsparrows chirped, dogs barked, so they do still: we keep our madness\nstill, play the fool still; we are of the same humours and\ninclinations as our predecessors were; you shall find us all alike,\nmuch as one, we and our sons, and so shall our posterity continue to\nthe last.\n\n _Burton._\n\n\n540.\n\nThe mother of the useful arts is necessity, that of the fine arts is\nluxury; for father the former have intellect, the latter, genius,\nwhich itself is a kind of luxury.\n\n _Schopenhauer._\n\n\n541.\n\nThe fool who knows his foolishness is wise so far, at least; but a\nfool who thinks himself wise, he is called a fool indeed.\n\n _Dhammapada._\n\n\n542.\n\nHe who mixes with unclean things becomes unclean himself; he whose\nassociations are pure becomes purer each day.\n\n _Talmud._\n\n\n543.\n\nHeaven's gate is narrow and minute,[29]\nIt cannot be perceived by foolish men,\nBlinded by vain illusions of the world.\nE'en the clear-sighted, who discern the way\nAnd seek to enter, find the portal barred\nAnd hard to be unlocked. Its massive bolts\nAre pride and passion, avarice and lust.\n\n _Mahabharata._\n\n [29] Cf. Matt. VII, 14.\n\n\n544.\n\nEschew that friend, if thou art wise, who consorts with thy enemies.\n\n _Sa'di._\n\n\n545.\n\nWho can tell\nMen's hearts? The purest comprehend\nSuch contradictions, and can blend\nThe force to bear, the power to feel,\nThe tender bud, the tempered steel.\n\n _Hindu Drama._\n\n\n546.\n\nWhosoever hath not knowledge, and benevolence, and piety knoweth\nnothing of reality, and dwelleth only in semblance.\n\n _Sa'di._\n\n\n547.\n\nIf thou shouldst find thy friend in the wrong reprove him secretly,\nbut in the presence of company praise him.\n\n _Arabic._\n\n\n548.\n\nModesty is attended with profit, arrogance brings on destruction.\n\n _Chinese._\n\n\n549.\n\nThe greatest hatred, like the greatest virtue and the worst dogs, is\nquiet.\n\n _Richter._\n\n\n550.\n\nIs a preface exquisitely written? No literary morsel is more\ndelicious. Is the author inveterately dull? It is a kind of\npreparatory information, which may be very useful. It argues a\ndeficiency of taste to turn over an elaborate preface unread: for it\nis the attar of the author's roses, every drop distilled at an\nimmense cost. It is the reason of the reasoning, and the folly of\nthe foolish.\n\n _Isaac D'Israeli._\n\n\n551.\n\nVulgar prejudices are those which arise out of accident, ignorance,\nor authority; natural prejudices are those which arise out of the\nconstitution of the human mind itself.\n\n _Hazlitt._\n\n\n552.\n\nLament not Fortune's mutability,\nAnd seize her fickle favours ere they flee;\n If others never mourned departed bliss,\nHow should a turn of Fortune come to thee?\n\n _Omar Khayyam._\n\n\n553.\n\nHarsh reproof is like a violent storm, soon washed down the channel;\nbut friendly admonitions, like a small shower, pierce deep, and\nbring forth better reformation.\n\n _R. Chamberlain._\n\n\n554.\n\nThere are braying men in the world as well as braying asses; for\nwhat's loud and senseless talking, huffing, and swearing any other\nthan a more fashionable way of braying?