QUEBEC, CANADA,
December, 1876.
[Illustration: decorative bar]
Popular Sayings.
Every popular saying is a chapter from the history of a heart.
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A belle is generally the subject of two contrasting passions; the envy
of women, the love of men. Envy says she is ugly, but love says she is
an angel.
To mitigate sorrows, we doubtless need to sell remembrance to buy
forgetfulness. Who would ever have thought the possession of a good
memory would prove a misfortune?
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Sympathy often enters by the eyes, lives in the heart, is fed by the
ears, and is killed by ingratitude.
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It is Cupid’s well known axiom that he who loves, keeps silence. And
there is also a maxim that if we imagine we can love two at the same
time, three are deceived.
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«That which cannot be signed ought not to be written,» Ferrer de Couto
has said, most pertinently.
Faithfulness is a rare coin. To convert it into serviceable currency you
must _exchange_ it. Plain truth is another coin, also very rare, and
there are persons who have used it so little that they are totally
ignorant of its great value.
* * * * *
Though the attributes of God are all equally adorable, we find His mercy
far easier to submit to, than His justice.
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One of the many sweet morals of Ossorio-Bernard is this: «Respect old
people, for it is a dilemma of destiny, to die or to become aged.»
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In all languages we learn, what experience has taught all people, that a
dog that barks will not bite.
In running swiftly up a hill, a certain individual fell and broke his
neck. His fate is a lesson. In following the promptings of ambition, too
recklessly, we often lose all.
* * * * *
«Acta, non verba» would, if always remembered, do away with much useless
talking.
* * * * *
They say that Love is an electric spark, also a magnetic influence. But
no doubt it is like a current of air, which, if strong, blows out a
small fire, and increases a large one.
* * * * *
The worst conflagration may, it is said, be extinguished by water. But
many tears have failed to extinguish the fire which burns in some
hearts.
The rope always breaks in the thinnest place.
* * * * *
Of the many who are indifferent to the presence of grandeur or pathos,
some sleep, some laugh, and a few yawn candidly.
* * * * *
Behold the injustice of the world, because the great grand-father once
killed a cat in his village, the family has ever since been called
«Cat-killer!»
* * * * *
It is foolish to make a sensible person suffer for the folly of a fool.
* * * * *
A rule for happiness: never go to bed without feeling sure you have
performed at least one act of kindness during the day.
The deafest man is he who does not wish to hear.
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With good intentions you can seldom do much wrong.
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Bad habits should be early forsaken, for custom becomes second nature.
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The wheel of fortune is as steady in its revolutions as a mill-wheel,
and although Cupid may smile at the top to-day, to-morrow, in spite of
his wings, he may be crushed beneath it.
* * * * *
In the garden of the world the soul is like a flower, and the dew for
this flower is hope. Hope, and your soul will always be kept fresh.
The garb should always be suitable to the office and rank of the wearer.
* * * * *
Some persons study the stars to learn their destiny, and a lover studies
a woman’s eyes to know his.
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