possession in the world but their character, and yet they stand as
firmly upon it as any crowned king.--SAMUEL SMILES.
The man that makes a character makes foes.--YOUNG.
He's truly valiant that can wisely suffer
The worst that man can breathe;
And make his wrongs his outsides,
To wear them like his raiment, carelessly;
And ne'er prefer his injuries to his heart,
To bring it into danger.
--SHAKESPEARE.
Every man has three characters--that which he exhibits, that which he
has, and that which he thinks he has.--ALPHONSE KARR.
The best rules to form a young man are to talk little, to hear much,
to reflect alone upon what has passed in company, to distrust one's
own opinions, and value others that deserve it.--SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE.
Brains and character rule the world. The most distinguished Frenchman
of the last century said, "Men succeed less by their talents than
their character." There were scores of men a hundred years ago who had
more intellect than Washington. He outlives and overrides them all by
the influence of his character.--WENDELL PHILLIPS.
All men are like in their lower natures; it is in their higher
characters that they differ.--BOVEE.
You may depend upon it that he is a good man whose intimate friends
are all good.--LAVATER.
Give me the character and I will forecast the event. Character, it has
in substance been said, is "victory organized."--BOVEE.
A good character is in all cases the fruit of personal exertion. It is
not inherited from parents, it is not created by external advantages,
it is no necessary appendage of birth, wealth, talents, or station;
but it is the result of one's own endeavors.--HAWES.
Actions, looks, words, steps, form the alphabet by which you may spell
characters.--LAVATER.
CHARITY.--I have much more confidence in the charity which begins in
the home and diverges into a large humanity, than in the world-wide
philanthropy which begins at the outside of our horizon to converge
into egotism.--MRS. JAMESON.
To complain that life has no joys while there is a single creature
whom we can relieve by our bounty, assist by our counsels, or enliven
by our presence, is to lament the loss of that which we possess, and
is just as irrational as to die of thirst with the cup in our
hands.--FITZOSBORNE.
But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right
hand doeth.--MATTHEW 6:3.
The spirit of the world encloses four kinds of spirits, diametrically
opposed to charity--the spirit of resentment, spirit of aversion,
spirit of jealousy, and the spirit of indifference.--BOSSUET.
Posthumous charities are the very essence of selfishness, when
bequeathed by those who, when alive, would part with nothing.--COLTON.
The drying up a single tear has more
Of honest fame, than shedding seas of gore.
--BYRON.
Be charitable and indulgent to every one but yourself.--JOUBERT.
Almost all the virtues that can be named are enwrapt in one virtue of
charity and love:--for "it suffereth long," and so it is longanimity;
it "is kind," and so it is courtesy; it "vaunteth not itself," and so
it is modesty; it "is not puffed up," and so it is humility; it "is
not easily provoked," and so it is lenity; it "thinketh no evil," and
so it is simplicity; it "rejoiceth in the truth," and so it is verity;
it "beareth all things," and so it is fortitude; it "believeth all
things," and so it is faith; it "hopeth all things," and so it is
confidence; it "endureth all things," and so it is patience; it "never
faileth," and so it is perseverance.--CHILLINGWORTH.
As every lord giveth a certain livery to his servants, charity is the
very livery of Christ. Our Saviour, who is the Lord above all lords,
would have his servants known by their badge, which is love.--LATIMER.
You must have a genius for charity as well as for anything else.
--THOREAU.
Prayer carries us half way to God, fasting brings us to the door of
his palace, and alms-giving procures us admission.--KORAN.
Above all things have fervent charity among yourselves; for charity
shall cover the multitude of sins.--1 PETER 4:8.
It is an old saying, that charity begins at home; but this is no
reason it should not go abroad. A man should live with the world as a
citizen of the world; he may have a preference for the particular
quarter or square, or even alley, in which he lives, but he should
have a generous feeling for the welfare of the whole.--CUMBERLAND.
Alas for the rarity of Christian charity under the sun!--HOOD.
You cannot separate charity and religion.--COLTON.
Think not you are charitable if the love of Jesus and His brethren be
not purely the motive of your gifts. Alas! you might not give your
superfluities, but "bestow all your goods to feed the poor;" you might
even "give your body to be burned" for them, and yet be utterly
destitute of charity, if self-seeking, self-pleasing or self-ends
guide you; and guide you they must, until the love of God be by the
Holy Ghost shed abroad in your heart.--HAWEIS.
