Book of Wise Sayings
_Chinese._
299.
The way to subject all things to thyself is to subject thyself to
reason; thou shalt govern many if reason govern thee. Wouldst thou
be a monarch of a little world, command thyself.
_Quarles._
300.
If our inward griefs were written on our brows, how many who are
envied now would be pitied. It would seem that they had their
deadliest foe in their own breast, and their whole happiness would
be reduced to mere seeming.
_Metastasio._
301.
There are many who talk on from ignorance rather than from
knowledge, and who find the former an inexhaustible fund of
conversation.
_Hazlitt._
302.
Whoever brings cheerfulness to his work, and is ever active, dashes
through the world's labours.
_Tieck._
303.
Grossness is not difficult to define: it is obtrusive and
objectionable pleasantry.
_Theophrastus._
304.
Do not consider any vice as trivial, and therefore practise it; do
not consider any virtue as unimportant, and therefore neglect it.
_Chinese._
305.
To bad as well as good, to all,
A generous man compassion shows;
On earth no mortal lives, he knows,
Who does not oft through weakness fall.
_Ramayana._
306.
The good extend their loving care
To men, however mean or vile;
E'en base Chandalas'[12] dwellings share
Th' impartial sunbeam's silver smile.
_Hitopadesa._
[12] Chandalas, or Pariahs, are the lowest, or of no caste.
307.
Let a man accept with confidence valuable knowledge even from a
person of low degree, good instruction regarding duty even from a
humble man, and a jewel of a wife even from an ignoble family.
_Manu._
308.
We cannot too soon convince ourselves how easily we may be dispensed
with in the world. What important personages we imagine ourselves to
be! We think that we alone are the life of the circle in which we
move; in our absence, we fancy that life, existence, breath will
come to a general pause, and, alas, the gap which we leave is
scarcely perceptible, so quickly is it filled again; nay, it is
often the place, if not of something better, at least for something
more agreeable.
_Goethe._
309.
The friendships formed between good and evil men differ. The
friendship of the good, at first faint like the morning light,
continually increases; the friendship of the evil at the very
beginning is like the light of midday, and dies away like the light
of evening.[13]
_Bhartrihari._
[13] In many parts of the East there is practically no
twilight.
310.
A hundred long leagues is no distance for him who would quench the
thirst of covetousness; but a contented mind has no solicitude for
grasping wealth.
_Hitopadesa._
311.
The noble-minded dedicate themselves to the promotion of the
happiness of others--even of those who injure them. True happiness
consists in making happy.
_Bharavi._
312.
A benefit given to the good is like characters engraven on a stone;
a benefit given to the evil is like a line drawn on water.
_Buddhist._
313.
The undertaking of a careless man succeeds not, though he use the
right expedients: a clever hunter, though well placed in ambush,
kills not his quarry if he falls asleep.
_Bharavi._
314.
All love, at first, like generous wine,
Ferments and frets until 'tis fine;
But when 'tis settled on the lee,
And from th' impurer matter free,
Becomes the richer still the older,
And proves the pleasanter the colder.
_Butler._
315.
Safe in thy breast close lock up thy intents,
For he that knows thy purpose best prevents.
_Randolph._
316.
Frugality should ever be practised, but not excessive parsimony.
_Hitopadesa._
317.
He who receives a favour must retain a recollection of it for all
time to come; but he who confers should at once forget it, if he is
not to show a sordid and ungenerous spirit. To remind a man of a
kindness conferred on him, and to talk of it, is little different
from a reproach.
_Demosthenes._
318.
Pride not thyself on thy religious works,
Give to the poor, but talk not of thy gifts:
By pride religious merit melts away,
The merit of thy alms, by ostentation.
_Manu._
319.
The empty beds of rivers fill again;
Trees leafless now renew their vernal bloom;
Returning moons their lustrous phase resume;
But man a second youth expects in vain.[14]
_Somadeva._
[14] Cf. Job, XIV, 7.
320.
Shall He to thee His aid refuse
Who clothes the swan in dazzling white,
Who robes in green the parrot bright,
The peacocks decks in rainbow hues?[15]
_Hitopadesa._
[15] Cf. Matt. VI, 25, 26.
321.
A bad man is as much pleased as a good man is distressed to speak
ill of others.