\n\n _L'Estrange._\n\n\n555.\n\nAll wit and fancy, like a diamond,\nThe more exact and curious 'tis ground,\nIs forced for every carat to abate\nAs much of value as it wants in weight.\n\n _Butler._\n\n\n556.\n\nListen, if you would learn; be silent, if you would be safe.\n\n _Arabic._\n\n\n557.\n\nAll such distinctions as tend to set the orders of the state at a\ndistance from each other are equally subversive of liberty and\nconcord.\n\n _Livy._\n\n\n558.\n\nNo man is the wiser for his learning. It may administer matter to\nwork in, or objects to work upon, but wit and wisdom are born with a\nman.\n\n _Selden._\n\n\n559.\n\nThose who are guided by reason are generally successful in their\nplans; those who are rash and precipitate seldom enjoy the favour of\nthe gods.\n\n _Herodotus._\n\n\n560.\n\nWhosoever lends a greedy ear to a slanderous report is either\nhimself of a radically bad disposition or a mere child in sense.\n\n _Menander._\n\n\n561.\n\nA foolish man in wealth and authority is like a weak-timbered house\nwith a too-ponderous roof.\n\n _R. Chamberlain._\n\n\n562.\n\nA lively blockhead in company is a public benefit. Silence or\ndulness by the side of folly looks like wisdom.\n\n _Hazlitt._\n\n\n563.\n\nEminent positions make eminent men greater and little men less.\n\n _La Bruyere._\n\n\n564.\n\nScratch yourself with your own nails; always do your own business,\nand when you intend asking for a service, go to a person who can\nappreciate your merit.\n\n _Arabic._\n\n\n565.\n\nThe beauty of some women has days and seasons, depending upon\naccidents which diminish or increase it; nay, the very passions of\nthe mind naturally improve or impair it, and very often utterly\ndestroy it.\n\n _Cervantes._\n\n\n566.\n\nNo joy in nature is so sublimely affecting as the joy of a mother at\nthe good fortune of a child.\n\n _Richter._\n\n\n567.\n\nWant and sorrow are the gifts which folly earns for itself.\n\n _Schubert._\n\n\n568.\n\nIn character, in manners, in style, in all things, the supreme\nexcellence is simplicity.\n\n _Longfellow._\n\n\n569.\n\nThose who cause dissensions in order to injure other people are\npreparing pitfalls for their own ruin.\n\n _Chinese._\n\n\n570.\n\nSuch deeds as thou with fear and grief\nWouldst, on a sick-bed laid, recall,\nIn youth and health eschew them all,\nRemembering life is frail and brief.\n\n _Mahabharata._\n\n\n571.\n\nA man should not keep company with one whose character, family, and\nabode are unknown.\n\n _Panchatantra._\n\n\n572.\n\nSit not down to the table before thy stomach is empty, and rise\nbefore thou hast filled it.\n\n _Arabic._\n\n\n573.\n\nIf thou be rich, strive to command thy money, lest it command thee.\n\n _Quarles._\n\n\n574.\n\nIn all companies there are more fools than wise men, and the greater\npart always gets the better of the wiser.\n\n _Rabelais._\n\n\n575.\n\nTalents are best nurtured in solitude; character is best formed in\nthe stormy billows of the world.\n\n _Goethe._\n\n\n576.\n\nNo one ought to despond in adverse circumstances, for they may turn\nout to be the cause of good to us.