* * * * *
It is said to be a trait of woman, to slight those who adore her, and
love those who do not care for her.
* * * * *
Distrust those who flame suddenly with enthusiasm. The hotter the
frying-pan, the sooner melts the butter.
Work is something given directly from God, and it redeems the world.
* * * * *
Merit does much, but fortune often has a share in the bargain.
* * * * *
Much harm would arise if all the world believed in the Latin proverb;
«_Audaces fortuna juvat._»
* * * * *
There is no such thing as a modest highwayman; neither does any honest
fellow like to make himself too visible.
* * * * *
Notable actions are like the shadows of the individuals who perform
them; the greater they are, the further the shadow is cast.
«Do not strive to hide your poverty, nor that of your family. When once
it is understood that you are not ashamed of it, no one will try to make
you blush over it.» So Alonso Quijano, advised his servant.
* * * * *
A favor kindly granted, is doubled.
* * * * *
He, whom you have once humiliated, is not likely to forget it.
* * * * *
A gem thrown away may be recovered, but the time lost in searching for
it, can never be.
* * * * *
There is no true love where there is no true esteem.
To doubt in silence, is better than to contradict too readily.
* * * * *
Spirit is always above matter, as ether always evaporates from a
material surface.
* * * * *
To the good or the beautiful, its own value suffices.
* * * * *
Trust God alone, for he only is sure to be just.
* * * * *
The worst martyrdom is loving an incomprehensible woman.
* * * * *
If you promise a real benefit, let your actions quickly follow your
words.
Calumny hurts three persons, him who utters it, him who hears it, and
him of whom it is spoken, but the last, happily, not always, or not for
a long time.
* * * * *
If any one does or says a thing which you condemn, show your disapproval
at once, for it is better to turn pale once, than to blush twice. And if
the offender is an intimate acquaintance, speak plainly, for between
friends straight accounts are desirable.
* * * * *
Of all sins men commit, none is blacker than ingratitude.
* * * * *
In taking, there can be no mistake, therefore take a moral rap when
necessary.
There are women more fortunate and less constant, than some of their
admirers would like them to be.
* * * * *
Be cautious of so called friends. If all is happiness around you, you
will have them by hundreds, but when fortune deserts you, they will make
off with the roses, leaving you only the thorns.
* * * * *
An error penitently confessed can be easily forgiven.
* * * * *
Many offences are only blunders.
* * * * *
He who knows not how to make himself great, often tries to make himself
feared.
The eyes and lips of a beloved woman, master the most independent man.
* * * * *
To fatalism an evil is always great, and its remedy is always concealed.
The eyes of a fatalist are magnifying-glasses which increase the size of
every object.
* * * * *
Jealousy is only suspicion. Beware how you mingle appearances and
realities.
* * * * *
The heart incapable of gratitude is also incapable of loving.
* * * * *
In the headache of a lady, or the lameness of a dog, you must not always
believe.
It is better to be a good but humble person, than a high born rascal.
* * * * *
To avoid being a drunkard, observe the effect of intemperance in others.
* * * * *
The church bells ringing from a lofty steeple, seem like the voice of
God, sounding above the clamor of the world.
* * * * *
There is a saying: «A father be to the good, and a father-in-law to the
impudent, the selfish and the cruel.» But this would not be our advice;
ours is--pity, pity.
* * * * *
Do not let your mind wander in empty space.
Those who live fast will not live long.
* * * * *
In every house there should exist a book, wherein would be written: «In
the business of others, never meddle.»
* * * * *
Life is not altogether bad, even the strongest glare of day, is toned
down every twenty-four hours, by twilight.
* * * * *
There are three kinds of grief: one kind which can be forgotten in
pleasure, another which can be banished before philosophy, and still
another kind which nothing but death can assuage.
* * * * *
Judgment, which should rule in marriage as in all things, is often
warped by broken affection.
It is but fitting that the son should be brought up to the calling of
the father.
* * * * *
Always spread your sail in time to catch a favoring breeze.
* * * * *
You can keep anything but a woman against her will.
* * * * *
Often the happiness of a person depends upon his tongue.
* * * * *
All knowledge is profitable if we know how to use it well.
* * * * *
Forsake the sword for wisdom.
The list of heroes is long, but the list of unregistered martyrs is
longer.
* * * * *
To inspire esteem and confidence, there is no surer way than to be
nicely punctual in any promise.