Whoever would entitle himself after death, through the merits of his
Redeemer, to the noblest of rewards, let him serve God throughout life
in this most excellent of all duties, doing good to our brethren.
Whoever is sensible of his offences, let him take this way especially
of evidencing his repentance.--ARCHBISHOP SECKER.
I have learned from Jesus Christ himself what charity is, and how we
ought to practise it; for He says, "By this shall all men know that ye
are my disciples, if ye love one another." Never can I, therefore,
please myself in the hope that I may obtain the name of a servant of
Christ, if I possess not a true and unfeigned charity within me.
--ST. BASIL.
There is a debt of mercy and pity, of charity and compassion, of
relief and succor due to human nature, and payable from one man to
another; and such as deny to pay it the distressed in the time of
their abundance may justly expect it will be denied themselves in a
time of want. "With what measure you mete it shall be measured to you
again."--BURKITT.
We should give as we would receive, cheerfully, quickly, and without
hesitation; for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the
fingers.--SENECA.
As the purse is emptied the heart is filled.--VICTOR HUGO.
Then gently scan your brother man,
Still gentler, sister woman;
Though they may gang a kennin' wrang,
To step aside is human.
--BURNS.
CHEERFULNESS.--Cheerfulness is full of significance: it suggests good
health, a clear conscience, and a soul at peace with all human
nature.--CHARLES KINGSLEY.
As in our lives so also in our studies, it is most becoming and most
wise, so to temper gravity with cheerfulness, that the former may not
imbue our minds with melancholy, nor the latter degenerate into
licentiousness.--PLINY.
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth
the bones.--PROVERBS 17:22.
Be of good cheer.--JOHN 16:33.
The mind that is cheerful in its present state, will be averse to all
solicitude as to the future, and will meet the bitter occurrences of
life with a placid smile.--HORACE.
An ounce of cheerfulness is worth a pound of sadness to serve God
with.--FULLER.
If good people would but make their goodness agreeable, and smile
instead of frowning in their virtue, how many would they win to the
good cause!--ARCHBISHOP USHER.
Between levity and cheerfulness there is a wide distinction; and the
mind which is most open to levity is frequently a stranger to
cheerfulness.--BLAIR.
You find yourself refreshed by the presence of cheerful people. Why
not make earnest effort to confer that pleasure on others? You will
find half the battle is gained if you never allow yourself to say
anything gloomy.--MRS. L.M. CHILD.
Inner sunshine warms not only the heart of the owner, but all who come
in contact with it.--J.T. FIELDS.
The way to cheerfulness is to keep our bodies in exercise and our
minds at ease.--STEELE.
Let us be of good cheer, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to
bear are those which never happen.--LOWELL.
A cheerful temper, joined with innocence, will make beauty attractive,
knowledge delightful and wit good-natured. It will lighten sickness,
poverty and affliction, convert ignorance into an amiable simplicity,
and render deformity itself agreeable.--ADDISON.
CHILDREN.--If I were to choose among all gifts and qualities that
which, on the whole, makes life pleasantest, I should select the love
of children. No circumstance can render this world wholly a solitude
to one who has this possession.--T.W. HIGGINSON.
I love these little people; and it is not a slight thing when they,
who are so fresh from God, love us.--DICKENS.
They are idols of hearts and of households;
They are angels of God in disguise;
His sunlight still sleeps in their tresses;
His glory still gleams in their eyes.
Oh those truants from home and from heaven,
They have made me more manly and mild,
And I know now how Jesus could liken
The kingdom of God to a child.
--DICKENS.
The child is father of the man.
--WORDSWORTH.
The smallest children are nearest to God, as the smallest planets are
nearest the sun.--RICHTER.
In trying to teach children a great deal in a short time, they are
treated not as though the race they were to run was for life, but
simply a three-mile heat.--HORACE MANN.
Childhood shows the man
As morning shows the day.
--MILTON.
Be very vigilant over thy child in the April of his understanding,
lest the frost of May nip his blossoms. While he is a tender twig,
straighten him; whilst he is a new vessel, season him; such as thou
makest him, such commonly shalt thou find him. Let his first lesson be
obedience, and his second shall be what thou wilt.--QUARLES.
