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BOOK OF
WISE SAYINGS
_SELECTED LARGELY FROM EASTERN SOURCES_
BY
W. A. CLOUSTON
_Author of "Popular Tales and Fictions," "Literary
Coincidences, and other Papers," "Flowers
from a Persian Garden," etc._
"Concise sentences, like darts, fly abroad and make
impressions, while long discourses are tedious and not
regarded."--BACON.
"Many are the sayings of the wise,
In ancient and in modern books enrolled."--MILTON.
LONDON
PUBLISHED BY HUTCHINSON & CO.
AT 34 PATERNOSTER ROW
1893
PRINTED AT NIMEGUEN (HOLLAND)
BY H. C. A. THIEME OF NIMEGUEN (HOLLAND)
AND
TALBOT HOUSE, ARUNDEL STREET
LONDON, W.C.
TO
FRANCIS THORNTON BARRETT,
CHIEF LIBRARIAN,
MITCHELL LIBRARY, GLASGOW,
THIS LITTLE BOOK,
WITH FRIENDLY GREETINGS,
IS INSCRIBED.
PREFACE.
Cynics may ask, how many have profited by the innumerable proverbs
and maxims of prudence which have been current in the world time out
of mind? They will say that their only use is to repeat them after
some unhappy wight has "gone wrong." When, for instance, a man has
played "ducks and drakes" with his money, the fact at once calls up
the proverb which declares that "wilful waste leads to woful want";
but did not the "waster" know this well-worn saying from his early
years _downwards_? What good, then, did it do him? Again, how many
have been benefited by the saying of the ancient Greek poet, that
"evil communications corrupt good manners"?--albeit they had it
frequently before them in their school "copy-books." Are the maxims
of morality useless, then, because they are so much disregarded?
When a man has reached middle-age he generally feels with tenfold
force the truth of those "sayings of the wise" which he learned in
his early years, and has cause to regret, as well as wonder, that he
had not all along followed their wholesome teaching. For it is to
the young, who are about to cross the threshold of active life, that
such terse convincing sentences are more especially addressed, and,
spite of the proverbial heedlessness of youth, there will be found
many who are not deaf to this kind of instruction, if their moral
environment be favourable. But, even after the spring-time of youth
is past, there are occasions when the mind is peculiarly susceptible
to the force of a pithy maxim, which may tend to the reforming of
one's way of life. There is commonly more practical wisdom in a
striking aphorism than in a round dozen of "goody" books--that is to
say, books which are not good in the highest sense, because their
themes are overlaid with commonplace and wearisome reflections.
May we not find the "whole duty of man" condensed into a few brief
sentences, which have been expressed by thoughtful men in all ages
and in countries far apart?--such as: "Love thy neighbour as
thyself," "Do unto others as ye would that they should do unto you."
The chief themes of all teachers of morality are: benevolence and
beneficence; tolerance of the opinions of others; self-control; the
acquisition of knowledge--that jewel beyond price; the true uses of
wealth; the advantages of resolute, manly exertion; the dignity of
labour; the futility of worldly pleasures; the fugacity of time;
man's individual insignificance. They are never weary of inculcating
taciturnity in preference to loquacity, and the virtues of patience
and resignation. They iterate and reiterate the fact that true
happiness is to be found only in contentment; and they administer
consolation and infuse hope by reminding us that as dark days are
followed by bright days, so times of bitter adversity are followed
by seasons of sweet prosperity; and thus, like the immortal Sir
Hudibras, when "in doleful dumps", we may "cheer ourselves with ends
of verse, and sayings of philosophers."
In the following small selection of aphorisms, a considerable
proportion are drawn from Eastern literature. Indian wisdom is
represented by passages from the great epics, the _Mahábhárata_ and
the _Rámáyana_; the _Panchatantra_ and the _Hitopadesa_, two
Sanskrit versions of the famous collection of apologues known in
Europe as the Fables of Bidpaï, or Pilpay; the _Dharma-sastra_ of
Manu; Bháravi, Mágha, Bhartrihari, and other Hindu poets. Specimens
of the mild teachings of Buddha and his more notable followers are
taken from the _Dhammapada_ (Path of Virtue) and other canonical
works; pregnant sayings of the Jewish Fathers, from the Talmud;
Moslem moral philosophy is represented by extracts from Arabic and
Persian writers (among the great poets of Persia are, Firdausí,
Sa'dí, Háfiz, Nizámí, Omar Khayyám, Jámí); while the proverbial
wisdom of the Chinese and the didactic writings of the sages of
Burmah are also occasionally cited.
The ordinary reader will probably be somewhat surprised to discover
in the aphorisms of the ancient Greeks and Hindus several close
parallels to the doctrines of the Old and New Testaments, and he
will have reasoned justly if he conclude that the so-called
"heathens" could have derived their spiritual light only from the
same Source as that which inspired the Hebrew prophets and the
Christian apostles.
Among English writers of aphorisms Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, is
pre-eminent, but none of his pithy sentences find place here,
because they are procurable in many inexpensive forms, (_e.g._,
_Counsels from my Lord Bacon_, 1892), and must be familiar to what is
termed "the average general reader." _The Enchiridion_ of Frances
Quarles and the _Resolves_ of Owen Feltham are, however, laid under
contribution, as also Robert Chamberlain, an author who is probably
unknown to many pluming themselves on their thorough acquaintance
with English literature, some of whose aphorisms (published in 1638,
under the title of _Nocturnal Lucubrations_) I have deemed worthy of
reproduction.
In more modern times, with the sole exception of William Hazlitt,
our country has produced no very successful writer of aphorisms.