* * * * *
One bird in the hand, is better than a hundred in the air.
* * * * *
Caress a cat and she will probably claw your face.
* * * * *
A confiding woman, when she loves a man, clings as closely to him as an
ivy vine, and deserves as firm and trust worthy a support.
Your father was poor, but honest. Try to be richer than he, but be
equally honest.
* * * * *
How cautious should be the man who is selecting a fellow traveller, who
is to journey through life with him, and part from him only at the
grave; and who is to share all the fatigues and pleasures of the voyage,
as the wife does with the husband, and the husband does with the wife.
* * * * *
The goddess called Fortune is a whimsical queen, she is also blind, so
that she neither sees what she does, knows whom she raises, nor whom she
casts down.
* * * * *
The one who strikes first has generally a better chance to strike
twice.
Ignorance if earnest will overcome errors.
* * * * *
Many a hope has to go to the winds to complain.
* * * * *
«Matrimony, especially amongst christians, is a noose, which,» said
Quijote, «fastened about the neck runs the closer and fits the more
uneasily, by our struggling to get loose.»
* * * * *
«Christian marriage is indeed a gordian knot, which none can untie, and
being twisted with our thread of life, nothing but the scythe of death
can cut it,» says Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.
* * * * *
There are many who agree with the squire, that a fat trouble is better
than a lean one.
Say _no_ when necessary, and _ay_ when pertinent. One word has no more
letters in it than the other.
* * * * *
To suffer for the sake of peace the heavy chain of unlucky union, may be
honorable, virtuous and grand; but is not always advisable.
* * * * *
A place is great--as for instance Madrid--when, since childhood, have
prayed in its temples men like Lope de Vega, Calderon and Cervantes;
when it has given to science many noble names, and to independence many
brave martyrs.
* * * * *
Put a copper coin into vinegar and it will become oxidized; put the same
coin into oil, and it will become clear and brilliant. How plain the
moral of this is.
A good and pleasant consort is a treasure that we ought not to rid
ourselves of for a caprice.
* * * * *
Two hearts can never be very far apart if they have once been really
united by Love.
* * * * *
Do not try to put the point of a pin between a woman’s yea and nay, for
they are often so close together.
* * * * *
One word is sufficient for a wise man.
* * * * *
There is nothing harder than to sing when in agony.
* * * * *
Honey is not for the mouth of an ass.
Sometimes he who sings once weeps ever after.
* * * * *
Weep with those who weep; smile with those who smile, and have a heart
which echoes every joy and sorrow.
* * * * *
Where is the mortal, who after a sojourn of twenty-five years in this
world, could say: «I saw nothing but pleasant visions»?
* * * * *
Believe only in large companies, when going to fight.
* * * * *
Certain hopes are like delusive dreams, like the electric flash which
attends thunder and illuminates but an instant.
To be willing, is to be able.
* * * * *
Many a man who complains that he cannot keep his nose above water, would
find it easier if he did not so often keep it above spirits.
* * * * *
Fortunate is the man who always finds at the right time, the cloth laid,
and the bed made.
* * * * *
To have a good heart and to be unable to find another to appreciate it,
is like having a ducat in a desert, where you can buy nothing with your
gold.
* * * * *
He that gives a broken head should also give a plaster wherewith to mend
it.
If we could know the secret history of heroism, deeds would become known
which are now never dreamed of.
* * * * *
If we are to sing the beauty of the sky, of flowers, of love and of
innocence, and of every thing grand and beautiful; let us go to our
quiet chamber, or near a limpid stream, or where we will catch the pure
spray of a magnificent waterfall.
* * * * *
An active and willing solicitor brings the doubtful suit to a happy
issue.
* * * * *
The brain and heart of some are the archives in which all of your words,
looks and movements are stored.
Be prompt rather to act than to complain.
* * * * *
When you give, give; do not lend.
* * * * *
It is easier to reduce the rash and fool hardy to true bravery, than to
imbue the coward with that virtue.
* * * * *
Lovely women are like angels; when some men dream, it is always of
angels.
* * * * *
Retreating is not running away, though running away is sometimes called
retreating.
* * * * *
He who errs, and confesses his sin, is near reformation.
Time and disappointment are two loyal friends.
* * * * *
Cupid, some say, is not entirely blind, but very short-sighted, and,
according to good Panza, looks through odd spectacles, which make copper
look like gold, a cart like a coach, and a shrimp like a lobster.
