Many Thoughts of Many Minds Part 23

Perhaps propriety is as near a word as any to denote the manners of the gentleman; elegance is necessary to the fine gentleman; dignity is proper to n.o.blemen; and majesty to kings.--HAZLITT.

He is gentle that doth gentle deeds.

Gentleman is a term which does not apply to any station, but to the mind and the feelings in every station.--TALFOURD.

Of the offspring of the gentilman Jafeth, came Habraham, Moyses, Aron and the profettys; and also the kyng of the right line of Mary, of whom that gentilman Jhesus was borne.--JULIANA BERNERS.

GENTLENESS.--True gentleness is founded on a sense of what we owe to Him who made us, and to the common nature which we all share. It arises from reflection on our own failings and wants, and from just views of the condition and the duty of man. It is native feeling heightened and improved by principle.--BLAIR.

We do not believe, or we forget, that "the Holy Ghost came down, not in shape of a vulture, but in the form of a dove."--EMERSON.

Gentleness in the gait is what simplicity is in the dress. Violent gestures or quick movements inspire involuntary disrespect.--BALZAC.

The best and simplest cosmetic for women is constant gentleness and sympathy for the n.o.blest interests of her fellow-creatures. This preserves and gives to her features an indelibly gay, fresh, and agreeable expression. If women would but realize that harshness makes them ugly, it would prove the best means of conversion.--AUERBACH.

Gentleness, which belongs to virtue, is to be carefully distinguished from the mean spirit of cowards and the fawning a.s.sent of sycophants.

--BLAIR.

GIFTS.--Posthumous charities are the very essence of selfishness, when bequeathed by those who, when alive, would part with nothing.--COLTON.

Give freely to him that deserveth well, and asketh nothing: and that is a way of giving to thyself.--FULLER.

The gift, to be true, must be the flowing of the giver unto me, correspondent to my flowing unto him.--EMERSON.

The only gift is a portion of thyself. * * * Therefore the poet brings his poem; the shepherd, his lamb; the farmer, corn; the miner, a gem; the sailor, coral and sh.e.l.ls; the painter, his picture; the girl, a handkerchief of her own sewing.--EMERSON.

A gift--its kind, its value and appearance; the silence or the pomp that attends it; the style in which it reaches you--may decide the dignity or vulgarity of the giver.--LAVATER.

G.o.d's love gives in such a way that it flows from a Father's heart, the well-spring of all good. The heart of the giver makes the gift dear and precious; as among ourselves we say of even a trifling gift, "It comes from a hand we love," and look not so much at the gift as at the heart.--LUTHER.

There is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers.--SENECA.

GLORY.--Real glory springs from the quiet conquest of ourselves; and without that the conqueror is nought but the first slave.--THOMSON.

Wood burns because it has the proper stuff for that purpose in it; and a man becomes renowned because he has the necessary stuff in him.

Renown is not to be sought, and all pursuit of it is vain. A person may, indeed, by skillful conduct and various artificial means, make a sort of name for himself; but if the inner jewel is wanting, all is vanity, and will not last a day.--GOETHE.

The road to glory would cease to be arduous if it were trite and trodden; and great minds must be ready not only to take opportunities but to make them.--COLTON.

True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written, in writing what deserves to be read, and in so living as to make the world happier and better for our living in it.--PLINY.

Glory relaxes often and debilitates the mind; censure stimulates and contracts,--both to an extreme. Simple fame is, perhaps, the proper medium.--SHENSTONE.

GLUTTONY.--Gluttony is the source of all our infirmities, and the fountain of all our diseases. As a lamp is choked by a superabundance of oil, a fire extinguished by excess of fuel, so is the natural health of the body destroyed by intemperate diet.--BURTON.

I have come to the conclusion that mankind consume twice too much food.--SYDNEY SMITH.

Fat paunches have lean pates; and dainty bits Make rich the ribs, but bankrupt quite the wits.

--SHAKESPEARE.

The pleasures of the palate deal with us like Egyptian thieves who strangle those whom they embrace.--SENECA.

When I behold a fas.h.i.+onable table set out in all its magnificence, I fancy that I see gouts and dropsies, fevers and lethargies, with other innumerable distempers lying in ambuscade among the dishes. Nature delights in the most plain and simple diet. Every animal but man keeps to one dish. Herbs are the food of this species, fish of that, and flesh of a third. Man falls upon everything that comes in his way; not the smallest fruit or excrescence of the earth, scarce a berry or a mushroom can escape him.--ADDISON.

G.o.d.--In all thy actions think G.o.d sees thee; and in all His actions labor to see Him; that will make thee fear Him; this will move thee to love Him; the fear of G.o.d is the beginning of knowledge, and the knowledge of G.o.d is the perfection of love.--QUARLES.

G.o.d should be the object of all our desires, the end of all our actions, the principle of all our affections, and the governing power of our whole souls.--Ma.s.sILLON.

G.o.d governs the world, and we have only to do our duty wisely, and leave the issue to Him.--JOHN JAY.

They that deny a G.o.d destroy man's n.o.bility; for certainly man is like the beasts in his body; and if he is not like G.o.d in his spirit, he is an ign.o.ble creature.--BACON.

G.o.d is all love; it is He who made everything, and He loves everything that He has made.--HENRY BROOKE.

How calmly may we commit ourselves to the hands of Him who bears up the world,--of Him who has created, and who provides for the joys even of insects, as carefully as if He were their father.--RICHTER.

I fear G.o.d, and next to G.o.d, I chiefly fear him who fears Him not.

--SAADI.

A foe to G.o.d was never true friend to man.--YOUNG.

G.o.d moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm.

--COWPER.

There never was a man of solid understanding, whose apprehensions are sober, and by a pensive inspection advised, but that he hath found by an irresistible necessity one true G.o.d and everlasting being.--SIR WALTER RALEIGH.

Who guides below, and rules above, The great disposer, and the mighty king; Than He none greater, next Him none, That can be, is, or was.

--HORACE.

Thou art, O G.o.d, the life and light Of all this wondrous world we see; Its glow by day, its smile by night, Are but reflections caught from Thee!

Where'er we turn thy glories s.h.i.+ne, And all things fair and bright are thine!

--MOORE.

From G.o.d derived, to G.o.d by nature join'd.

We act the dictates of His mighty mind: And though the priests are mute and temples still, G.o.d never wants a voice to speak His will.

--ROWE.

The very impossibility in which I find myself to prove that G.o.d is not, discovers to me His existence.--BRUYeRE.

We find in G.o.d all the excellences of light, truth, wisdom, greatness, goodness and life. Light gives joy and gladness; truth gives satisfaction; wisdom gives learning and instruction; greatness excites admiration; goodness produces love and grat.i.tude; life gives immortality and insures enjoyment.--JONES OF NAYLAND.

We have a friend and protector, from whom, if we do not ourselves depart from Him, nor power nor spirit can separate us. In His strength let us proceed on our journey, through the storms, and troubles, and dangers of the world. However they may rage and swell, though the mountains shake at the tempests, our rock will not be moved: we have one friend who will never forsake us; one refuge, where we may rest in peace and stand in our lot at the end of the days. That same is He who liveth, and was dead; who is alive forevermore; and hath the keys of h.e.l.l and of death.--BISHOP HEBER.

It is a most unhappy state to be at a distance with G.o.d: man needs no greater infelicity than to be left to himself.--FELTHAM.