Colton's _Lacon; or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those
who Think_, went through several editions soon after its first
publication in 1820; it is described by Mr. John Morley--and not
unfairly--as being "so vapid, so wordy, so futile as to have a place
among those books which dispense with parody"; it is "an awful
example to anyone who is tempted to try his hand at an aphorism."
Mr. Morley is hardly less severe in speaking of the "Thoughts" in
_Theophrastus Such_: "the most insufferable of all deadly-lively
prosing in our sublunary world." However this may be, assuredly
other works of the author of _Adam Bede_ will be found to furnish
many examples of admirable apothegms.
It only remains to add that, bearing in mind that a great collection
of gravities commonly proves quite as wearisome reading as a large
compilation of gaieties, or facetiæ, I have confined my selection of
"sayings of the wise" within the limits of a pocket-volume.
W. A. C.
BOOK OF WISE SAYINGS.
1.
The enemies which rise within the body, hard to be overcome--thy
evil passions--should manfully be fought: he who conquers these is
equal to the conquerors of worlds.
_Bháravi._
2.
If passion gaineth the mastery over reason, the wise will not count
thee amongst men.
_Firdausí._
3.
Knowledge is destroyed by associating with the base; with equals
equality is gained, and with the distinguished, distinction.
_Hitopadesa._
4.
Dost thou desire that thine own heart should not suffer, redeem thou
the sufferer from the bonds of misery.
_Sa'dí._
5.
To friends and eke to foes true kindness show;
No kindly heart unkindly deeds will do;
Harshness will alienate a bosom friend.
And kindness reconcile a deadly foe.
_Omar Khayyám._
6.
There is no greater grief in misery than to turn our thoughts back
to happier times.[1]
_Dante._
[1] Cf. Goldsmith:
O Memory! thou fond deceiver,
Still importunate and vain;
To former joys recurring ever,
And turning all the past to pain.
7.
We in reality only know when we doubt a little. With knowledge comes
doubt.
_Goethe._
8.
In the hour of adversity be not without hope, for crystal rain falls
from black clouds.
_Nizámí._
9.
One common origin unites us all, but every sort of wood does not
give the perfume of the lignum aloes.
_Arabic._
10.
I asked an experienced elder who had profited by his knowledge of
the world, "What course should I pursue to obtain prosperity?" He
replied, "Contentment--if you are able, practise contentment."
_Selman._
11.
Every moment that a man may be in want of employment, than such I
hold him to be far better who is forced to labour for nothing.
_Afghan._
12.
The foolish undertake a trifling act, and soon desist, discouraged;
wise men engage in mighty works, and persevere.
_Mágha._
13.
Those who wish well towards their friends disdain to please them
with words which are not true.
_Bháravi._
14.
Reason is captive in the hands of the passions, as a weak man in the
hands of an artful woman.
_Sa'dí._
15.
Like an earthen pot, a bad man is easily broken, and cannot readily
be restored to his former situation; but a virtuous man, like a vase
of gold, is broken with difficulty, and easily repaired.
_Hitopadesa._
16.
The son who delights his father by his good actions; the wife who
seeks only her husband's good; the friend who is the same in
prosperity and adversity--these three things are the reward of
virtue.
_Bhartrihari._
17.
Let us not overstrain our abilities, or we shall do nothing with
grace. A clown, whatever he may do, will never pass for a gentleman.
_La Fontaine._
18.
To abstain from speaking is regarded as very difficult. It is not
possible to say much that is valuable and striking.[2]
_Mahábhárata._
[2] Cf. James, III, 8.
19.
Pagodas are, like mosques, true houses of prayer;
'Tis prayer that church bells waft upon the air;
Kaaba and temple, rosary and cross,
All are but divers tongues of world-wide prayer.
_Omar Khayyám._
20.
In no wise ask about the faults of others, for he who reporteth the
faults of others will report thine also.
_Firdausí._
21.
He that holds fast the golden mean,
And lives contentedly between
The little and the great,
Feels not the wants that pinch the poor,
Nor plagues that haunt the rich man's door,
Embittering all his state.
_Horace._
22.
Nothing is more becoming a man than silence. It is not the preaching
but the practice which ought to be considered as the more important.
A profusion of words is sure to lead to error.
_Talmud._
23.
Consider, and you will find that almost all the transactions of the
time of Vespasian differed little from those of the present day. You
there find marrying and giving in marriage, educating children,
sickness, death, war, joyous holidays, traffic, agriculture,
flatterers, insolent pride, suspicions, laying of plots, longing for
the death of others, newsmongers, lovers, misers, men canvassing for
consulship--yet all these passed away, and are nowhere.
_M. Aurelius._
24.
The friendship of the bad is like the shade of some precipitous bank
with crumbling sides, which, falling, buries him who is beneath.
_Bháravi._
25.
His action no applause invites
Who simply good with good repays;
He only justly merits praise
Who wrongful deeds with kind requites.[3]
_Panchatantra._
[3] Matt. V, 43, 44.
26.
Death comes, and makes a man his prey,
A man whose powers are yet unspent;
Like one on gathering flowers intent,
Whose thoughts are turned another way.
Begin betimes to practise good,
Lest fate surprise thee unawares
Amid thy round of schemes and cares;
To-morrow's task to-day conclude.[4]
_Mahábhárata._
[4] Eccles. IX, 10; XII, 1.
27.
Let a man's talents or virtues be what they may, we feel
satisfaction in his society only as he is satisfied in himself. We
cannot enjoy the good qualities of a friend if he seems to be none
the better for them.
_Hazlitt._
28.