A child is an angel dependent on man.--COUNT DE MAISTRE.
A child's eyes, those clear wells of undefiled thought--what on earth
can be more beautiful? Full of hope, love and curiosity, they meet
your own. In prayer, how earnest; in joy, how sparkling; in sympathy,
how tender! The man who never tried the companionship of a little
child has carelessly passed by one of the great pleasures of life, as
one passes a rare flower without plucking it or knowing its
value.--MRS. NORTON.
If a boy is not trained to endure and to bear trouble, he will grow up
a girl; and a boy that is a girl has all a girl's weakness without any
of her regal qualities. A woman made out of a woman is God's noblest
work; a woman made out of a man is his meanest.--BEECHER.
Children are the keys of Paradise.
* * * They alone are good and wise,
Because their thoughts, their very lives are prayer.
--STODDARD.
Blessed be the hand that prepares a pleasure for a child, for there
is no saying when and where it may bloom forth.--DOUGLAS JERROLD.
Many children, many cares; no children, no felicity.--BOVEE.
If there is anything that will endure
The eye of God because it still is pure,
It is the spirit of a little child,
Fresh from His hand, and therefore undefiled.
Nearer the gate of Paradise than we,
Our children breathe its airs, its angels see;
And when they pray, God hears their simple prayer,
Yea, even sheathes His sword, in judgment bare.
--STODDARD.
Every child walks into existence through the golden gate of love.
--BEECHER.
Of all sights which can soften and humanize the heart of man, there is
none that ought so surely to reach it as that of innocent children
enjoying the happiness which is their proper and natural
portion.--SOUTHEY.
Ah! what would the world be to us,
If the children were no more?
We should dread the desert behind us
Worse than the dark before.
--LONGFELLOW.
Jesus was the first great teacher of men who showed a genuine sympathy
for childhood. When He said, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven," it
was a revelation.--EDWARD EGGLESTON.
Where children are there is the golden age.--NOVALIS.
CHRIST.--The best of men that ever wore earth about him was a
sufferer, a soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit; the first
true gentleman that ever breathed.--DECKER.
All the glory and beauty of Christ are manifested within, and there
He delights to dwell; His visits there are frequent, His condescension
amazing, His conversation sweet, His comforts refreshing; and the
peace that He brings passeth all understanding.--THOMAS À KEMPIS.
From first to last Jesus is the same; always the same, majestic and
simple, infinitely severe and infinitely gentle.--NAPOLEON I.
He, the Holiest among the mighty, and the Mightiest among the holy,
has lifted with His pierced hands empires off their hinges, has turned
the stream of centuries out of its channel, and still governs the
ages.--RICHTER.
In His death He is a sacrifice, satisfying for our sins; in the
resurrection, a conqueror; in the ascension, a king; in the
intercession, a high priest.--LUTHER.
Jesus Christ was more than man.--NAPOLEON I.
The sages and heroes of history are receding from us, and history
contracts the record of their deeds into a narrower and narrower page.
But time has no power over the name and deeds and words of Jesus
Christ.--CHANNING.
Alexander, Cæsar, Charlemagne and I myself have founded empires; but
upon what do these creations of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus
alone founded His empire upon love; and to this very day millions
would die for Him.--NAPOLEON I.
If the life and death of Socrates were those of a sage, the life and
death of Jesus were those of a God.--ROUSSEAU.
Those who have minutely studied the character of the Saviour will find
it difficult to determine whether there is most to admire or to
imitate in it--there is so much of both.
CHRISTIANITY.--A Christian is God Almighty's gentleman.--HARE.
The real security of Christianity is to be found in its benevolent
morality, in its exquisite adaptation to the human heart, in the
facility with which its scheme accommodates itself to the capacity of
every human intellect, in the consolation which it bears to every
house of mourning, in the light with which it brightens the great
mystery of the grave.--MACAULAY.
It is the truth divine, speaking to our whole being: occupying,
calling into action, and satisfying man's every faculty, supplying the
minutest wants of his being, and speaking in one and the same moment
to his reason, his conscience and his heart. It is the light of
reason, the life of the heart, and the strength of the will.--PIERRE.
