friends, for by them thou shalt be judged what thou art. Let them
therefore be wise and virtuous, and none of those that follow thee
for gain; but make election rather of thy betters than thy
inferiors; shunning always such as are poor and needy, for if thou
givest twenty gifts and refuse to do the like but once, all that
thou hast done will be lost, and such men will become thy mortal
enemies.
_Sir W. Raleigh, to his Son._
479.
Learning is like Scanderbeg's sword, either good or bad according to
him who hath it: an excellent weapon, if well used; otherwise, like
a sharp razor in the hand of a child.
_R. Chamberlain._
480.
The greater part of mankind employ their first years to make their
last miserable.
_La Bruyère._
481.
I hate the miser, whose unsocial breast
Locks from the world his useless stores.
Wealth by the bounteous only is enjoyed,
Whose treasures, in diffusive good employed,
The rich return of fame and friends procure,
And 'gainst a sad reverse a safe retreat secure.
_Pindar._
482.
Wisdom alone is the true and unalloyed coin for which we ought to
exchange all things, for this and with this everything is bought and
sold--fortitude, temperance, and justice; in a word, true virtue
subsists with wisdom.
_Plato._
483.
If thou intendest to do a good act, do it quickly, and then thou
wilt excite gratitude; a favour if it be slow in being conferred
causes ingratitude.
_Ausonius._
484.
'Tis those who reverence the old
That are the men versed in the Faith;
Worthy of praise while in this life,
And happy in the life to come.
_Buddhist._
485.
Low-minded men are occupied solely with their own affairs, but
noble-minded men take special interest in the affairs of others. The
submarine fire drinks up the ocean, to fill its insatiable interior;
the rain-cloud, that it may relieve the drought of the earth, burnt
up by the hot season.
_Bhartrihari._
486.
Those men are wise who do not desire the unattainable, who do not
love to mourn over what is lost, and are not overwhelmed by
calamities.
_Mahábhárata._
487.
Let him take heart who does advance, even in the smallest degree.
_Plato._
488.
A truly great man never puts away the simplicity of a child.[27]
_Chinese._
[27] Cf. Pope, in his Epitaph on the poet Gay:
Of manners gentle, of affections mild;
In wit a man, simplicity, a child.
489.
If thou desirest ease in this life, keep thy secrets undisclosed,
like the modest rosebud. Take warning from that lovely flower,
which, by expanding its hitherto hidden beauties when in full bloom,
gives its leaves and its happiness to the winds.
_Persian._
490.
A husband is the chief ornament of a wife, though she have no other
ornament; but, though adorned, without a husband she has no
ornaments.
_Hitopadesa._
491.
He who has more learning than goodness is like a tree with many
branches and few roots, which the first wind throws down; whilst he
whose works are greater than his knowledge is like a tree with many
roots and fewer branches, which all the winds of heaven cannot
uproot.
_Talmud._
492.
He that would build lastingly must lay his foundation low. The proud
man, like the early shoots of a new-felled coppice, thrusts out full
of sap, green in leaves, and fresh in colour, but bruises and breaks
with every wind, is nipped with every little cold, and, being
top-heavy, is wholly unfit for use. Whereas the humble man retains
it in the root, can abide the winter's killing blast, the ruffling
concussions of the wind, and can endure far more than that which
appears so flourishing.
_Feltham._
493.
The man who has not anything to boast of but his illustrious
ancestors is like a potato--the only good belonging to him is
underground.
_Sir Thos. Overbury._
494.
When men will not be reasoned out of a vanity, they must be
ridiculed out of it.
_L'Estrange._
495.
Women are ever in extremes, they are either better or worse than
men.
_La Bruyère._
496.
An absent friend gives us friendly company when we are well assured
of his happiness.
_Goethe._
497.
The man of worth is really great without being proud; the mean man
is proud without being really great.
_Chinese._
498.
Liberality consists less in giving much than in giving at the right
moment.
_La Bruyère._
499.
Outward perfection without inward goodness sets but the blacker dye
on the mind's deformity.
_R. Chamberlain._
500.
As a solid rock is not shaken by the wind, so wise men falter not
amidst blame or praise.
_Dhammapada._
501.
Of what avail is the praise or censure of the vulgar, who make a
useless noise like a senseless crow in a forest?
_Mahábhárata._
502.
Hark! here the sound of lute so sweet,
And there the voice of wailing loud;
Here scholars grave in conclave meet,
There howls the brawling drunken crowd;
Here, charming maidens full of glee,
There, tottering, withered dames we see.
Such light! Such shade! I cannot tell,
If here we live in heaven or hell.
_Bhartrihari._
503.