It was a false maxim of Domitian that he who would gain the people
of Rome must promise all things and perform nothing. For when a man
is known to be false in his word, instead of a column, which he
might be by keeping it, for others to rest upon, he becomes a reed,
which no man will vouchsafe to lean upon. Like a floating island,
when we come next day to seek it, it is carried from the place we
left it in, and, instead of earth to build upon, we find nothing but
inconstant and deceiving waves.
_Feltham._
29.
He is not dead who departs this life with high fame; dead is he,
though living, whose brow is branded with infamy.
_Tieck._
30.
In the height of thy prosperity expect adversity, but fear it not.
If it come not, thou art the more sweetly possessed of the happiness
thou hast, and the more strongly confirmed. If it come, thou art the
more gently dispossessed of the happiness thou hadst, and the more
firmly prepared.
_Quarles._
31.
A prudent man will not discover his poverty, his self-torments, the
disorders of his house, his uneasiness, or his disgrace.
_Hitopadesa._
32.
Men are of three different capacities: one understands intuitively;
another understands so far as it is explained; and a third
understands neither of himself nor by explanation. The first is
excellent, the second, commendable, and the third, altogether
useless.
_Machiavelli._
33.
It is difficult to understand men, but still harder to know them
thoroughly.
_Schiller._
34.
Worldly fame and pleasure are destructive to the virtue of the mind;
anxious thoughts and apprehensions are injurious to the health of
the body.
_Chinese._
35.
Alas, for him who is gone and hath done no good work! The trumpet of
march has sounded, and his load was not bound on.
_Persian._
36.
Human experience, like the stern-lights of a ship at sea, illumines
only the path which we have passed over.
_Coleridge._
37.
Man is an actor who plays various parts:
First comes a boy, then out a lover starts;
His garb is changed for, lo! a beggar's rags;
Then he's a merchant with full money-bags;
Anon, an aged sire, wrinkled and lean;
At last Death drops the curtain on the scene.[5]
_Bhartrihari._
[5] Cf. Shakspeare:
"All the world's a stage," etc.--_As You Like It_,
Act II, _sc._ 7.
38.
Through avarice a man loses his understanding, and by his thirst for
wealth he gives pain to the inhabitants of both worlds.
_Hitopadesa._
39.
Men soon the faults of others learn,
A few their virtues, too, find out;
But is there one--I have a doubt--
Who can his own defects discern?
_Sanskrit._
40.
In learning, age and youth go for nothing; the best informed take
the precedence.
_Chinese._
41.
Mention not a blemish which is thy own in detraction of a neighbour.
_Talmud._
42.
Affairs succeed by patience, and he that is hasty falleth headlong.
_Sa'dí._
43.
A man who has learnt little grows old like an ox: his flesh grows,
but his knowledge does not grow.
_Dhammapada._
44.
Unsullied poverty is always happy, while impure wealth brings with
it many sorrows.
_Chinese._
45.
Both white and black acknowledge women's sway,
So much the better and the wiser too,
Deeming it most convenient to obey,
Or possibly they might their folly rue.[6]
_Persian._
[6] Cf. Pope:
Would men but follow what the sex advise,
All things would prosper, all the world grow wise.
46.
We are never so much disposed to quarrel with others as when we are
dissatisfied with ourselves.
_Hazlitt._
47.
No one is more profoundly sad than he who laughs too much.
_Richter._
48.
The heaven that rolls around cries aloud to you while it displays
its eternal beauties, and yet your eyes are fixed upon the earth
alone.
_Dante._
49.
This world is a beautiful book, but of little use to him who cannot
read it.
_Goldoni._
50.
Sorrows are like thunder-clouds: in the distance they look black,
over our heads, hardly gray.
_Richter._
51.
The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected
without trials.
_Chinese._
52.
Health is the greatest gift, contentedness the best riches.
_Dhammapada._
53.
Great and unexpected successes are often the cause of foolish
rushing into acts of extravagance.
_Demosthenes._
54.
Let none with scorn a suppliant meet,
Or from the door untended spurn
A dog; an outcast kindly treat;
And so thou shalt be blest in turn.
_Mahábhárata._
55.
Choose knowledge, if thou desirest a blessing from the Universal
Provider; for the ignorant man cannot raise himself above the earth,
and it is by knowledge that thou must render thy soul praiseworthy.
_Firdausí._
56.
Good fortune is a benefit to the wise, but a curse to the foolish.
_Chinese._
57.
In this thing one man is superior to another, that he is better able
to bear adversity and prosperity.
_Philemon._
58.
The rays of happiness, like those of light, are colourless when
unbroken.
_Longfellow._
59.
There are three things which, in great quantity, are bad, and, in
little, very good: leaven, salt, and liberality.
_Talmud._
60.
Who aims at excellence will be above mediocrity; who aims at
mediocrity will be far short of it.
_Burmese._
61.
Keep thy heart afar from sorrow, and be not anxious about the
trouble which is not yet come.
_Firdausí._
62.
If thy garments be clean and thy heart be foul, thou needest no key
to the door of hell.
_Sa'dí._
63.
We ought never to mock the wretched, for who can be sure of being
always happy?
_La Fontaine._
64.
To those who err in judgment, not in will, anger is gentle.
_Sophocles._
65.
Not only is the old man twice a child, but also the man who is
drunk.
_Plato._
66.
Wrapt up in error is the human mind,
And human bliss is ever insecure;
Know we what fortune yet remains behind?
Know we how long the present shall endure?
_Pindar._
67.
A wise man adapts himself to circumstances, as water shapes itself
to the vessel that contains it.
_Chinese._
68.
He who formerly was reckless and afterwards became sober brightens
up this world like the moon when freed from clouds.
