Life and Literature Part 76

1051

KISSING--PROPRIETY OF.

Some say that kissing's a sin; But I think it's nane ava, For kissing has wonn'd[1051:A] in this warld Since ever that there was twa.

Oh! if it wasna lawfu', Lawyers wadna allow it; If it wasna holy, Ministers wadna do it; If it wasna modest, Maidens wadna tak' it; If it wasna plenty, Puir folk wadna get it.

--_Burns._

FOOTNOTES:

[1051:A] Won.

1052

Knowledge is a comfortable and necessary retreat and shelter for us in an advanced age; and if we do not plant it while young, it will give us no shade when we grow old.

1053

Ask the young people: they know everything!

1054

A Persian philosopher being asked by what method he had acquired so much knowledge, replied, "By not being prevented by shame from asking questions respecting things of which I was ignorant."

1055

Knowledge is not gained on a bed of roses.

1056

If you have knowledge let others light their candles at it.

--_Fuller._

1057

Men may acquire knowledge, but not wisdom. Some of the greatest fools the world has known have been learned men.

1058

I have never yet found a man who did not know something of which I was ignorant.

1059

If we do not plant it (knowledge) when young, it will give us no shade when we are old.

1060

Knowledge without practice is like a gla.s.s eye, all for show, and nothing for use.

1061

_Johnson_:--I remember very well when I was at Oxford, an old gentleman said to me,--"Young man, ply your book diligently now, and acquire a stock of knowledge; for when years come upon you, you will find that poring upon books will be but an irksome task."

--_Boswell's Johnson._

1062

The Earl of Morton said at John Knox's grave,-- "He lies there who never feared the face of man."

L

1063

LABOR.

The beauty and blessedness of labor are finely presented by John Greenleaf Whittier:--

Give fools their gold, and knaves their power; Let fortune's bubbles rise and fall; Who sows a field, or trains a flower, Or plants a tree, is more than all.

For he who blesses most is blest; And G.o.d and man shall own his worth Who toils to leave, as his bequest An added beauty to the earth.

1064

Genius begins great works; labor alone finishes them.

1065

The fruit derived from labor is the sweetest of all pleasures.

--_Vauvenargues._