It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are
thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and
good, and we _must_ hunger after them.--_George Eliot._
~Associates.~--Costly followers are not to be liked; lest while a man
maketh his train longer, he makes his wings shorter.--_Bacon._
Be very circumspect in the choice of thy company. In the society of
thine equals thou shall enjoy more pleasure; in the society of thy
superiors thou shalt find more profit. To be the best in the company is
the way to grow worse; the best means to grow better is to be the worst
there.--_Quarles._
A man should live with his superiors as he does with his fire: not too
near, lest he burn; nor too far off, lest he freeze.--_Diogenes._
As there are some flowers which you should smell but slightly to extract
all that is pleasant in them, and which, if you do otherwise, emit what
is unpleasant and noxious, so there are some men with whom a slight
acquaintance is quite sufficient to draw out all that is agreeable; a
more intimate one would be unsatisfactory and unsafe.--_Landor._
Those who are unacquainted with the world take pleasure in the intimacy
of great men; those who are wiser dread the consequences.--_Horace._
~Atheism.~--By burning an atheist, you have lent importance to that which
was absurd, interest to that which was forbidding, light to that which
was the essence of darkness. For atheism is a system which can
communicate neither warmth nor illumination except from those fagots
which your mistaken zeal has lighted up for its destruction.--_Colton._
One of the most daring beings in creation, a contemner of God, who
explodes his laws by denying his existence.--_John Foster._
~Authority.~--Reasons of things are rather to be taken by weight than
tale.--_Jeremy Collier._
The world is ruled by the subordinates, not by their chiefs.--_Charles
Buxton._
~Authors.~--Authors may be divided into falling stars, planets, and fixed
stars: the first have a momentary effect. The second have a much longer
duration. But the third are unchangeable, possess their own light, and
work for all time.--_Schopenhaufer._
Satire lies about men of letters during their lives, and eulogy after
their death.--_Voltaire._
It is commonly the personal character of a writer which gives him his
public significance. It is not imparted by his genius. Napoleon said of
Corneille, "Were he living I would make him a king;" but he did not read
him. He read Racine, yet he said nothing of the kind of Racine. It is
for the same reason that La Fontaine is held in such high esteem among
the French. It is not for his worth as a poet, but for the greatness of
his character which obtrudes in his writings.--_Goethe._