_Dhammapada._
69.
When a base fellow cannot vie with another in merit he will attack
him with malicious slander.
_Sa'dí._
70.
If a man be not so happy as he desires, let this be his comfort--he
is not so wretched as he deserves.
_R. Chamberlain._
71.
In conversation humour is more than wit, easiness, more than
knowledge; few desire to learn, or to think they need it; all desire
to be pleased, or, if not, to be easy.
_Sir W. Temple._
72.
The greatest men sometimes overshoot themselves, but then their very
mistakes are so many lessons of instruction.
_Tom Browne._
73.
We may be as good as we please, if we please to be good.
_Barrow._
74.
The round of a passionate man's life is in contracting debts in his
passion which his virtue obliges him to pay. He spends his time in
outrage and acknowledgment, injury and reparation.
_Johnson._
75.
To reprehend well is the most necessary and the hardest part of
friendship. Who is it that does not sometimes merit a check, and yet
how few will endure one? Yet wherein can a friend more unfold his
love than in preventing dangers before their birth, or in bringing a
man to safety who is travelling on the road to ruin? I grant there
is a manner of reprehending which turns a benefit into an injury,
and then it both strengthens error and wounds the giver. When thou
chidest thy wandering friend do it secretly, in season, in love, not
in the ear of a popular convention, for oftentimes the presence of a
multitude makes a man take up an unjust defence, rather than fall
into a just shame.
_Feltham._
76.
I put no account on him who esteems himself just as the popular
breath may chance to raise him.
_Goethe._
77.
He who seeks wealth sacrifices his own pleasure, and, like him who
carries burdens for others, bears the load of anxiety.
_Hitopadesa._
78.
Circumspection in calamity; mercy in greatness; good speeches in
assemblies; fortitude in adversity: these are the self-attained
perfections of great souls.
_Hitopadesa._
79.
The best preacher is the heart; the best teacher is time; the best
book is the world; the best friend is God.
_Talmud._
80.
A woman will not throw away a garland, though soiled, which her
lover gave: not in the object lies a present's worth, but in the
love which it was meant to mark.
_Bháravi._
81.
Men who have not observed discipline, and have not gained treasure
in their youth, perish like old herons in a lake without fish.
_Dhammapada._
82.
As drops of bitter medicine, though minute, may have a salutary
force, so words, though few and painful, uttered seasonably, may
rouse the prostrate energies of those who meet misfortune with
despondency.
_Bháravi._
83.
There are three whose life is no life: he who lives at another's
table; he whose wife domineers over him; and he who suffers bodily
affliction.
_Talmud._
84.
Let thy words between two foes be such that if they were to become
friends thou shouldst not be ashamed.
_Sa'dí._
85.
An indiscreet man is more hurtful than an ill-natured one; for as
the latter will only attack his enemies, and those he wishes ill to,
the other injures indifferently both his friends and foes.
_Addison._
86.
A man of quick and active wit
For drudgery is more unfit,
Compared to those of duller parts,
Than running nags are to draw carts.
_Butler._
87.
All affectation is the vain and ridiculous attempt of poverty to
appear rich.
_Lavater._
88.
There never was, there never will be, a man who is always praised,
or a man who is always blamed.
_Dhammapada._
89.
A good man's intellect is piercing, yet inflicts no wound; his
actions are deliberate, yet bold; his heart is warm, but never
burns; his speech is eloquent, yet ever true.
_Mágha._
90.
He who can feel ashamed will not readily do wrong.
_Talmud._
91.
A stranger who is kind is a kinsman; an unkind kinsman is a
stranger.
_Hitopadesa._
92.
The good to others kindness show,
And from them no return exact;
The best and greatest men, they know,
Thus ever nobly love to act.[7]
_Mahábhárata._
[7] Cf. Luke, VI, 34, 35.
93.
Trees loaded with fruit are bent down; the clouds when charged with
fresh rain hang down near the earth: even so good men are not
uplifted through prosperity. Such is the natural character of the
liberal.
_Bhartrihari._
94.
The man who neither gives in charity nor enjoys his wealth, which
every day increases, breathes, indeed, like the bellows of a smith,
but cannot be said to live.
_Hitopadesa._
95.
That energy which veils itself in mildness is most effective of its
object.
_Mágha._
96.
Our writings are like so many dishes, our readers, our guests, our
books, like beauty--that which one admires another rejects; so we
are approved as men's fancies are inclined.... As apothecaries, we
make new mixtures every day, pour out of one vessel into another;
and as those old Romans robbed all cities of the world to set out
their bad-cited Rome, we skim off the cream of other men's wits,
pick the choice flowers of their tilled gardens, to set out our own
sterile plots. We weave the same web still, twist the same rope
again and again; or, if it be a new invention, 'tis but some bauble
or toy, which idle fellows write, for as idle fellows to read.[8]
_Burton._
[8] Ferriar has pointed out, in his _Illustrations of
Sterne_, how these passages from Burton's _Anatomy of
Melancholy_ have been boldly plagiarised in the
introduction to the fragment on Whiskers in _Tristram
Shandy_: "Shall we for ever make new books as
apothecaries make new mixtures, by only pouring out of
one vessel into another? Are we for ever to be twisting
and untwisting the same rope?" And Dr. Johnson, who was
a great admirer of Burton, adopts the illustration of
the plundering Romans in his _Rambler_, No. 143.
97.
It is our follies that make our lives uncomfortable. Our errors of
opinion, our cowardly fear of the world's worthless censure, and our
eagerness after unnecessary gold have hampered the way of virtue,
and made it far more difficult than, in itself, it is.