* * * * *
Do not suffer yourself to be robbed of your treasure, and you will not
have to curse the thief.
* * * * *
The laws, some one has said, are like cobwebs, they catch only the small
flies.
* * * * *
It is easier for a prodigal to become liberal, than to become a miser.
Expedition and despatch anticipate the enemy, and victory becomes
assured before the foe is prepared for defence.
* * * * *
The sweet singer, Anton, tells us that peace of mind is not as often
found in the lordly mansion, as in the retired cottage.
* * * * *
It is better to overdo than underdo a thing.
* * * * *
Nothing, as Lafuente-Alcàntara says, is more interesting to the
philosopher and moralist, than the lives, habits, passions and beliefs
of what some call «the populace.»
* * * * *
Who can put a spoke into the wheel of fortune?
Women are in the main, an indispensable accident to men.
* * * * *
It is better for a man to do a rash act, than a cowardly one.
* * * * *
The Knight of La Mancha said: «It is a common adage, fair lady, that
diligence is the mother of success.»
* * * * *
The highest poetical sentiments are found in the people, and in that
part of the people who are called ignorant and uncultivated, who cannot
express their thoughts with as much elegance as sincerity; the people,
finally, who in Spain, as Trueba observes, describe the mother of Jesus
as «the Mother of the Beautiful Love.»
Those persons who allow their tongues to run at random, are often more
fools than knaves.
* * * * *
There cannot be smoke without fire.
* * * * *
The obstinate beggar will at last get a piece of bread.
* * * * *
There are misfortunes which have a commencement, but which will hardly
have an end.
* * * * *
Most popular aphorisms or sayings, are a history of the people,
condensed by their hearts.
* * * * *
The Spaniards always say: «A thing is never properly valued until it is
lost forever.»
To acquire a good name is difficult, but it is still more difficult to
retain. The young should acquire; the old should retain.
* * * * *
The sweetest music for a quiet conscience is the birds’ notes, tuned to
the key of nature, by the hand of the great musician--God!
* * * * *
The pains of the mind often afflict the body, more than the pains of the
body.
* * * * *
He, who has not sense enough to know he is a brute, will live and die an
ass.
* * * * *
Success, either good or bad, has a terrible enemy--memory.
Strange things may fall out in the roasting of an egg.
* * * * *
Valor is a virtue, situated between the two extremes of cowardice and
temerity.
* * * * *
Where is the mortal, who, in traversing the vale of life, has not found
sharp thorns among the roses.
* * * * *
In the depth of the heart lie sorrows some of which are known to
mortals, but many of which are only known to God.
* * * * *
Keep your holidays peacefully, and do not throw the rope after the
bucket.
Of your charming eyes, no complaint is made. They would perhaps like to
look at me, but you do not allow them.
* * * * *
There are some people who have done what they ought, but they owe to
others what they have done.
* * * * *
Music is not always a sign of feasting and merriment.
* * * * *
To call a war sacred is to say that it is possible to love and hate at
the same time; to beat and caress with rage and love simultaneously. All
contrary arguments, no matter whence they come, are capricious. They are
utopian sayings, more or less clever, but utopian still.
Sow gales, and storms will arise in your path.
* * * * *
Hell is believed to be crowded with the ungrateful.
* * * * *
Riches are of little avail in many of the misfortunes to which we are
liable.
* * * * *
Give when you can, but think of God, only of God, when you cannot give.
* * * * *
Take heart, and let hope raise in you a noble spirit.
* * * * *
There can be no wickedness where sweet music is appreciated.
He who in good faith makes public a kindness received, shows his
inclination to repay it at the first opportunity.
* * * * *
When one gives to make happy, and the other receives in the same spirit,
both are equally kind and generous. But when the gift is made, as is too
often the case, from a bad motive, and when the recipient knows or
suspects it, it would be difficult to say which of the two is the
inferior.
* * * * *
Give always the preference to those conversations and pastimes, which,
while deverting you, will not offend others.
* * * * *
Sunrise is the light of the living; sunset is the light of the dead.
The lips of a lover are often silent, leaving the eyes masters of
language. In loving, the eyes have eloquent arguments.
* * * * *
A woman’s real opinion and advice is seldom given; when it is, he who
receives it, shows his folly if he does not follow it.
* * * * *
If misfortune overtake you, meet it with one of these two courses of
reasoning: «It was not my fault, therefore I have no cause for
self-reproach,» or «It was my fault, I must consequently endure it.» In
either case accept it philosophically.
