Book of Wise Sayings Part 11

356.

Superst.i.tion is the religion of feeble minds; and they must be tolerated in an admixture of it in some trifling or enthusiastic shape or other; else you will deprive weak minds of a resource found necessary to the strongest.

Burke.

357.

Fair words without good deeds to a man in misery are like a saddle of gold clapped upon a galled horse.

Chamberlain.

358.

There is a rabble among the gentry as well as the commonalty; a sort of plebeian heads whose fancy moves with the same wheel as these men--in the same level with mechanics, though their fortunes do sometimes gild their infirmities and their purses compound for their follies.

Sir Thomas Browne.

359.

It is a common remark that men talk most who think least; just as frogs cease their quacking when a light is brought to the water-side.

Richter.

360.

Our time is like our money; when we change a guinea the s.h.i.+llings escape as things of small account; when we break a day by idleness in the morning, the rest of the hours lose their importance in our eyes.

Sir Walter Scott.

361.

Vociferation and calmness of character seldom meet in the same person.

Lavater.

362.

Wit and wisdom differ. Wit is upon the sudden turn, wisdom is in bringing about ends.

Selden.

363.

Real and solid happiness springs from moderation.

Goethe.

364.

In all the world there is no vice Less p.r.o.ne t'excess than avarice; It neither cares for food nor clothing: Nature's content with little, that with nothing.

Butler.

365.

Beside the streamlet seated, mark how life glides on: That sign, how swift each moment goes, to me's enough. Behold this world's delights, and view its various pains: If not to you, the joy it shows to me's enough.

Hafiz.

366.

The lake no longer water holds-- Off fly the fowls, the lilies stay: If friends are friends when wealth is gone, The lily's constancy they share.

Hindu Poetess.

367.

Let us be well persuaded that everyone of us possesses happiness in proportion to his virtue and wisdom, and according as he acts in obedience to their suggestion.

Aristotle.

368.

All property which comes to hand by means of violence, or infamy, or baseness, however large it may be, is tainted and unblest. On the other hand, whatever is obtained by honest profit, small though it be, brings a blessing with it.[17]

Akhlak-i-Jalali.

[17] See 44.

369.

We should know mankind better if we were not so anxious to resemble one another.

Goethe.

370.

Root out the love of self, as you might the autumn lotus with your hand.

Buddhist.

371.

Whoever has the seed of virtue and honour implanted in his breast will drop a sympathising tear on the woes of his neighbour.

Nakhshabi.

372.

Do naught to others which, if done to thee, would cause thee pain: this is the sum of duty.[18]

Mahabharata.

[18] Cf. Matt. VII, 12.

373.

A bad man, though raised to honour, always returns to his natural course, as a dog's tail, though warmed by the fire and rubbed with oil, retains its form.[19]

Hitopadesa.

[19] Cf. Arab proverb: "A dog's tail never can be made straight."

374.

The man who cannot blush, and who has no feelings of fear, has reached the acme of impudence.

Menander.

375.

It is the usual consolation of the envious, if they cannot maintain their superiority, to represent those by whom they are surpa.s.sed as inferior to some one else.

Plutarch.

376.

Such as the chain of causes we call Fate, such is the chain of wishes: one links on to another; the whole man is bound in the chain of wis.h.i.+ng for ever.

Seneca.

377.

I do remember stopping by the way, To watch a potter thumping his wet clay; And with its all-obliterated tongue It murmured, "Gently, brother, gently, pray!"

Omar Khayyam.

378.

If you only knew the evils which others suffer, you would willingly submit to those which you now bear.

Philemon.

379.

Children form a bond of union than which the human heart finds none more enduring.

Livy.

380.

The sweetest pleasures soonest cloy, And its best flavour temperance gives to joy.

Juvenal.

381.

To our own sorrows serious heed we give, But for another's we soon cease to grieve.

Pindar.

382.

Can anything be more absurd than that the nearer we are to our journey's end, we should lay in the more provision for it?

Cicero.

383.

Set about whatever you intend to do; the beginning is half the battle.

Ausonius.

384.

All smatterers are more brisk and pert Than those who understand an art; As little sparkles s.h.i.+ne more bright Than glowing coals that gave them light.

Butler.

385.

No prince, how great soever, begets his predecessors, and the n.o.blest rivers are not navigable to the fountain.

A. Marvell.

386.

The guilty man may escape, but he cannot be sure of doing so.

Epicurus.

387.

In everything you will find annoyances, but you ought to consider whether the advantages do not predominate.

Menander.

388.