_Feltham._
98.
There is not half so much danger in the desperate sword of a known
foe as in the smooth insinuations of a pretended friend.
_R. Chamberlain._
99.
Nothing is so oppressive as a secret; it is difficult for ladies to
keep it long, and I know even in this matter a good number of men
who are women.
_La Fontaine._
100.
All kinds of beauty do not inspire love: there is a kind of it which
pleases only the sight, but does not captivate the affections.
_Cervantes._
101.
Contentment consisteth not in heaping more fuel, but in taking away
some fire.
_Fuller._
102.
It is difficult to personate and act a part long, for where truth is
not at the bottom Nature will always be endeavouring to return, and
will peep out and betray herself one time or other.
_Tillotson._
103.
The truest characters of ignorance
Are vanity, pride, and arrogance;
As blind men use to bear their noses higher
Than those that have their eyes and sight entire.
_Butler._
104.
It is better to be well deserving without praise than to live by the
air of undeserved commendation.
_R. Chamberlain._
105.
He travels safe and not unpleasantly who is guarded by poverty and
guided by love.
_Sir P. Sidney._
106.
Never put thyself in the way of temptation: even David could not
resist it.
_Talmud._
107.
Pride is a vice which pride itself inclines every man to find in
others and overlook in himself.
_Johnson._
108.
By six qualities may a fool be known: anger, without cause; speech,
without profit; change, without motive; inquiry, without an object;
trust in a stranger; and incapacity to discriminate between friend
and foe.
_Arabic._
109.
Men are not to be judged by their looks, habits, and appearances,
but by the character of their lives and conversations. 'Tis better
that a man's own works than another man's words should praise him.
_Sir R. L'Estrange._
110.
To exert his power in doing good is man's most glorious task.
_Sophocles._
111.
Those who are skilled in archery bend their bow only when they are
prepared to use it; when they do not require it they allow it to
remain unbent, for otherwise it would be unserviceable when the time
for using it arrived. So it is with man. If he were to devote
himself unceasingly to a dull round of business, without breaking
the monotony by cheerful amusements, he would fall imperceptibly
into idiotcy, or be struck with paralysis.
_Herodotus._
112.
Blinded by self-conceit and knowing nothing,
Like elephant infatuate with passion,
I thought within myself, I all things knew;
But when by slow degrees I somewhat learnt
By aid of wise preceptors, my conceit,
Like some disease, passed off; and now I live
In the plain sense of what a fool I am.
_Bhartrihari._
113.
Time is the most important thing in human life, for what is pleasure
after the departure of time? and the most consolatory, since pain,
when pain has passed, is nothing. Time is the wheel-track in which
we roll on towards eternity, conducting us to the Incomprehensible.
In its progress there is a ripening power, and it ripens us the
more, and the more powerfully, when we duly estimate it. Listen to
its voice, do not waste it, but regard it as the highest finite
good, in which all finite things are resolved.
_Von Humboldt._
114.
All that we are is made up of our thoughts; it is founded on our
thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speak or act with
a pure thought, happiness will follow him, like a shadow that never
leaves him.
_Dhammapada._
115.
Depend not on another, rather lean
Upon thyself; trust to thine own exertions:
Subjection to another's will gives pain;
True happiness consists in self-reliance.
_Manu._
116.
If the friendship of the good be interrupted, their minds admit of
no long change; as when the stalks of a lotus are broken the
filaments within them are more visibly cemented.
_Hitopadesa._
117.
Anger that has no limit causes terror, and unseasonable kindness
does away with respect. Be not so severe as to cause disgust, nor so
lenient as to make people presume.
_Sa'dí._
118.
Be patient, if thou wouldst thy ends accomplish; for like patience
is there no appliance effective of success, producing certainly
abundant fruit of actions, never damped by failure, conquering all
impediments.
_Bháravi._
119.
As rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, passion breaks through
an unreflecting mind.
_Dhammapada._
120.
Most men, even the most accomplished, are of limited faculties;
every one sets a value on certain qualities in himself and others:
these alone he is willing to favour, these alone will he have
cultivated.
_Goethe._
121.
Poverty, we may say, surrounds a man with ready-made barriers, which
if they do mournfully gall and hamper, do at least prescribe for
him, and force on him, a sort of course and goal; a safe and beaten,
though a circuitous, course. A great part of his guidance is secure
against fatal error, is withdrawn from his control. The rich, again,
has his whole life to guide, without goal or barrier, save of his
own choosing, and, tempted, is too likely to guide it ill.
_Carlyle._
122.
By Fate full many a heart has been undone,
And many a sprightly rose made woe-begone;
Plume thee not on thy lusty youth and strength:
Full many a bud is blasted ere its bloom.
_Omar Khayyám._
123.
The best thing is to be respected, the next, is to be loved; it is
bad to be hated, but still worse to be despised.
_Chinese._
124.
To be envied is a nobler fate than to be pitied.
_Pindar._
125.
He only does not live in vain
Who all the means within his reach
Employs--his wealth, his thought, his speech--
T'advance the weal of other men.
_Sanskrit._
126.
If you injure a harmless person, the evil will fall back upon you,
like light dust thrown up against the wind.
_Buddhist._
127.
In the life of every man there are sudden transitions of feeling,
which seem almost miraculous. At once, as if some magician had
touched the heavens and the earth, the dark clouds melt into the
air, the wind falls, and serenity succeeds the storm. The causes
which produce these changes may have been long at work within us,
but the changes themselves are instantaneous, and apparently without
sufficient cause.
_Longfellow._
128.