The every-day cares and duties which men call drudgery are the
weights and counterpoises of the clock of Time, giving its pendulum
a true vibration, and its hands a regular motion; and when they
cease to hang upon the wheels, the pendulum no longer sways, the
hands no longer move, the clock stands still.
_Longfellow._
504.
A man of little learning deems that little a great deal; a frog,
never having seen the ocean, considers its well a great sea.
_Burmese._
505.
Trust not thy secret to a confidant, for he too will have his
associates and friends; and it will spread abroad through the whole
city, and men will call thee weak-headed.
_Firdausí._
506.
Labour like a man, and be ready in doing kindnesses. He is a
good-for-nothing fellow who eateth by the toil of another's hand.
_Sa'dí._[28]
[28] See also 429, 453.
507.
Let every man sweep the snow from before his own doors, and not busy
himself about the frost on his neighbour's tiles.
_Chinese._
508.
With knowledge, say, what other wealth
Can vie, which neither thieves by stealth
Can take, nor kinsmen make their prey,
Which, lavished, never wastes away.
_Sanskrit._
509.
Women's wealth is beauty, learning, that of men.
_Burmese._
510.
Prosperity attends the lion-hearted man who exerts himself, while we
say, destiny will ensure it. Laying aside destiny, show manly
fortitude by thy own strength: if thou endeavour, and thy endeavours
fail of success, what crime is there in failing?
_Hitopadesa._
511.
Spare not, nor spend too much, be this thy care,
Spare but to spend, and only spend to spare.
Who spends too much may want, and so complain;
But he spends best that spares to spend again.
_Randolph._
512.
Everything that is acknowledges the blessing of existence. Shalt not
thou, by a similar acknowledgment, be happy? If thou pay due
attention to sounds, thou shalt hear the praise of the Creator
celebrated by the whole creation.
_Nakhshabí._
513.
The attribute most noble of the hand
Is readiness in giving; of the head,
Bending before a teacher; of the mouth,
Veracious speaking; of a victor's arms,
Undaunted valour; of the inner heart,
Pureness the most unsullied; of the ears,
Delight in hearing and receiving truth--These
are adornments of high-minded men,
Better than all the majesty of Empire.
_Bhartrihari._
514.
The mere reality of life would be inconceivably poor without the
charm of fancy, which brings in its bosom as many vain fears as idle
hopes, but lends much oftener to the illusions it calls up a gay
flattering hue than one which inspires terror.
_Von Humboldt._
515.
Stupidity has its sublime as well as genius, and he who carries that
quality to absurdity has reached it, which is always a source of
pleasure to sensible people.
_Wieland._
516.
It is curious to note the old sea-margins of human thought. Each
subsiding century reveals some new mystery; we build where monsters
used to hide themselves.
_Longfellow._
517.
Women never reason and therefore they are, comparatively, seldom
wrong. They judge instinctively of what falls under their immediate
observation or experience, and do not trouble themselves about
remote or doubtful consequences. If they make no profound
discoveries, they do not involve themselves in gross absurdities. It
is only by the help of reason and logical inference, according to
Hobbes, that "man becomes excellently wise or excellently foolish."
_Hazlitt._
518.
Reprove not in their wrath incensèd men,
Good counsel comes clean out of season then;
But when his fury is appeased and past,
He will conceive his fault and mend at last:
When he is cool and calm, then utter it;
No man gives physic in the midst o' th' fit.
_Randolph._
519.
It is not flesh and blood, it is the heart, that makes fathers and
sons.
_Schiller._
520.
Discontent is like ink poured into water, which fills the whole
fountain full of blackness. It casts a cloud over the mind, and
renders it more occupied about the evil which disquiets it than
about the means of removing it.
_Feltham._
521.
We are accustomed to see men deride what they do not understand, and
snarl at the good and beautiful because it lies beyond their
sympathies.
_Goethe._
522.
A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but
sets off every talent which a man can be possessed of. It heightens
all the virtues which it accompanies; like the shades of paintings,
it raises and rounds every figure, and makes the colours more
beautiful, though not so glowing as they would be without it.
_Addison._
523.
Happy the man who lives at home, making it his business to regulate
his desires.
_La Fontaine._
524.
It is true that men are no fit judges of themselves, because
commonly they are partial to their own cause; yet it is as true that
he who will dispose himself to judge indifferently of himself can do
it better than any body else, because a man can see farther into his
own mind and heart than any one else can.
_Harrington._
525.