[30]\n\n _Menander._\n\n [30] Cf. Job V, 17; Heb. XII, 6.\n\n\n577.\n\nThe constant man loses not his virtue in misfortune. A torch may\npoint towards the ground, but its flame will still point upwards.\n\n _Bhartrihari._\n\n\n578.\n\nA man should never despise himself, for brilliant success never\nattends on the man who is contemned by himself.\n\n _Mahabharata._\n\n\n579.\n\nIt is the character of a simpleton to be a bore. A man of sense sees\nat once whether he is welcome or tiresome; he knows to withdraw the\nmoment that precedes that in which he would be in the least in the\nway.\n\n _La Bruyere._\n\n\n580.\n\nThe man of first rate excellence is virtuous in spite of\ninstruction; he of the middle class is so after instruction; the\nlowest order of men are vicious in spite of instruction.\n\n _Chinese._\n\n\n581.\n\nNot to attend at the door of the wealthy, and not to use the voice\nof petition--these constitute the best life of a man.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n582.\n\nWhat a man can do and suffer is unknown to himself till some\noccasion presents itself which draws out the hidden power. Just as\none sees not in the water of an unruffled pond the fury and roar\nwith which it can dash down a steep rock without injury to itself,\nor how high it is capable of rising; or as little as one can suspect\nthe latent heat in ice-cold water.\n\n _Schopenhauer._\n\n\n583.\n\nComprehensive talkers are apt to be tiresome when we are not athirst\nfor information; but, to be quite fair, we must admit that superior\nreticence is a good deal due to lack of matter. Speech is often\nbarren, but silence also does not necessarily brood over a full\nnest. Your still fowl, blinking at you without remark, may all the\nwhile be sitting on one addled nest-egg; and, when it takes to\ncackling, will have nothing to announce but that addled delusion.\n\n _George Eliot._\n\n\n584.\n\nThe sage who engages in controversy with ignorant people must not\nexpect to be treated with honour; and if a fool should overpower a\nphilosopher by his loquacity it is not to be wondered at, for a\ncommon stone will break a jewel.\n\n _Sa'di._\n\n\n585.\n\nSuccess is like a lovely woman, wooed by many men, but folded in the\narms of him alone who, free from over-zeal, firmly persists and\ncalmly perseveres.\n\n _Bharavi._\n\n\n586.\n\nA feverish display of over-zeal,\nAt the first outset, is an obstacle\nTo all success; water, however cold,\nWill penetrate the ground by slow degrees.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n587.\n\nTreat no one with disdain; with patience bear\nReviling language; with an angry man\nBe never angry; blessings give for curses.[31]\n\n _Manu._\n\n [31] Cf. Matt. V, II, 44.\n\n\n588.\n\nE'en as a traveller, meeting with the shade\nOf some o'erhanging tree, awhile reposes,\nThen leaves its shelter to pursue his way,\nSo men meet friends, then part with them for ever.\n\n _Hitopadesa._\n\n\n589.