Man is an intellectual animal, therefore an everlasting
contradiction to himself. His senses centre in himself, his ideas
reach to the ends of the universe; so that he is torn in pieces
between the two without the possibility of its ever being otherwise.
A mere physical being or a pure spirit can alone be satisfied with
itself.
_Hazlitt._
129.
The pure in heart, who fear to sin,
The good, kindly in word and deed--
These are the beings in the world
Whose nature should be called divine.
_Buddhist._
130.
If thou desirest that the pure in heart should praise thee, lay
aside anger; be not a man of many words; and parade not thy virtues
in the face of others.
_Firdausí._
131.
A wise man takes a step at a time; he establishes one foot before he
takes up the other: an old place should not be forsaken recklessly.
_Sanskrit._
132.
The fish dwell in the depths of the waters, and the eagles in the
sides of heaven; the one, though high, may be reached with the
arrow, and the other, though deep, with the hook; but the heart of
man at a foot's distance cannot be known.[9]
_Burmese._
[9] Cf. Proverbs, XXV, 3.
133.
The life of man is the incessant walk of nature, wherein every
moment is a step towards death. Even our growing to perfection is a
progress to decay. Every thought we have is a sand running out of
the glass of life.
_Feltham._
134.
I have observed that as long as a man lives and exerts himself he
can always find food and raiment, though, it may be, not of the
choicest description.
_Goethe._
135.
There are no riches like the sweetness of content, nor poverty
comparable to the want of patience.
_R. Chamberlain._
136.
'Tis not for gain, for fame, from fear
That righteous men injustice shun,
And virtuous men hold virtue dear:
An inward voice they seem to hear,
Which tells them duty must be done.
_Mahábhárata._
137.
As far and wide the vernal breeze
Sweet odours waft from blooming trees,
So, too, the grateful savour spreads
To distant lands of virtuous deeds.
_Sanskrit._
138.
In this world, however little happiness may have been our portion,
yet have we no desire to die. Whether he can speak of life as
cheerful and delicate, or as full of pain, anxiety, and sorrow,
never yet have I seen one who wished to die.
_Firdausí._
139.
When morning silvers the dark firmament,
Why shrills the bird of dawning his lament?
It is to show in dawn's bright looking-glass
How of thy careless life a night is spent.
_Omar Khayyám._
140.
Be thou generous, and gentle, and forgiving; as God hath scattered
upon thee, scatter thou upon others.
_Sa'dí._
141.
In the body restraint is good; good is restraint in speech; in
thought restraint is good: good is restraint in all things.
_Dhammapada._
142.
Men say that everyone is naturally a lover of himself, and that it
is right that it should be so. This is a mistake; for in fact the
cause of all the blunders committed by man arises from this
excessive self-love. For the lover is blinded by the object loved,
so that he passes a wrong judgment upon what is just, good, and
beautiful, thinking that he ought always to honour what belongs to
himself, in preference to truth. For he who intends to be a great
man ought to love neither himself nor his own things, but only what
is just, whether it happens to be done by himself or by another.
_Plato._
143.
A man eminent in learning has not even a little virtue if he fears
to practise it. What precious things can be shown to a blind man
when he holds a lamp in his hand?
_Hitopadesa._
144.
The first forty years of our life give the text, the next thirty
furnish the commentary upon it, which enables us rightly to
understand the true meaning and connection of the text with its
moral and its beauties.
_Schopenhauer._
145.
Good actions lead to success, as good medicines to a cure: a healthy
man is joyful, and a diligent man attains learning; a just man gains
the reward of his virtue.
_Hitopadesa._
146.
Purpose without power is mere weakness and deception; and power
without purpose is mere fatuity.
_Sa'dí._
147.
Suffering is the necessary consequence of sin, just as when you eat
a sour fruit a stomach complaint ensues.
_Burmese._
148.
Riches disclose in a man's character the bad qualities formerly
concealed in his poverty.
_Arabic._
149.
Whate'er the work a man performs,
The most effective aid to its completion--
The most prolific source of true success--
Is energy, without despondency.
_Ramáyána._
150.
Humility is a virtue all preach, none practise, and yet everybody is
content to hear. The master thinks it good doctrine for his servant,
the laity for the clergy, and the clergy for the laity.
_Selden._
151.
Authority intoxicates,
And makes mere sots of magistrates;
The fumes of it invade the brain,
And make men giddy, proud, and vain;
By this the fool commands the wise,
The noble with the base complies,
The sot assumes the rule of wit,
And cowards make the base submit.
_Butler._
152.
No man learns to know his inmost nature by introspection, for he
rates himself sometimes too low, and often too high, by his own
measurement. Man knows himself only by comparing himself with other
men; it is life that touches his genuine worth.
_Goethe._
153.
Increase in goodness as long as thou art here, that, when thou
departest, in that thou mayest still be joyful. According to our
words and deeds in this life will be the remembrance of us in the
world.
_Firdausí._
154.
Parents' affection is best shown by their teaching their children
industry and self-denial.
_Burmese._
155.
There are three things to beware of through life: when a man is
young, let him beware of his appetites; when he is middle-aged, of
his passions; and when old, of covetousness, especially.
_Confucius._
156.
He who has given satisfaction to the best of his time has lived for
ages.
_Schiller._
157.
I never yet found pride in a noble nature nor humility in an
unworthy mind.
_Feltham._
158.
Worldly fame is but a breath of wind, that blows now this way, now
that, and changes name as it changes sides.
_Dante._
159.
True modesty and true pride are much the same thing. Both consist in
setting a just value on ourselves--neither more nor less.
_Hazlitt._
160.
Never does a man portray his own character more vividly than in his
manner of portraying another.