Since its introduction, human nature has made great progress, and
society experienced great changes; and in this advanced condition of
the world, Christianity, instead of losing its application and
importance, is found to be more and more congenial and adapted to
man's nature and wants. Men have outgrown the other institutions of
that period when Christianity appeared, its philosophy, its modes of
warfare, its policy, its public and private economy; but Christianity
has never shrunk as intellect has opened, but has always kept in
advance of men's faculties, and unfolded nobler views in proportion as
they have ascended. The highest powers and affections which our nature
has developed, find more than adequate objects in this religion.
Christianity is indeed peculiarly fitted to the more improved stages
of society, to the more delicate sensibilities of refined minds, and
especially to that dissatisfaction with the present state, which
always grows with the growth of our moral powers and affections.
--CHANNING.
It is a refiner as well as a purifier of the heart; it imparts
correctness of perception, delicacy of sentiment, and all those nicer
shades of thought and feeling which constitute elegance of mind.
--MRS. JOHN SANFORD.
I desire no other evidence of the truth of Christianity than the
Lord's Prayer.--MADAME DE STAEL.
Had it been published by a voice from heaven, that twelve poor men,
taken out of boats and creeks, without any help of learning, should
conquer the world to the cross, it might have been thought an illusion
against all reason of men; yet we know it was undertaken and
accomplished by them.--STEPHEN CHARNOCK.
A few persons of an odious and despised country could not have filled
the world with believers, had they not shown undoubted credentials
from the divine person who sent them on such a message.--ADDISON.
COMPANY.--Nature has left every man a capacity of being agreeable,
though not of shining in company; and there are a hundred men
sufficiently qualified for both who, by a very few faults, that they
might correct in half an hour, are not so much as tolerable.--SWIFT.
It is certain that either wise bearing or ignorant carriage is caught
as men take diseases one of another; therefore, let men take heed of
their company.--SHAKESPEARE.
The most agreeable of all companions is a simple, frank man, without
any high pretensions to an oppressive greatness; one who loves life,
and understands the use of it; obliging alike at all hours; above all,
of a golden temper and steadfast as an anchor. For such an one we
gladly exchange the greatest genius, the most brilliant wit, the
profoundest thinker.--LESSING.
No man can possibly improve in any company for which he has not
respect enough to be under some degree of restraint.--CHESTERFIELD.
A companion is but another self; wherefore it is an argument that a
man is wicked if he keep company with the wicked.--ST. CLEMENT.
Let them have ever so learned lectures of breeding, that which will
most influence their carriage will be the company they converse with,
and the fashion of those about them.--LOCKE.
CONCEIT.--Be not wise in your own conceits.--ROMANS 12:16.
Conceit is the most contemptible and one of the most odious qualities
in the world. It is vanity driven from all other shifts, and forced to
appeal to itself for admiration.--HAZLITT.
The certain way to be cheated is to fancy one's self more cunning than
others.--CHARRON.
Conceit is to nature what paint is to beauty; it is not only needless,
but impairs what it would improve.--POPE.
Be very slow to believe that you are wiser than all others; it is a
fatal but common error. Where one has been saved by a true estimation
of another's weakness, thousands have been destroyed by a false
appreciation of their own strength.--COLTON.
We go and fancy that everybody is thinking of us. But he is not; he is
like us--he is thinking of himself.--CHARLES READE.
Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool
than of him.--PROVERBS 26:12.
A man who is proud of small things shows that small things are great
to him.--MADAME DE GIRARDIN.
Self-made men are most always apt to be a little too proud of the
job.--H.W. SHAW.
Nature has sometimes made a fool, but a coxcomb is always of a man's
own making.--ADDISON.
He who gives himself airs of importance exhibits the credentials of
impotence.--LAVATER.
The more any one speaks of himself, the less he likes to hear another
talked of.--LAVATER.
CONDUCT.--I will govern my life, and my thoughts, as if the whole
world were to see the one, and to read the other; for what does it
signify to make anything a secret to my neighbor, when to God (who is
the searcher of our hearts) all our privacies are open?--SENECA.
The integrity of men is to be measured by their conduct, not by their
professions.--JUNIUS.
Have more than thou showest,
Speak less than thou knowest,
Lend less than thou owest,
Learn more than thou trowest,
Set less than thou throwest.
--SHAKESPEARE.