\n\nSingle is every living creature born,\nSingle he passes to another world,\nSingle he eats the fruit of evil deeds,\nSingle, the fruit of good; and when he leaves\nHis body, like a log or heap of clay,\nUpon the ground, his kinsmen walk away:\nVirtue alone stays by him at the tomb,\nAnd bears him through the dreary, trackless gloom.\n\n _Manu._\n\n\n\n\nINDEX.\n\n\nAbilities, 17.\n\nAbsent friend, 496.\n\nAbuse of the great, 398.\n\nActions to be avoided, 570.\n\nActor, man an, 37.\n\nAdmonition, friendly, 553.\n\nAdvance step by step, 131.\n\nAdversity, 8, 30, 57, 78, 175, 184, 185, 330, 366, 393, 477,\n 576, 577.\n\nAdvice, 82, 172, 193, 443.\n\nAffectation, 87.\n\nAge should be indulgent, 464.\n\nAge, reverence for, 484.\n\nAgreeableness, 258, 296.\n\nAlms-giving, pride in, 318.\n\nAmbition, petty, 165.\n\nAmusements necessary, 111.\n\nAncestry, boast of, 239, 240, 385, 395, 493.\n\nAngel, brute, man, 199.\n\nAnger, 117, 119, 130.\n\nAngry man, 518, 587.\n\nAnnoyances, 387.\n\nAnxiety, needless, 298.\n\nApparel, 418.\n\nArrogance, 267.\n\nArts, mothers of the, 540.\n\nAssociates to be avoided, 571.\n\nAssociates, wicked, 215.\n\nAssociations, 542.\n\nAttributes of hand, head, etc., 513.\n\nAuthority, 151, 452, 561.\n\nAvarice, 38, 310, 364, 382, 481.\n\n\nBad men, 15, 351.\n\nBeauty, 100, 179, 295, 565.\n\nBeginning, etc., 383.\n\nBehaviour, 430.\n\nBeloved, best, 406.\n\nBeneficence, 4, 5, 191, 485.\n\nBenefits, 312, 345.\n\n\"Bless those that curse you,\" 587.\n\nBlockhead in fine clothes, 465.\n\nBlockhead, lively, 562.\n\nBoastfulness, 248.\n\nBodily and mental qualities, 204.\n\nBody, the soul's tent, 272.\n\nBooks, 96, 195, 196, 197, 252, 283, 550.\n\nBores, 579.\n\nBorrowing, 429.\n\nBraying men, 554.\n\nBusiness, do your own, 564.\n\n\nCalmness, 361.\n\nCapacities of men, 32.\n\nCaution in changing, 131.\n\nCharacter, portraying, 160.\n\nCharacter, test of men, 109.\n\nCharity, 94.\n\nCheerfulness, 302, 391.\n\nChildren, 379.\n\nCircumstances, 67.\n\nClever men, 86.\n\nCompanions, 450.\n\nConduct, best, 214.\n\nConfidence, 268.\n\nConsolation, 346.\n\nConstancy of friends, 366.\n\nContemporaries' approval, 156.\n\nContentment, 10, 52, 101, 135, 334, 471, 538.\n\nContrasts in life, 502.\n\nControversy with ignorant men, 584.\n\nConversation, 71.\n\n\nDaily cares and duties, 503.\n\nDangers reconcile foes, 274.\n\nDeath, 26, 138, 461.\n\nDeception, 243.\n\nDeeds and words, 445.\n\nDelusions, 441.\n\nDeportment, 206.\n\nDerision of superiority, 521.\n\nDesigns, 315, 405, 466.\n\nDifficulties, 425.\n\nDiligence, 189, 428.\n\nDiscontent, 222, 520.\n\nDistinctions, invidious, 557.\n\n\"Do unto others,\" etc., 372.\n\nDoctrine entering the ear only, 285.\n\nDog's tail, 373.\n\nDoubt, 7.\n\nDreams, 388, 389.\n\nDull minds, 278.\n\n\nEars and tongue, 273.\n\nEat moderately, 572.\n\nEducation and morals, 348.\n\nEminence, 563.\n\nEmployment, want of, 11.\n\nEmpty things, 410.\n\nEndurance, 582.\n\nEnergy, 95, 149.\n\nEnjoyments, alloyed, 352, 353.\n\nEnvy, 124, 168, 271, 343, 375, 525.\n\nEquality of men, 234.\n\nErrors in judgment, 64.\n\nEvil men reformed, 68.\n\nEvil not to be returned, 413.\n\nEvil plotters, 162, 569.\n\nEvil speaking, 321.\n\nExcellence and mediocrity, 60.