Pearls of Thought Part 20

They look like fragments of heaven.--_George Eliot._

~Generosity.~--A friend to everybody is often a friend to n.o.body, or else in his simplicity he robs his family to help strangers, and becomes brother to a beggar. There is wisdom in generosity as in everything else.--_Spurgeon._

Generosity is the accompaniment of high birth; pity and grat.i.tude are its attendants.--_Corneille._

It is good to be unselfish and generous; but don't carry that too far.

It will not do to give yourself to be melted down for the benefit of the tallow-trade; you must know where to find yourself.--_George Eliot._

If cruelty has its expiations and its remorses, generosity has its chances and its turns of good fortune; as if Providence reserved them for fitting occasions, that n.o.ble hearts may not be discouraged.--_Lamartine._

~Genius.~--Genius is rarely found without some mixture of eccentricity, as the strength of spirit is proved by the bubbles on its surface.--_Mrs.

Balfour._

All great men are in some degree inspired.--_Cicero._

This is the highest miracle of genius: that things which are not should be as though they were; that the imaginations of one mind should become the personal recollections of another.--_Macaulay._

The path of genius is not less obstructed with disappointment than that of ambition.--_Voltaire._

One misfortune of extraordinary geniuses is that their very friends are more apt to admire than love them.--_Pope._

Genius speaks only to genius.--_Stanislaus._

A nation does wisely, if not well, in starving her men of genius. Fatten them, and they are done for.--_Charles Buxton._

Genius has no brother.--_Bulwer-Lytton._

Genius never grows old; young to-day, mature yesterday, vigorous to-morrow: always immortal. It is peculiar to no s.e.x or condition, and is the divine gift to woman no less than to man.--_Juan Lewis._

~Gentleman.~--A gentleman's first characteristic is that fineness of structure in the body which renders it capable of the most delicate sensation; and of structure in the mind which renders it capable of the most delicate sympathies; one may say, simply, "fineness of nature."

This is of course compatible with heroic bodily strength and mental firmness; in fact, heroic strength is not conceivable without such delicacy.--_Ruskin._

It is a grand old name, that of gentleman, and has been recognized as a rank and power in all stages of society. To possess this character is a dignity of itself, commanding the instinctive homage of every generous mind, and those who will not bow to t.i.tular rank will yet do homage to the gentleman. His qualities depend not upon fas.h.i.+on or manners, but upon moral worth; not on personal possessions, but on personal qualities. The Psalmist briefly describes him as one "that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart."--_Samuel Smiles._

There is no man that can teach us to be gentlemen better than Joseph Addison.--_Thackeray._

~Gentleness.~--Fearless gentleness is the most beautiful of feminine attractions, born of modesty and love.--_Mrs. Balfour._

Gentleness is far more successful in all its enterprises than violence; indeed, violence generally frustrates its own purpose, while gentleness scarcely ever fails.--_Locke._

Sweet speaking oft a currish heart reclaims.--_Sidney._

The golden beams of truth and the silken cords of love, twisted together, will draw men on with a sweet violence, whether they will or not.--_Cudworth._

~Gifts.~--One must be poor to know the luxury of giving!--_George Eliot._

Riches, understanding, beauty, are fair gifts of G.o.d.--_Luther._

And with them words of so sweet breath composed as made the things more rich.--_Shakespeare._

How can that gift leave a trace which has left no void?--_Madame Swetchine._

The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity.--_Mrs. Balfour._

Examples are few of men ruined by giving. Men are heroes in spending, very cravens in what they give.--_Bovee._

When a friend asks, there is no to-morrow.--_George Herbert._

Strange designs lurk under a gift. "Give the horse to his Holiness,"

said the cardinal. "I cannot serve you!"--_Zimmermann._

~Glory.~--To a father who loves his children victory has no charms. When the heart speaks, glory itself is an illusion.--_Napoleon._

Those who start for human glory, like the mettled hounds of Actaeon, must pursue the game not only where there is a path, but where there is none.

They must be able to simulate and dissimulate, to leap and to creep; to conquer the earth like Caesar, or to fall down and kiss it like Brutus; to throw their sword like Brennus into the trembling scale; or, like Nelson, to s.n.a.t.c.h the laurels from the doubtful hand of Victory, while she is hesitating where to bestow them.--_Colton._

Obloquy is a necessary ingredient in the composition of all true glory.--_Burke._

The best kind of glory is that which is reflected from honesty,--such as was the glory of Cato and Aristides; but it was harmful to them both, and is seldom beneficial to any man whilst he lives; what it is to him after his death I cannot say, because I love not philosophy merely notional and conjectural, and no man who has made the experiment has been so kind as to come back to inform us.--_Cowley._

Nothing is so expensive as glory.--_Sydney Smith._

The love of glory can only create a hero, the contempt of it creates a wise man.--_Talleyrand._

~Gluttony.~--Whose G.o.d is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame.--_Bible._

The kitchen is their shrine, the cook their priest, the table their altar, and their belly their G.o.d.--_Buck._

~G.o.d.~--He that doth the ravens feed, yea, providentially caters for the sparrow, be comfort to my age!--_Shakespeare._

To escape from evil, we must be made as far as possible like G.o.d; and this resemblance consists in becoming just and holy and wise.--_Plato._

Whenever I think of G.o.d I can only conceive him as a Being infinitely great and infinitely good. This last quality of the divine nature inspires me with such confidence and joy that I could have written even a _miserere_ in _tempo allegro_.--_Haydn._

All flows out from the Deity, and all must be absorbed in him again.--_Zoroaster._

It were better to have no opinion of G.o.d at all than such an opinion as is unworthy of him; for the one is unbelief, and the other is contumely; and certainly superst.i.tion is the reproach of the Deity.--_Bacon._

I have seen two miracles lately. I looked up, and saw the clouds above me in the noontide; and they looked like the sea that was hanging over me, and I could see no cord on which they were suspended, and yet they never fell. And then when the noontide had gone, and the midnight came, I looked again, and there was the dome of heaven, and it was spangled with stars, and I could see no pillars that held up the skies, and yet they never fell. Now He that holds the stars up and moves the clouds in their course can do all things, and I trust Him in the sight of these miracles.--_Luther._

This avenging G.o.d, rancorous torturer who burns his creatures in a slow fire! When they tell me that G.o.d made himself a man, I prefer to recognize a man who made himself a G.o.d.--_Alfred de Musset._

This is one of the names which we give to that eternal, infinite, and incomprehensible being, the Creator of all things, who preserves and governs everything by his almighty power and wisdom, and is the only object of our wors.h.i.+p.--_Cruden._

~Gold.~--Midas longed for gold. He got gold so that whatever he touched became gold, and he, with his long ears, was little the better for it.--_Carlyle._

A mask of gold hides all deformities.--_Dekker._

There are two metals, one of which is omnipotent in the cabinet, and the other in the camp,--gold and iron. He that knows how to apply them both may indeed attain the highest station, but he must know something more to keep it.--_Colton._