_Richter._
161.
A foolish husband fears his wife; a prudent wife obeys her husband.
_Chinese._
162.
He who devises evil for another falls at last into his own pit, and
the most cunning finds himself caught by what he had prepared for
another. But virtue without guile, erect like the lofty palm, rises
with greater vigour when it is oppressed.
_Metastasio._
163.
Laughing is peculiar to man, but all men do not laugh for the same
reason. There is the attic salt which springs from the charm in the
words, from the flash of wit, from the spirited and brilliant sally.
There is the low joke which arises from scurrility and idle conceit.
_Goldoni._
164.
The woman who is resolved to be respected can make herself be so
even amidst an army of soldiers.
_Cervantes._
165.
Petty ambition would seem to be a mean craving after distinction.
_Theophrastus._
166.
It is an old observation that wise men grow usually wiser as they
grow older, and fools more foolish.
_Wieland._
167.
Use law and physic only for necessity. They that use them otherwise
abuse themselves into weak bodies and light purses. They are good
remedies, bad businesses, and worse recreations.
_Quarles._
168.
In some dispositions there is such an envious kind of pride that
they cannot endure that any but themselves should be set forth as
excellent; so that when they hear one justly praised they will
either openly detract from his virtues; or, if those virtues be,
like a clear and shining light, eminent and distinguished, so that
he cannot be safely traduced by the tongue, they will then raise a
suspicion against him by a mysterious silence, as if there were
something remaining to be told which overclouded even his brightest
glory.
_Feltham._
169.
Every man thinks with himself, I am well, I am wise, and laughs at
others; and 'tis a general fault amongst them all, that which our
forefathers approved--diet, apparel, humours, customs, manners--we
deride and reject in our time as absurd.
_Burton._
170.
Repeated sin destroys the understanding
And he whose reason is impaired repeats
His sins. The constant practising of virtue
Strengthens the mental faculties, and he
Whose judgment stronger grows acts always right.
_Mahábhárata._
171.
If you wish to know how much preferable wisdom is to gold, then
observe: if you change gold you get silver for it, but your gold is
gone; but if you exchange one sort of wisdom for another, you obtain
fresh knowledge, and at the same time keep what you possessed
before.
_Talmud._
172.
The man who listens not to the words of affectionate friends will
give joy in the time of distress to his enemies.
_Hitopadesa._
173.
It is a proverbial expression that every man is the maker of his own
fortune, and we usually regard it as implying that every man by his
folly or wisdom prepares good or evil for himself. But we may view
it in another light, namely, that we may so accommodate ourselves to
the dispositions of Providence as to be happy in our lot, whatever
may be its privations.
_Von Humboldt._
174.
Be very circumspect in the choice of thy company. In the society of
thy equals thou shalt enjoy more pleasure; in the society of thy
superiors thou shalt find more profit. To be the best of the company
is the way to grow worse; the best means to grow better is to be the
worst there.
_Quarles._
175.
Assume in adversity a countenance of prosperity, and in prosperity
moderate thy temper.
_Livy._
176.
Mark this! who lives beyond his means
Forfeits respect, loses his sense;
Where'er he goes, through the seven births,
All count him knave: him women hate.
_Hindu Poetess._
177.
Be cautious in your intercourse with the great; they seldom confer
obligations on their inferiors but from interested motives. Friendly
they appear as long as it serves their turn, but they will render no
assistance in time of actual need.
_Talmud._
178.
Man, though he be gray-headed when he comes back, soon gets a young
wife. But a woman's time is short within which she can expect to
obtain a husband. If she allows it to slip away, no one cares to
marry her. She sits at home, speculating on the probability of her
marriage.
_Aristophanes._
179.
Hearts are like tapers, which at beauteous eyes
Kindle a flame of love that never dies;
And beauty is a flame, where hearts, like moths,
Offer themselves a burning sacrifice.
_Omar Khayyám._
180.
When thou utterest not a word thou hast laid thy hand upon it; when
thou hast uttered it, it hath laid its hand on thee.
_Sa'dí._
181.
To the tongue which bringeth thee words without reason, the answer
that best beseemeth thee is--silence.
_Nizámí._
182.
The man who talketh much and never acteth will not be held in
reputation by anyone.
_Firdausí._
183.
Two sources of success are known: wisdom and effort; make them both
thine own, if thou wouldst haply rise.
_Mágha._
184.
The worse the ill that fate on noble souls
Inflicts, the more their firmness; and they arm
Their spirits with adamant to meet the blow.
_Hindu Drama._
185.
Opportunities lose not, for all delay is madness;
'Mid bitter sorrow patience show, for 'tis the key of gladness.
_Turkish._
186.
Man is the only animal with the powers of laughter, a privilege
which was not bestowed on him for nothing. Let us then laugh while
we may, no matter how broad the laugh may be, and despite of what
the poet says about "the loud laugh that speaks the vacant mind."
The mind should occasionally be vacant, as the land should sometimes
lie fallow, and for precisely the same reason.
_Egerton Smith._
187.
The man of affluence is not in fact more happy than the possessor of
a bare competency, unless, in addition to his wealth, the end of his
life be fortunate. We often see misery dwelling in the midst of
splendour, whilst real happiness is found in humbler stations.
_Herodotus._
188.
Love of money is the disease which renders us most pitiful and
grovelling, and love of pleasure is that which renders us most
despicable.
_Longinus._
189.
He who labours diligently need never despair. We can accomplish
every thing by diligence and labour.
_Menander._
190.
Lost money is bewailed with deeper sighs
Than friends, or kindred, and with louder cries.