\n\nExertion, 134, 263, 468, 510.\n\nExpenditure, 176, 247, 511.\n\nExperience, 36.\n\n\nFaculties of men limited, 120.\n\nFaith not to be forced, 408.\n\nFalsehood, 341.\n\nFame of good and evil deeds, 277.\n\nFame, worldly, 34, 158.\n\nFamiliarity with the great, 255.\n\nFancy, charm of, 514.\n\nFashions, old, despised, 169.\n\nFate and wishes, 376.\n\nFate and youth, 122.\n\nFathers and sons, 519.\n\nFaults, 20, 39, 41, 198, 219, 269, 347.\n\nFavours, conferring, 317.\n\nFear, 339.\n\nFeeble characters, 446.\n\nFeeling, sudden transitions of, 127.\n\nFlattery, 13, 250, 251, 323, 459, 528.\n\nFoes and friends, 84.\n\nFoibles, men's, 322.\n\nFollies, 97.\n\nFolly's reward, 567.\n\nFools, 108, 166, 181, 265, 415, 465, 541, 561, 574.\n\nForgiveness, 329, 344.\n\nFortune, 56, 173, 233, 249, 262, 276, 536, 552.\n\nFriends, 16, 98, 174, 432, 458, 478, 496, 544, 547, 588.\n\nFriendship, 24, 116, 309, 330, 346, 477.\n\nFrugality, 316.\n\n\nGenerosity, 140.\n\nGenius dull in society, 534.\n\nGifts, 80, 456, 529.\n\nGiving, manner of, 354, 483.\n\nGod, the best friend, 79.\n\nGold beautifies, 422, 427.\n\nGolden mean, 21.\n\nGood, doing, 110, 136, 137, 145, 209.\n\nGood for evil, 25, 311.\n\nGood and bad men falling, 297.\n\nGood man, 15, 288.\n\nGood man's intellect, 89.\n\nGood name, 29, 289.\n\nGoodness, 73, 153, 238.\n\nGood son, 16.\n\nGood wife, 16.\n\nGood words, 457.\n\nGood work undone, 35.\n\nGratitude, 317.\n\nGreat men, intercourse with, 177.\n\nGreat souls, qualities of, 78.\n\nGreed, 447.\n\nGrief, useless, 207, 324.\n\nGriefs, secret, 300, 378, 394.\n\nGrossness, 303.\n\nGuilty men, 386.\n\n\nHandicraft, 451.\n\nHappiness, 58, 66, 70, 187, 253, 262, 311, 337, 363, 367, 406,\n 523.\n\nHarsh words, 192.\n\nHatred, 123, 447, 549.\n\nHealth, 52.\n\nHeart, 62, 79, 129, 132, 545.\n\nHearts and beauty, 179.\n\nHeaven's gate, 543.\n\nHero, 406.\n\nHoary head, 416.\n\nHome, 253, 406, 523.\n\nHumility, 150, 157.\n\nHusband, 161, 401, 490.\n\nHypocrisy, 403.\n\n\nIdleness, 424.\n\nIgnorance, 103, 198, 199, 290, 301, 355, 431.\n\nImitativeness, 404.\n\nImpudence, 374.\n\nIncrease, by degrees, 460.\n\nIndependence, 581.\n\nIndiscreet men, 85.\n\nInherent badness, 373.\n\nInjury rebounds, 126.\n\nInjury unjustifiable, 407, 413.\n\nInsignificance, man's individual, 308.\n\nInstruction, 580.\n\nIrresolution, 294.\n\n\nJudge things by their merit, 196.\n\nJudgments, how formed, 259.\n\n\nKindness, 4, 5, 54, 92, 129, 305, 306, 311, 344.\n\nKinsmen and strangers, 91.\n\nKnowledge, 3, 7, 43, 55, 201, 205, 218, 225, 286, 307, 355,\n 396, 397, 416, 454, 508, 546.\n\n\nLabour, 275, 429, 453, 506.\n\nLaughter, 47, 163, 186.\n\nLaw, 463.\n\nLaw and physic, 167.\n\nLearning, 40, 43, 143, 342, 449, 479, 491, 504, 509.\n\nLiars, 246.\n\nLiberality, 93, 94, 140, 241, 449, 498.\n\nLife, 23, 83, 125, 133, 144, 235, 287, 326, 365, 461, 502,\n 535, 539.\n\nLoquacity, 182, 301, 359, 583.\n\nLoss, greatest, 406.\n\nLosses half felt, 216.\n\nLove, 314.\n\nLow-minded men, 485.\n\n\nMan, an actor, 37.\n\nMan an intellectual animal, 128.\n\nMankind, knowledge of, 369.