Many Thoughts of Many Minds Part 47

Mental pleasures never cloy; unlike those of the body, they are increased by repet.i.tion, approved of by reflection, and strengthened by enjoyment.--COLTON.

I should rejoice if my pleasures were as pleasing to G.o.d as they are to myself.--MARGUERITE DE VALOIS.

We tire of those pleasures we take, but never of those we give.

--J. PEt.i.t-SENN.

Mistake not. Those pleasures are not pleasures that trouble the quiet and tranquillity of thy life.--JEREMY TAYLOR.

POETRY.--True poetry, like the religious prompting itself, springs from the emotional side of a man's complex nature, and is ever in harmony with his highest intuitions and aspirations.--EPES SARGENT.

Then, rising with aurora's light, The muse invoked, sit down to write; Blot out, correct, insert, refine, Enlarge, diminish, interline; Be mindful, when invention fails, To scratch your head and bite your nails.

--SWIFT.

It is uninspired inspiration.--HENRY REED.

Poetry is the blossom and the fragrance of all human knowledge, human thoughts, human pa.s.sions, emotions, language.--COLERIDGE.

Blessings be with them, and eternal praise, Who gave us n.o.bler loves and n.o.bler cares, The poets, who on earth have made us heirs Of truth and pure delight by heavenly lays!

--WORDSWORTH.

Poetry is the music of thought, conveyed to us in music of language.

--CHATFIELD.

He who finds elevated and lofty pleasures in the feeling of poetry is a true poet, though he has never composed a line of verse in his entire lifetime.--MADAME DUDEVANT.

Poetry is enthusiasm with wings of fire; it is the angel of high thoughts, that inspires us with the power of sacrifice.--MAZZINI.

Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds.--Sh.e.l.lEY.

Poetry is unfallen speech. Paradise knew no other, for no other would suffice to answer the need of those ecstatic days of innocence.

--ABRAHAM COLES.

Poesy is of so subtle a spirit, that in the pouring out of one language into another it will evaporate.--DENHAM.

Poetry is the child of enthusiasm.--SIGMA.

The art of poetry is to touch the pa.s.sions, and its duty to lead them on the side of virtue.--COWPER.

Poetry has been to me its own exceeding great reward; it has given me the habit of wis.h.i.+ng to discover the good and beautiful in all that meets and surrounds me.--S.T. COLERIDGE.

When the Divine Artist would produce a poem, He plants a germ of it in a human soul, and out of that soul the poem springs and grows as from the rose-tree the rose.--JAMES A. GARFIELD.

He who, in an enlightened and literary society, aspires to be a great poet, must first become a little child.--MACAULAY.

Poetry is the music of the soul, and, above all, of great and feeling souls.--VOLTAIRE.

There is as much difference between good poetry and fine verses, as between the smell of a flower-garden and of a perfumer's shop.--HARE.

The world is full of poetry. The air is living with its spirit; and the waves dance to the music of its melodies, and sparkle in its brightness.--PERCIVAL.

You will find poetry nowhere unless you bring some with you.--JOUBERT.

Poetry is the robe, the royal apparel, in which truth a.s.serts its divine origin.--BEECHER.

The poet may say or sing, not as things were, but as they ought to have been; but the historian must pen them, not as they ought to have been, but as they really were.--CERVANTES.

POLITENESS.--True politeness is perfect ease and freedom. It simply consists in treating others just as you love to be treated yourself.

--CHESTERFIELD.

Politeness has been defined to be artificial good-nature; but we may affirm, with much greater propriety, that good-nature is natural politeness.--STANISLAUS.

Christianity is designed to refine and to soften; to take away the heart of stone, and to give us hearts of flesh; to polish off the rudeness and arrogances of our manners and tempers; and to make us blameless and harmless, the sons of G.o.d, without rebuke.--JAY.

Politeness is to goodness what words are to thoughts.--JOUBERT.

Avoid all haste; calmness is an essential ingredient of politeness.

--ALPHONSE KARR.

There is no policy like politeness; and a good manner is the best thing in the world, either to get one a good name or to supply the want of it.--LYTTON.

There is no accomplishment so easy to acquire as politeness, and none more profitable.--H.W. SHAW.

Fine manners are like personal beauty,--a letter of credit everywhere.

--BARTOL.

True politeness is the spirit of benevolence showing itself in a refined way. It is the expression of good-will and kindness. It promotes both beauty in the man who possesses it, and happiness in those who are about him. It is a religious duty, and should be a part of religious training.--BEECHER.

Politeness induces morality. Serenity of manners requires serenity of mind.--JULIA WARD HOWE.

To the acquisition of the rare quality of politeness, so much of the enlightened understanding is necessary that I cannot but consider every book in every science, which tends to make us wiser, and of course better men, as a treatise on a more enlarged system of politeness.--MONRO.

Bowing, ceremonious, formal compliments, stiff civilities, will never be politeness; that must be easy, natural, unstudied; and what will give this but a mind benevolent and attentive to exert that amiable disposition in trifles to all you converse and live with?--CHATHAM.

As charity covers a mult.i.tude of sins before G.o.d, so does politeness before men.--GREVILLE.

The polite of every country seem to have but one character. A gentleman of Sweden differs but little, except in trifles, from one of any other country. It is among the vulgar we are to find those distinctions which characterize a people.--GOLDSMITH.

When two goats met on a bridge which was too narrow to allow either to pa.s.s or return, the goat which lay down that the other might walk over it was a finer gentleman than Lord Chesterfield.--CECIL.

Good-breeding is not confined to externals, much less to any particular dress or att.i.tude of the body; it is the art of pleasing, or contributing as much as possible to the ease and happiness of those with whom you converse.--FIELDING.

POPULARITY.--Avoid popularity, if you would have peace.--ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

Avoid popularity, it has many snares, and no real benefit.--WILLIAM PENN.

Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you!--LUKE 6:26.