Envy is a vice that would pose a man to tell what it should be liked
for. Other vices we assume for that we falsely suppose they bring us
either pleasure, profit, or honour. But in envy who is it can find
any of these? Instead of pleasure, we vex and gall ourselves. Like
cankered brass, it only eats itself, nay, discolours and renders it
noisome. When some one told Agis that those of his neighbour's
family did envy him, "Why, then," says he, "they have a double
vexation--one, with their own evil, the other, at my prosperity."
_Feltham._
526.
The most silent people are generally those who think most highly of
themselves. They fancy themselves superior to every one else, and,
not being sure of making good their secret pretensions, decline
entering the lists altogether. Thus they "lay the flattering unction
to their souls" that they could have said better things than others,
or that the conversation was beneath them.
_Hazlitt._
527.
It is commonly a dangerous thing for a man to have more sense than
his neighbours. Socrates paid for his superiority with his life; and
if Aristotle saved his skin, accused as he was of heresy by the
chief priest Eurymedon, it was because he took to his heels in time.
_Wieland._
528.
Flattery may be considered as a mode of companionship, degrading but
profitable to him who flatters.
_Theophrastus._
529.
Rich presents, though profusely given, Are not so dear to righteous
Heaven As gifts by honest gains supplied, Though small, which faith
hath sanctified.
_Mahábhárata._
530.
To-day is thine to spend, but not to-morrow;
Counting on morrows breedeth bankrupt sorrow:
O squander not this breath that Heaven hath lent thee;
Make not too sure another breath to borrow.
_Omar Khayyám._
531.
Leave not the business of to-day to be done to-morrow; for who
knoweth what may be thy condition to-morrow? The rose-garden, which
to-day is full of flowers, when to-morrow thou wouldst pluck a rose,
may not afford thee one.
_Firdausí._
532.
Virtue beameth from a generous spirit as light from the moon, or as
brilliancy from Jupiter.
_Nizámí._
533.
The worth of a horse is known by its speed, the value of oxen by
their carrying power, the worth of a cow by its milk-giving
capacity, and that of a wise man by his speech.
_Burmese._
534.
Men of genius are often dull and inert in society, as the blazing
meteor when it descends to earth is only a stone.
_Longfellow._
535.
If a man die young he hath left us at dinner; it is bed-time with a
man of three score and ten; and he that lives a hundred years hath
walked a mile after supper. This life is but one day of three meals,
or one meal of three courses--childhood, youth, and old age. To sup
well is to live well, and that's the way to sleep well.
_Overbury._
536.
There is nothing keeps longer than a middling fortune, and nothing
melts away sooner than a great one. Poverty treads upon the heels of
great and unexpected riches.
_La Bruyère._
537.
Society is a more level surface than we imagine. Wise men or
absolute fools are hard to be met with, as there are few giants or
dwarfs. The heaviest charge we can bring against the general texture
of society is that it is commonplace. Our fancied superiority to
others is in some one thing which we think most of because we excel
in it, or have paid most attention to it; whilst we overlook their
superiority to us in something else which they set equal and
exclusive store by.
_Hazlitt._
538.
It is resignation and contentment that are best calculated to lead
us safely through life. Whoever has not sufficient power to endure
privations, and even suffering, can never feel that he is
armour-proof against painful emotions; nay, he must attribute to
himself, or at least to the morbid sensitiveness of his nature,
every disagreeable feeling he may suffer.
_Von Humboldt._
539.
Petrarch observes, that we change language, habits, laws, customs,
manners, but not vices, not diseases, not the symptoms of folly and
madness--they are still the same. And as a river, we see, keeps the
like name and place, but not water, and yet ever runs, our times and
persons alter, vices are the same, and ever be. Look how
nightingales sang of old, cocks crowed, kine lowed, sheep bleated,
sparrows chirped, dogs barked, so they do still: we keep our madness
still, play the fool still; we are of the same humours and
inclinations as our predecessors were; you shall find us all alike,
much as one, we and our sons, and so shall our posterity continue to
the last.
_Burton._
540.
The mother of the useful arts is necessity, that of the fine arts is
luxury; for father the former have intellect, the latter, genius,
which itself is a kind of luxury.
_Schopenhauer._
541.
The fool who knows his foolishness is wise so far, at least; but a
fool who thinks himself wise, he is called a fool indeed.
_Dhammapada._
542.
He who mixes with unclean things becomes unclean himself; he whose
associations are pure becomes purer each day.
_Talmud._
543.
Heaven's gate is narrow and minute,[29]
It cannot be perceived by foolish men,
Blinded by vain illusions of the world.
E'en the clear-sighted, who discern the way
And seek to enter, find the portal barred
And hard to be unlocked. Its massive bolts
Are pride and passion, avarice and lust.
