Book of Wise Sayings
_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.
_Mahabharata._
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 Khayyam._
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'di._
181.
To the tongue which bringeth thee words without reason, the answer
that best beseemeth thee is--silence.
_Nizami._
182.
The man who talketh much and never acteth will not be held in
reputation by anyone.
_Firdausi._
183.
Two sources of success are known: wisdom and effort; make them both
thine own, if thou wouldst haply rise.
_Magha._
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.
_Mahabharata._
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.
_Mahabharata._
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.