A man, like a watch, is to be valued for his manner of going.--WILLIAM
PENN.
I would, God knows, in a poor woodman's hut
Have spent my peaceful days, and shared my crust
With her who would have cheer'd me, rather far
Than on this throne; but being what I am,
I'll be it nobly.
--JOANNA BAILLIE.
Only add
Deeds to thy knowledge answerable, add faith,
Add virtue, patience, temperance, add love,
By name to come call'd charity, the soul
Of all the rest: then wilt thou not be loath
To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess
A Paradise within thee, happier far.
--MILTON.
Take heed lest passion sway
Thy judgment to do aught which else free-will
Would not admit.
--MILTON.
CONFIDENCE.--Whatever distrust we may have of the sincerity of those
who converse with us, we always believe they will tell us more truth
than they do to others.--LA ROCHEFOUCAULD.
Never put much confidence in such as put no confidence in others.--HARE.
When young, we trust ourselves too much, and we trust others too
little when old. Rashness is the error of youth, timid caution of age.
Manhood is the isthmus between the two extremes; the ripe and fertile
season of action, when alone we can hope to find the head to contrive,
united with the hand to execute.--COLTON.
He who believes in nobody knows that he himself is not to be trusted.
--AUERBACH.
Trust not him that hath once broken faith.--SHAKESPEARE.
People have generally three epochs in their confidence in man. In the
first they believe him to be everything that is good, and they are
lavish with their friendship and confidence. In the next, they have
had experience, which has smitten down their confidence, and they then
have to be careful not to mistrust every one, and to put the worst
construction upon everything. Later in life, they learn that the
greater number of men have much more good in them than bad, and that
even when there is cause to blame, there is more reason to pity than
condemn; and then a spirit of confidence again awakens within them.
--FREDRIKA BREMER.
Trust him little who praises all, him less who censures all, and him
least who is indifferent about all.--LAVATER.
CONSCIENCE.--Conscience is a clock which, in one man, strikes aloud
and gives warning; in another, the hand points silently to the figure,
but strikes not. Meantime, hours pass away, and death hastens, and
after death comes judgment.--JEREMY TAYLOR.
Oh! Conscience! Conscience! Man's most faithful friend,
Him canst thou comfort, ease, relieve, defend:
But if he will thy friendly checks forego,
Thou art, oh! wo for me, his deadliest foe!
--CRABBE.
In the commission of evil, fear no man so much as thyself; another is
but one witness against thee, thou art a thousand; another thou mayest
avoid, thyself thou canst not. Wickedness is its own punishment.
--QUARLES.
A good conscience is a continual Christmas.--FRANKLIN.
Be mine that silent calm repast,
A conscience cheerful to the last:
That tree which bears immortal fruit,
Without a canker at the root;
That friend which never fails the just,
When other friends desert their trust.
--DR. COTTON.
No man ever offended his own conscience, but first or last it was
revenged upon him for it.--SOUTH.
He that loses his conscience has nothing left that is worth keeping.
Therefore be sure you look to that, and in the next place look to your
health; and if you have it praise God and value it next to a good
conscience.--IZAAK WALTON.
Our secret thoughts are rarely heard except in secret. No man knows
what conscience is until he understands what solitude can teach him
concerning it.--JOSEPH COOK.
A man never outlives his conscience, and that, for this cause only,
he cannot outlive himself.--SOUTH.
Rules of society are nothing, one's conscience is the umpire.--MADAME
DUDEVANT.
A man, so to speak, who is not able to bow to his own conscience every
morning is hardly in a condition to respectfully salute the world at
any other time of the day.--DOUGLAS JERROLD.
In matters of conscience first thoughts are best; in matters of
prudence last thoughts are best--REV. ROBERT HALL.
A man's first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart;
his next, to escape the censures of the world. If the last interferes
with the former, it ought to be entirely neglected; but otherwise
there cannot be a greater satisfaction to an honest mind, than to see
those approbations which it gives itself seconded by the applause of
the public.--ADDISON.
Conscience raises its voice in the breast of every man, a witness for
his Creator.
We should have all our communications with men, as in the presence of
God; and with God, as in the presence of men.--COLTON.
I am more afraid of my own heart than of the pope and all his
cardinals. I have within me the great pope, self.--LUTHER.