* * * * *
This is a time honored Spanish saying, «An honest maid should stay
quietly at home, as if one leg were broken.»
A hen or a woman are lost by rambling.
* * * * *
Do not always believe in the letters or souvenirs of an absent lover. To
you are the written, to others the spoken words, and some day you may
have to learn the difference between words and actions.
* * * * *
Diligence is the mother of good fortune.
* * * * *
God created _man_, and the world has been pleased to prefix the
adjective _gentle_. We do not honor the man whom the world styles
_gentleman_, but him, who by his merit, earns the adjective.
* * * * *
Distrust the vain, and appreciate the humble.
If science did not already exist, we would have to invent it.
* * * * *
Time is apt to kill, or at least modify all the sentiments.
* * * * *
Though ignorance may be defined as the absence of intellectual light,
and though _Luna_ is the lady of darkness, no blockhead (or stupid) has
ever become a _lunatic_.
* * * * *
She who loves to see, loves also to be seen.
* * * * *
After a storm comes fair weather.
* * * * *
Poetry is the daughter of sentiment.
There are few who are as valiant and magnanimous as they pretend to be.
* * * * *
Do not confound pride or dignity with inordinate self-esteem.
* * * * *
Some men are wise enough to pretend they are fools.
* * * * *
What companion can be compared to a good book?
* * * * *
Before you marry, Luisa, know well to whom you will be united. Whoever
undertakes a long journey, if he be wise, makes it his business to find
a good and agreeable companion.
Success is like a great rock up which you can only climb with great
difficulty, and from which it is very easy, and also very dangerous, to
fall.
* * * * *
«He who seeketh danger, perisheth therein» so said Sancho. It is not
prudent to attempt an exploit so dangerous, that we only escape from it
through a miracle.
* * * * *
Do not measure a man by inches. A small man may be a giant in fame and
knowledge.
* * * * *
Fortune sometimes directs our affairs better than we could have dared to
wish.
* * * * *
Covetousness bursts the bag.
If you wish to be just, study first your subject, and then imagine
yourself in the place of your opponent.
* * * * *
Almost every man may thank himself for his own bad luck.
* * * * *
When two good persons meet, their souls become identified, felicity is
not a dream, and individual liberty or personal independence is not
necessary.
* * * * *
It is easy to be generous, if only we remember the suffering of the
avaricious.
* * * * *
He is an honest man who pays to a _maravedis_, (about one seventh of a
cent.)
Lovers find so long the hours when they are separated, that they often
fancy that Phœbus has broken his chariot wheels.
* * * * *
Make only the haste of «good speed;» go gently, soft and fair, makes the
longest journey.
* * * * *
He who fears to wet his feet must not expect to catch fish.
* * * * *
There are those who prefer sweet lies to bitter truths. Prefer to the
former, the latter.
* * * * *
Take care not to be like the little birds, who deceived by the color of
the shepherds’ snare, fell into the danger they wished to avoid.
They say that love is confusion, but seeing so many thus confused, it is
to be inferred that the confusing moral consequence of this confusion
must be very sweet.
* * * * *
One day of a wise man’s life is more valuable than the entire life time
of a fool.
* * * * *
Virtue is not complete if wisdom is wanting.
* * * * *
Work always to bring profit to your mind and honor to your name.
* * * * *
To choose in marriage, requires not only our own best judgment, but the
directions and help of God.
Whether good or bad, children should be loved and cherished by their
parents. A child is a part of its parents, and if faulty should be
treated like an ailing part of themselves.
* * * * *
To say there is no such thing as true love or real friendship in the
world, is to say that the sun does not shine, the frost does not chill,
nor the earth produce sustenance.
* * * * *
A cold face may sometimes go with a warm heart, though not often, for
usually the face is a transparent covering, through which the soul is
clearly seen.
* * * * *
Those who go to pray do not feel cold, they are heated by the rays of
faith and love.
The God, who neglects not the birds of the air, nor the fish of the sea,
will provide for his children.
* * * * *
Business should never sleep with you.
* * * * *
One man is no better than another, only in as much as he does more than
another.
* * * * *
There are men, hints Cervantes, who think they must be masters, and that
women were born only to wear the clog of obedience.
* * * * *
It is painful for tender feet to walk in rugged paths.
* * * * *
While the sun is shining, make your hay.
Time discovers all things, and discloses the truth when least expected.
