Book of Wise Sayings
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.
_Mahabharata._
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 Khayyam._
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.
_Firdausi._
532.
Virtue beameth from a generous spirit as light from the moon, or as
brilliancy from Jupiter.
_Nizami._
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 Bruyere._
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.
_Mahabharata._
[29] Cf. Matt. VII, 14.
544.
Eschew that friend, if thou art wise, who consorts with thy enemies.
_Sa'di._
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'di._
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 Khayyam._
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 Bruyere._
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.
_Mahabharata._
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.