(_For the Mirror_.)
To have too much forethought is the part of a wretch; to have too little
is the part of a fool.
Self-will is so ardent and active that it will break a world to pieces
to make a stool to sit on.
Remember always to mix good sense with good things, or they will become
disgusting.
If there is any person to whom you feel a dislike, that is the person of
whom you ought never to speak.
Irritability urges us to take a step as much too soon, as sloth does too
late.
Say the strongest things you can with candour and kindness to a man's
face, and make the best excuse you can for him with truth and justice,
behind his back.
Men are to be estimated, as Johnson says, by the mass of character.
A block of tin may have a grain of silver, but still it is tin; and a
block of silver may have an alloy of tin; but still it is silver. Some
men's characters are excellent, yet not without alloy. Others base, yet
tend to great ends. Bad men are made the same use of as scaffolds; they
are employed as means to erect a building, and then are taken down and
destroyed.
If a man has a quarrelsome temper, let him alone; the world will soon
find him employment. He will soon meet with some one stronger than
himself, who will repay him better than you can. A man may fight duels
all his life if he is disposed to quarrel.
A person who objects to tell a friend of his faults, because he has
faults of his own, acts as a surgeon would, who should refuse to dress
another's wound because he had a dangerous one himself.
Some evils are irremediable, they are best neither seen nor heard; by
seeing and hearing things that you cannot remove, you will create
implacable adversaries; who being guilty aggressors, never forgive.