_Mahábhárata._
[29] Cf. Matt. VII, 14.
544.
Eschew that friend, if thou art wise, who consorts with thy enemies.
_Sa'dí._
545.
Who can tell
Men's hearts? The purest comprehend
Such contradictions, and can blend
The force to bear, the power to feel,
The tender bud, the tempered steel.
_Hindu Drama._
546.
Whosoever hath not knowledge, and benevolence, and piety knoweth
nothing of reality, and dwelleth only in semblance.
_Sa'dí._
547.
If thou shouldst find thy friend in the wrong reprove him secretly,
but in the presence of company praise him.
_Arabic._
548.
Modesty is attended with profit, arrogance brings on destruction.
_Chinese._
549.
The greatest hatred, like the greatest virtue and the worst dogs, is
quiet.
_Richter._
550.
Is a preface exquisitely written? No literary morsel is more
delicious. Is the author inveterately dull? It is a kind of
preparatory information, which may be very useful. It argues a
deficiency of taste to turn over an elaborate preface unread: for it
is the attar of the author's roses, every drop distilled at an
immense cost. It is the reason of the reasoning, and the folly of
the foolish.
_Isaac D'Israeli._
551.
Vulgar prejudices are those which arise out of accident, ignorance,
or authority; natural prejudices are those which arise out of the
constitution of the human mind itself.
_Hazlitt._
552.
Lament not Fortune's mutability,
And seize her fickle favours ere they flee;
If others never mourned departed bliss,
How should a turn of Fortune come to thee?
_Omar Khayyám._
553.
Harsh reproof is like a violent storm, soon washed down the channel;
but friendly admonitions, like a small shower, pierce deep, and
bring forth better reformation.
_R. Chamberlain._
554.
There are braying men in the world as well as braying asses; for
what's loud and senseless talking, huffing, and swearing any other
than a more fashionable way of braying?
_L'Estrange._
555.
All wit and fancy, like a diamond,
The more exact and curious 'tis ground,
Is forced for every carat to abate
As much of value as it wants in weight.
_Butler._
556.
Listen, if you would learn; be silent, if you would be safe.
_Arabic._
557.
All such distinctions as tend to set the orders of the state at a
distance from each other are equally subversive of liberty and
concord.
_Livy._
558.
No man is the wiser for his learning. It may administer matter to
work in, or objects to work upon, but wit and wisdom are born with a
man.
_Selden._
559.
Those who are guided by reason are generally successful in their
plans; those who are rash and precipitate seldom enjoy the favour of
the gods.
_Herodotus._
560.
Whosoever lends a greedy ear to a slanderous report is either
himself of a radically bad disposition or a mere child in sense.
_Menander._
561.
A foolish man in wealth and authority is like a weak-timbered house
with a too-ponderous roof.
_R. Chamberlain._
562.
A lively blockhead in company is a public benefit. Silence or
dulness by the side of folly looks like wisdom.
_Hazlitt._
563.
Eminent positions make eminent men greater and little men less.
_La Bruyère._
564.
Scratch yourself with your own nails; always do your own business,
and when you intend asking for a service, go to a person who can
appreciate your merit.
_Arabic._
565.
The beauty of some women has days and seasons, depending upon
accidents which diminish or increase it; nay, the very passions of
the mind naturally improve or impair it, and very often utterly
destroy it.
_Cervantes._
566.
No joy in nature is so sublimely affecting as the joy of a mother at
the good fortune of a child.
_Richter._
567.
Want and sorrow are the gifts which folly earns for itself.
_Schubert._
568.
In character, in manners, in style, in all things, the supreme
excellence is simplicity.
_Longfellow._
569.
Those who cause dissensions in order to injure other people are
preparing pitfalls for their own ruin.
_Chinese._
570.
Such deeds as thou with fear and grief
Wouldst, on a sick-bed laid, recall,
In youth and health eschew them all,
Remembering life is frail and brief.
_Mahábhárata._
571.
A man should not keep company with one whose character, family, and
abode are unknown.
_Panchatantra._
572.
Sit not down to the table before thy stomach is empty, and rise
before thou hast filled it.
_Arabic._
573.
If thou be rich, strive to command thy money, lest it command thee.
_Quarles._
574.
In all companies there are more fools than wise men, and the greater
part always gets the better of the wiser.
_Rabelais._
575.
Talents are best nurtured in solitude; character is best formed in
the stormy billows of the world.
_Goethe._
576.
No one ought to despond in adverse circumstances, for they may turn
out to be the cause of good to us.[30]
_Menander._
[30] Cf. Job V, 17; Heb. XII, 6.
577.