\n\n\"Many cooks,\" etc., 437.\n\nMarriage, 333.\n\nMean, the golden, 21.\n\nMediocrity and excellence, 60.\n\nMemory, 414.\n\nMen, difficult to know, 33.\n\nMen like ships, 409.\n\nMental faculties, limited, 120.\n\nMental offspring, 417.\n\nMental and bodily qualifications, 204.\n\nMerit, innate, 433.\n\nMerit, true and false, 242.\n\nMerit without praise, 104.\n\nMiddling fortune, 536.\n\nMind, 115, 226, 229, 270, 279.\n\nMisanthropy, 336.\n\nMiser, 481.\n\nMisery, 357.\n\nMistakes, 72.\n\nModesty, 159, 282, 436, 522, 548.\n\nMoney, 188, 190, 368, 573.\n\nMothers' greatest joy, 566.\n\nMorning, lesson of the, 139.\n\n\nNature praises the Creator, 512.\n\nNeighbour, every man one's, 442.\n\nNeighbours and companions, 450.\n\nNight, silence of, 266.\n\nNoble birth, 434.\n\nNoble-minded men, 485.\n\nNovel-reading, 475.\n\n\nObliging others, 426.\n\nOld age, 439, 484.\n\nOld and new things, 196.\n\nOld man, 65.\n\nOpportunities, 185, 420.\n\nOppression, 191.\n\nOrigin, one common, 9.\n\nOutward perfection, 499.\n\n\nParents' affection, 154.\n\nParsimony, 316.\n\nPassionate man, 74.\n\nPassions, 1, 2, 119, 280, 447.\n\nPast, present and future, 326.\n\nPatience, 42, 118, 135, 185, 207, 476.\n\nPeace, greatest, 406.\n\nPersonal troubles, 31.\n\nPersonation, 102.\n\nPhysic and law, 167.\n\n\"Physician, heal thyself,\" 421.\n\nPity, 124.\n\nPlace, things out of, 237.\n\nPlagiarism, 96.\n\nPlans, miscarried, 327.\n\nPleasure, 337.\n\nPleasure and pain, 353.\n\nPleasure in others' welfare, 350.\n\nPoesy, 260.\n\nPoetaster, 217.\n\nPotter and clay, 377.\n\nPopular opinion, 76.\n\nPoverty, 44, 105, 121, 208, 245, 410, 422, 472.\n\nPraise and censure, 88, 104, 500, 501.\n\nPraise, how to merit, 130.\n\nPrayer, universal, 19.\n\nPrefaces to books, 550.\n\nPrejudices, 551.\n\nPremature actions, 264.\n\nPremature death, 122.\n\nPresent affairs, 462.\n\nPresent good despised, 213.\n\nPresents, 80, 456, 529.\n\nPretence, 102.\n\nPride, 107, 157, 159, 291, 338, 492, 497.\n\nPride in religious works, 318.\n\nProfitable thing, 406.\n\nProgress, 487.\n\nProjects, 315, 405, 466.\n\nPromises, broken, 28.\n\nProsperity, 10, 30, 56, 93, 175, 224, 350, 393, 477.\n\nProvidence, 320.\n\nPurpose without power, 146.\n\nPursuits, 203.\n\n\nRabble among gentry, 358.\n\nRashness, 473, 559.\n\nReality, 546.\n\nReason, 14, 299, 559.\n\nReckless life reformed, 68.\n\nRegrets, useless, 298, 486.\n\nRemorse, 220.\n\nReprehension, 75.\n\nReproof, harsh, 553.\n\nResignation, 538.\n\nResolution, 12, 263.\n\nRespect, hatred, pity, 123.\n\nRestraint, 141.\n\nReticence, 18, 586.\n\nReviling to be borne, 587.\n\nRiches, 148, 187, 210, 281, 400, 401, 470, 471, 536.\n\nRidiculous, cause of the, 292.\n\nRighteousness, 443.\n\nRomances, 419.\n\n\nSalvation, 257.\n\nSea-margins of thought, 516.\n\nSecrets, 99, 221, 288, 489, 505.\n\nSeeming to be more than one is, 390.\n\nSelf-conceit, 112.\n\nSelf-conquest, 223.\n\nSelf-contemning, 578.\n\nSelf-control, 280.\n\nSelf-depreciation, 282.\n\nSelf-dissatisfaction, 46.\n\nSelf-judging, 524.\n\nSelf-knowledge, 152, 261.\n\nSelf-love, 142, 370.\n\nSelf-palliation, 467.