Excess generally causes reaction, and produces a change in the opposite
direction, whether it be in the seasons, or in individuals, or in
governments.--_Plato._
~Excitement.~--There is always something interesting and beautiful about a
universal popular excitement of a generous character, let the object of
it be what it may. The great desiring heart of man, surging with one
strong, sympathetic swell, even though it be to break on the beach of
life and fall backwards, leaving the sands as barren as before, has yet
a meaning and a power in its restlessness with which I must deeply
sympathize.--_Mrs. Stowe._
Violent excitement exhausts the mind, and leaves it withered and
sterile.--_Fenelon._
The language of excitement is at best but picturesque merely. You must
be calm before you can utter oracles.--_Thoreau._
This is so engraven on our nature that it may be regarded as an
appetite. Like all other appetites, it is not sinful, unless indulged
unlawfully, or to excess.--_Dr. Guthrie._
~Excuse.~--Of vain things, excuses are the vainest.--_Charles Buxton._
~Expectation.~--'Tis expectation makes a blessing dear; heaven were not
heaven, if we knew what it were.--_Suckling._
It may be proper for all to remember that they ought not to raise
expectations which it is not in their power to satisfy; and that it is
more pleasing to see smoke brightening into flame, than flame sinking
into smoke.--_Johnson._
~Expediency.~--When private virtue is hazarded upon the perilous cast of
expediency, the pillars of the republic, however apparent their
stability, are infected with decay at the very centre.--_Chapin._
Men in responsible situations cannot, like those in private life, be
governed solely by the dictates of their own inclinations, or by such
motives as can only affect themselves.--_Washington._
~Experience.~--Life consists in the alternate process of learning and
unlearning; but it is often wiser to unlearn than to
learn.--_Bulwer-Lytton._