The constant man loses not his virtue in misfortune. A torch may
point towards the ground, but its flame will still point upwards.
_Bhartrihari._
578.
A man should never despise himself, for brilliant success never
attends on the man who is contemned by himself.
_Mahábhárata._
579.
It is the character of a simpleton to be a bore. A man of sense sees
at once whether he is welcome or tiresome; he knows to withdraw the
moment that precedes that in which he would be in the least in the
way.
_La Bruyère._
580.
The man of first rate excellence is virtuous in spite of
instruction; he of the middle class is so after instruction; the
lowest order of men are vicious in spite of instruction.
_Chinese._
581.
Not to attend at the door of the wealthy, and not to use the voice
of petition--these constitute the best life of a man.
_Hitopadesa._
582.
What a man can do and suffer is unknown to himself till some
occasion presents itself which draws out the hidden power. Just as
one sees not in the water of an unruffled pond the fury and roar
with which it can dash down a steep rock without injury to itself,
or how high it is capable of rising; or as little as one can suspect
the latent heat in ice-cold water.
_Schopenhauer._
583.
Comprehensive talkers are apt to be tiresome when we are not athirst
for information; but, to be quite fair, we must admit that superior
reticence is a good deal due to lack of matter. Speech is often
barren, but silence also does not necessarily brood over a full
nest. Your still fowl, blinking at you without remark, may all the
while be sitting on one addled nest-egg; and, when it takes to
cackling, will have nothing to announce but that addled delusion.
_George Eliot._
584.
The sage who engages in controversy with ignorant people must not
expect to be treated with honour; and if a fool should overpower a
philosopher by his loquacity it is not to be wondered at, for a
common stone will break a jewel.
_Sa'dí._
585.
Success is like a lovely woman, wooed by many men, but folded in the
arms of him alone who, free from over-zeal, firmly persists and
calmly perseveres.
_Bháravi._
586.
A feverish display of over-zeal,
At the first outset, is an obstacle
To all success; water, however cold,
Will penetrate the ground by slow degrees.
_Hitopadesa._
587.
Treat no one with disdain; with patience bear
Reviling language; with an angry man
Be never angry; blessings give for curses.[31]
_Manu._
[31] Cf. Matt. V, II, 44.
588.
E'en as a traveller, meeting with the shade
Of some o'erhanging tree, awhile reposes,
Then leaves its shelter to pursue his way,
So men meet friends, then part with them for ever.
_Hitopadesa._
589.
Single is every living creature born,
Single he passes to another world,
Single he eats the fruit of evil deeds,
Single, the fruit of good; and when he leaves
His body, like a log or heap of clay,
Upon the ground, his kinsmen walk away:
Virtue alone stays by him at the tomb,
And bears him through the dreary, trackless gloom.
_Manu._
INDEX.
Abilities, 17.
Absent friend, 496.
Abuse of the great, 398.
Actions to be avoided, 570.
Actor, man an, 37.
Admonition, friendly, 553.
Advance step by step, 131.
Adversity, 8, 30, 57, 78, 175, 184, 185, 330, 366, 393, 477,
576, 577.
Advice, 82, 172, 193, 443.
Affectation, 87.
Age should be indulgent, 464.
Age, reverence for, 484.
Agreeableness, 258, 296.
Alms-giving, pride in, 318.
Ambition, petty, 165.
Amusements necessary, 111.
Ancestry, boast of, 239, 240, 385, 395, 493.
Angel, brute, man, 199.
Anger, 117, 119, 130.
Angry man, 518, 587.
Annoyances, 387.
Anxiety, needless, 298.
Apparel, 418.
Arrogance, 267.
Arts, mothers of the, 540.
Associates to be avoided, 571.
Associates, wicked, 215.
Associations, 542.
Attributes of hand, head, etc., 513.
Authority, 151, 452, 561.
Avarice, 38, 310, 364, 382, 481.
Bad men, 15, 351.
Beauty, 100, 179, 295, 565.
Beginning, etc., 383.
Behaviour, 430.
Beloved, best, 406.
Beneficence, 4, 5, 191, 485.
Benefits, 312, 345.
"Bless those that curse you," 587.
Blockhead in fine clothes, 465.
Blockhead, lively, 562.
Boastfulness, 248.
Bodily and mental qualities, 204.
Body, the soul's tent, 272.
Books, 96, 195, 196, 197, 252, 283, 550.
Bores, 579.
Borrowing, 429.
Braying men, 554.
Business, do your own, 564.
Calmness, 361.
Capacities of men, 32.
Caution in changing, 131.
Character, portraying, 160.
Character, test of men, 109.
Charity, 94.
Cheerfulness, 302, 391.