\n\nSelf-praises, 412.\n\nSelf-reliance, 115.\n\nSelf-seeking men, 338.\n\nSelf-valuation, 328.\n\nSensuality, 423.\n\nServe from lowest station upwards, 335.\n\nShadows of the mind, 226.\n\nShame, 90, 256, 374.\n\nSilence, 22, 180, 244, 254, 438, 444, 465, 474, 556.\n\nSimpletons, bores, 579.\n\nSimplicity, 435, 488, 568.\n\nSin, repeated, 170, 448.\n\nSingle are we born, etc., 589.\n\nSlander, 69, 412, 560.\n\nSmatterers, 384.\n\nSociety, 27, 258, 537.\n\nSon, good, 16.\n\nSorrows, 6, 50, 61, 185, 381.\n\nSparing and spending, 511.\n\nSpeech, 180, 254, 438, 474.\n\nStrangers and kinsmen, 91.\n\nStupidity, 515.\n\nStyle in writing, 284.\n\nSubtle and dull minds, 278.\n\nSubtle-witted men, 278.\n\nSuccess, 149, 183, 578, 583.\n\nSuccesses, unexpected, 53.\n\nSuffering, 147.\n\nSuperiority, 57, 527.\n\nSuperstition, 356.\n\nSweep your own doorstep, 507.\n\nSympathy, 371.\n\n\nTaciturnity, 244, 526, 583.\n\nTalents and character, 576.\n\nTalkativeness, 182, 301, 359, 583.\n\nTemperance, 380.\n\nTemptation, 106.\n\nThings good and bad, 59.\n\nThings long desired, 392.\n\nThings to be guarded against, 155.\n\nThings universally valued, 399.\n\nThink before speaking, 474.\n\nThorns and roses, 331.\n\nThought, 114, 402, 516.\n\nTime, 79, 113, 325, 360.\n\nTitles of books, 283.\n\nTo-day and to-morrow, 530, 531.\n\nToil and pleasure, 349.\n\nTongue and ears, 273.\n\nTrials, 51.\n\nTroubles, 202.\n\nTruth, lovers of, 246.\n\nTruth and severity, 332.\n\n\nUndertakings of the careless, 313.\n\nUniverse, lessons of the, 48.\n\n\nVacant mind, 229.\n\nValour, 449.\n\nVanity, cure of, 494.\n\nVaticination, 462.\n\nVices, 304, 340.\n\nVicissitudes, 584.\n\nVirtue, 532, 589.\n\nVociferation, 361.\n\nVoice, the human, 455.\n\n\nWeak and strong men, 236.\n\nWealth, 77, 115, 148, 187, 210, 267, 400, 440, 449.\n\nWicked associates, 215.\n\nWicked, unstable, 411.\n\nWickedness, odious in the learned, 469.\n\nWife, 16, 161, 194, 200, 231, 232, 401, 406.\n\nWisdom, 171, 482, 584.\n\nWise men, 131, 227, 265, 533, 584.\n\nWish, father to the thought, 212.\n\nWishes, vain, 486.\n\nWishes and powers, 293.\n\nWit and fancy, 555.\n\nWit and wisdom, 362, 558.\n\nWoman, 45, 164, 178, 230, 495, 509, 517.\n\nWords cannot be recalled, 228.\n\nWords, harsh, 192.\n\nWords without deeds, 211.\n\nWorld, a beautiful book, 49.\n\nWorldly fame and pleasure, 34, 158.\n\nWorst thing, 406.\n\nWretched not to be mocked, 63.\n\nWritings, like dishes, books, like beauty, 96.\n\n\nYears, early, misspent, 480.\n\nYouth, negligence in, 81.\n\nYouth returns not, 319.\n\n\nZeal, excessive, 586.\n\n\nTranscriber's Notes:\n\n In the original, all letters a, i, u had macrons instead of\n accents, except for the word Chandalas, which appears as printed.\n\n Item 54: Mahhabharata _changed to_ Mahabharata\n Item 92: Mahabahrata _changed to_ Mahabharata\n Item 115: Depend not an _changed to_ Depend not on\n Item 306: Chandalas' _changed to_ Chandalas'\n Item 434: Goldini _changed to_ Goldoni","title":"Book of Wise Sayings: Selected Largely from Eastern Sources","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":22541}