_Juvenal._
191.
In one short verse I here express
The sum of tomes of sacred lore:
Beneficence is righteousness,
Oppression's sin's malignant core.
_Sanskrit._
192.
A wound inflicted by arrows heals, a wood cut down by an axe grows,
but harsh words are hateful--a wound inflicted by them does not
heal. Arrows of different sorts can be extracted from the body, but
a word-dart cannot be drawn out, for it is seated in the heart.
_Mahábhárata._
193.
To address a judicious remark to a thoughtless man is a mere
threshing of chaff.
_Hitopadesa._
194.
All the blessings of a household come through the wife, therefore
should her husband honour her.
_Talmud._
195.
Certain books seem to be written, not that we might learn from them,
but in order that we might see how much the author knows.
_Goethe._
196.
All that is old is not therefore necessarily excellent; all that is
new is not despicable on that account alone. Let what is really
meritorious be pronounced so by the candid judge after due
investigation; blockheads alone are influenced by the opinion of
others.
_Hindu Drama._
197.
One of the diseases of this age is the multitude of books. It is a
thriftless and a thankless occupation, this writing of books: a man
were better to sing in a cobbler's shop, for his pay is a penny a
patch; but a book-writer, if he get sometimes a few commendations
from the judicious, he shall be sure to reap a thousand reproaches
from the malicious.
_Barnaby Rich._
198.
We rather confess our moral errors, faults, and crimes than our
ignorance.
_Goethe._
199.
The angel grows up in divine knowledge, the brute, in savage
ignorance, and the son of man stands hesitating between the two.
_Persian._
200.
She is a wife who is notable in her house; she is a wife who beareth
children; she is a wife whose husband is as her life; she is a wife
who is obedient to her lord. The wife is half the man; a wife is
man's dearest friend; a wife is the source of his religion, his
worldly profit, and his love. He who hath a wife maketh offerings in
his house. Those who have wives are blest with good fortune. Wives
are friends, who, by their kind and gentle speech, soothe you in
your retirement. In your distresses they are as mothers, and they
are refreshment to those who are travellers in the rugged paths of
life.
_Mahábhárata._
201.
He that is ambitious of fame destroys it. He that increaseth not his
knowledge diminishes it. He that uses the crown of learning as an
instrument of gain will pass away.
_Talmud._
202.
While the slightest inconveniences of the great are magnified into
calamities, while tragedy mouths out their sufferings in all the
strains of eloquence, the miseries of the poor are entirely
disregarded; and yet some of the lower ranks of people undergo more
real hardships in one day than those of a more exalted station
suffer in their whole lives.
_Goldsmith._
203.
It is impossible for those who are engaged in low and grovelling
pursuits to entertain noble and generous sentiments. Their thoughts
must always necessarily be somewhat similar to their employments.
_Demosthenes._
204.
The interval is immense between corporeal qualifications and
sciences: the body in a moment is extinct, but knowledge endureth to
the end of time.
_Hitopadesa._
205.
If thou lackest knowledge, what hast thou then acquired? Hast thou
acquired knowledge, what else dost thou want?
_Talmud._
206.
Be modest and simple in your deportment, and treat with indifference
whatever lies between virtue and vice. Love the human race; obey
God.
_Marcus Aurelius._
207.
Bootless grief hurts a man's self, but patience makes a jest of an
injury.
_R. Chamberlain._
208.
Poverty without debt is independence.
_Arabic._
209.
Just as the track of birds that cleave the air
Is not discovered, nor yet the path of fish
That skim the water, so the course of those
Who do good actions is not always seen.
_Mahábhárata._
210.
He who has wealth has friends; he who has wealth has relations; he
who has wealth is a hero among the people; he who has wealth is even
a sage.
_Hitopadesa._
211.
Like a beautiful flower, full of colour but without scent, are the
fine but fruitless words of him who does not act accordingly.
_Dhammapada._
212.
When men are doubtful of the true state of things, their wishes lead
them to believe in what is most agreeable.
_Arrianus._
213.
Most men the good they have despise,
And blessings which they have not prize:
In winter, wish for summer's glow,
In summer, long for winter's snow.
_Sanskrit._
214.
The best conduct a man can adopt is that which gains him the esteem
of others without depriving him of his own.
_Talmud._
215.
Whoso associates with the wicked will be accused of following their
ways, though their principles may have made no impression upon him;
just as if a person were in the habit of frequenting a tavern, he
would not be supposed to go there for prayer, but to drink
intoxicating liquor.
_Sa'dí._
216.
The loss of a much-prized treasure is only half felt when we have
not regarded its tenure as secure.
_Goethe._
217.
The dull-hued turkey apes the gait
Of lordly peacock, richly plumed;
And thus the poetaster shows
When he would fain his verse recite.
_Hindu Poetess._
218.
Knowledge acquired by a man of low degree places him on a level with
a prince, as a small river attains the irremeable ocean; and his
fortune is then exalted.
_Hitopadesa._
219.
An evil-minded man is quick to see
His neighbour's faults, though small as mustard seed;
But when he turns his eyes towards his own,
Though large as _bilva_ fruit, he none descries.
_Mahábhárata._
220.
Two persons die remorseful: he who possessed and enjoyed not, and he
who knew but did not practise.
_Sa'dí._
221.
With regard to a secret divulged and kept concealed, there is an
excellent proverb, that the one is an arrow still in our possession,
the other is an arrow sent from the bow.
_Jámí._
222.
The thing we want eludes our grasp,
Some other thing is given; sometimes
Our wish is gained, and gifts unsought
Are ours; these all are God's own work.
_Hindu Poetess._
223.