* * * * *
Happy is he who has found one or two truthful friends or allies during a
long life.
* * * * *
Avoid vice, but pity its victims.
* * * * *
We must not always look for bacon where we see the hooks.
* * * * *
Remember not to forsake the frying-pan for the fire.
* * * * *
Be brave; one of the effects of fear is to make things look like what
they are not.
The most skilful gambler sometimes loses.
* * * * *
A man need not be very charitable to give his cloak away in the summer,
but in the winter the most he can do is to share it. Remember the
aphorism: «To give and keep always that which is fit requires a great
deal of wisdom.»
* * * * *
Study first, trust afterward.
* * * * *
Many will tell in their sleep what they would not tell if awake.
* * * * *
When «good luck» knocks at the door it is not wise to keep it too long
waiting, for--
«He who will not, when he may
When he will, may then have nay.»
Quoth the wife to the husband: «If thou wilt provide the dower for our
daughter, I will promise to provide the husband.»
* * * * *
It is only in the power of great spirits to have patience when the world
frowns, as well as to be joyful when it is gay.
* * * * *
Hope wisely, work much, and all will go well.
* * * * *
When lucky, be merry; when unlucky, do not be sad.
* * * * *
Of all the name bestowed upon the mother of God, none is more touching
than _Mater Dolorosa_, the shelter of sorrow and poverty.
Sometimes he who looks longest, sees the least.
* * * * *
There is often a long distance between the fact and the telling.
* * * * *
When the water is moved, the fisherman is touched.
* * * * *
Friends are always ready to lend to a man in office.
* * * * *
A person who loves you tenderly may yet make you weep against his will.
* * * * *
Fanaticism, selfishness and obstinacy come to the same end.
If good women could only choose their husbands, we would have many good
marriages in consequence of mutual true love.
* * * * *
A coquette says: «You do not love me any more; that does not annoy me in
the least, for the stain of a ripe mulberry, with a fresh one is soon
effaced.»
* * * * *
If sighs coming from one, and those going from another could meet and
speak, how many sympathetic things they would have to tell each other.
* * * * *
The virtues, as well as the faults of others are often magnified by
reason of malice and envy.
* * * * *
Man is a traveller; his life is a mountain.
Do not be proud. Beauty is as life, and life is as a flower, fresh one
morning, withered and faded in a few hours.
* * * * *
If you wish to find a thing, search well and willingly.
* * * * *
When he felt all the warmth of love, you were all coolness; now that you
feel all the love, he naturally thinks of all the difficulties.
* * * * *
Nothing more than neediness afflicts and irritates the spirit of the
vain.
* * * * *
«Never judge by appearances.» Is a Spanish as well as an English
saying.
There is nothing more painful than the pressure of saddening thoughts
when you are obliged to smile and smile.
* * * * *
A truly good and loving heart is a beautiful star, in the midst of ugly
clouds.
* * * * *
Talents are the best of all kinds of riches, for they can be imparted
without harming them. The sharing of them doubles their value.
* * * * *
Perfect women are angels, and of course adorable. Of the imperfect ones
there are two kinds, those who have hearts, but who would not make
charming wives; and those who are very charming in some respects, but
who have no heart, no heart.
You want him to forsake you, but he never will. Those who are good,
preaches our pastor, cannot forget for a moment the being they worship.
* * * * *
A wise man once said that absence produces forgetfulness. He doubtless
referred to men, for, being a wise man, he could not ignore this--that a
woman’s soul is like a torch which once set burning is not easily
extinguished.
* * * * *
Study reforms even nature.
* * * * *
Worse than a few troubles are many.
* * * * *
Mean people doing their little worst to provoke trouble are seldom
lacking anywhere.
So slow is the march of laziness along the road of human existence, and
so squalid, and so feeble is it, that it is soon overtaken by poverty.
* * * * *
Do not admire mere beauty, for time will soon destroy it, but rather
admire beautiful acts. A beautiful deed is within the reach of all.
* * * * *
Some say that to live is to dream; others say that to love is to dream,
but it should be said that to love is to live.
* * * * *
To gain a heart when your sentiments have not been abused, be affable,
courteous and reasonable. When your feelings have been cruelly and
purposely wounded, forgive if you can, but keep your dignity and
remember pertinently.
Because a man is of a splendid and generous disposition, those persons
benefitted by him must not believe themselves less bound to feel, and
prove, and show their gratitude.
* * * * *