_Mahabharata._
322.
Every bird has its decoy, and every man is led and misled in his own
peculiar way.
_Goethe._
323.
There is such a grateful tickling in the mind of man in being
commended that even when we know the praises which are bestowed on
us are not our due, we are not angry with the author's insincerity.
_Feltham._
324.
Too much to lament a misery is the next way to draw on a remediless
mischief.
_R. Chamberlain._
325.
There is no remembrance which time doth not obliterate, nor pain
which death doth not put an end to.
_Cervantes._
326.
Look not mournfully into the Past. It comes not back again. Wisely
improve the Present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy
Future, without fear, and with a manly heart.
_Longfellow._
327.
Plans that are wise and prudent in themselves are rendered vain when
the execution of them is carried on negligently and with imprudence.
_Guicciardini._
328.
Every man stamps his value on himself. The price we challenge for
ourselves is given us. Man is made great or little by his own will.
_Schiller._
329.
Hath any wronged thee, be bravely revenged. Slight it, and the
work's begun; forgive it, and 'tis finished. He is below himself
that is not above an injury.
_Quarles._
330.
As gold is tried by the furnace, and the baser metal shown, so the
hollow-hearted friend is known by adversity.
_Metastasio._
331.
The rose does not bloom without thorns. True, but would that the
thorns did not outlive the rose.
_Richter._
332.
Truth from the mouth of an honest man and severity from a
good-natured man have a double effect.
_Hazlitt._
333.
Most virgins marry, just as nuns
The same thing the same way renounce;
Before they've wit to understand
The bold attempt, they take in hand;
Or, having stayed and lost their tides,
Are out of season grown for brides.
_Butler._
334.
The fountain of content must spring up in the mind, and he who has
so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing
anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless
efforts, and multiply the griefs which he purposes to remove.
_Johnson._
335.
In all things, to serve from the lowest station upwards is
necessary. To restrict yourself to a trade is best. For the narrow
mind, whatever he attempts is still a trade; for the higher, an art;
and the highest in doing one thing does all, or, to speak less
paradoxically, in the one thing which he does rightly he sees the
likeness of all that is done rightly.
_Goethe._
336.
Misanthropy ariseth from a man trusting another without having
sufficient knowledge of his character, and, thinking him to be
truthful, sincere, and honourable, finds a little afterwards that he
is wicked, faithless, and then he meets with another of the same
character. When a man experiences this often, and more particularly
from those whom he considered his most dear and best friends, at
last, having frequently made a slip, he hates the whole world, and
thinks that there is nothing sound at all in any of them.
_Plato._
337.
Pleasure, most often delusive, may be born of delusion. Pleasure,
herself a sorceress, may pitch her tents on enchanted ground. But
happiness (or, to use a more accurate and comprehensive term, solid
well-being) can be built on virtue alone, and must of necessity have
truth for its foundation.
_Coleridge._
338.
Entangled in a hundred worldly snares,
Self-seeking men, by ignorance deluded,
Strive by unrighteous means to pile up riches.
Then, in their self-complacency, they say,
"This acquisition I have made to-day,
That will I gain to-morrow, so much pelf
Is hoarded up already, so much more
Remains that I have yet to treasure up.
This enemy I have destroyed, him also,
And others in their turn, I will despatch.
I am a lord; I will enjoy myself;
I'm wealthy, noble, strong, successful, happy;
I'm absolutely perfect; no one else
In all the world can be compared to me.
Now will I offer up a sacrifice,
Give gifts with lavish hand, and be triumphant."
Such men, befooled by endless vain conceits,
Caught in the meshes of the world's illusion,
Immersed in sensuality, descend
Down to the foulest hell of unclean spirits.[16]
_Mahabharata._
[16] Cf. Luke, XII, 17-20; see also 291.
339.
There needs no other charm, nor conjuror,
To raise infernal spirits up, but Fear,
That makes men pull their horns in, like a snail,
That's both a prisoner to itself and jail;
Draws more fantastic shapes than in the grains
Of knotted wood, in some men's crazy brains,
When all the cocks they think they are, and bulls,
Are only in the insides of their skulls.
_Butler._
340.
He that rectifies a crooked stick bends it the contrary way, so must