Part 2
Some minds are formed to mount, with eagle wing, Above the common herd—content to dwell Without a wish beyond the joys of sense, Till love, resistless love, assails their hearts, And now no longer soaring o’er the crowd, Lark-like, they build their nests upon the earth. ’Tis thus that passion ever brings us down, Making our minds’ wings—thoughts—of no avail.
REVOLUTIONS.
Sober-minded people prefer enduring the evils of a despotism which they know, to risking those of a subversion on whose consequences they cannot calculate. Despotism pursues her course orderly and systematically, while Sedition hurries along, sweeping away with much that is bad still more that is estimable.
MODESTY.
Modesty, the attendant of virtue, is frequently mistaken for shame, which is one of the attributes of vice.
CUNNING.
Cunning is the poor substitute for wisdom which weak minds adopt; but it is like the counterfeit which the forger strives to pass for the pure coin.
POLITENESS.
Nothing is more dissimilar than natural and acquired politeness. The first consists in a willing abnegation of self; the second, in a compelled recollection of others.
GREAT MEN.
Mountains appear more lofty, the nearer they are approached; but great men, to retain their altitude, must only be viewed from a distance.
MOURNERS.
It is surprising that a regulation has not been made to exclude persons in the garb of mourning from scenes of gaiety, lest the sombre hue of their dress give rise to sadness; but probably the omission has proceeded from a consciousness, that the spectators are as little moved by the trappings of grief as the wearers by the sentiment.
FORTUNE.
The wheel of fortune being guided by a blind goddess, often runs into deep ruts, and thus casts up what is impure.
MEN OF GENIUS.
Men of genius, who hold out lights to mankind, are used by them as are the Moccoli bearers at the Roman carnival by the populace; each of whom strives first to illume his torch in theirs, and then to extinguish it.
GENEROUS AND SELFISH MINDS.
A generous mind identifies itself with all around; but a selfish one identifies all things with self.
FRIENDS.
Our friends always wish us to be something which we are not; it is only our enemies that wish us to remain as we are.
PREJUDICES.
Prejudices are the chains forged by ignorance to keep men apart.
APPEARANCES.
We are judged not by the virtues we possess, but by the indications of them which we assume. Like the style adopted for epistolary usage, in which we sign ourselves the obedient servants of persons we have no value for, so the semblance of virtue imposes on many, and satisfies all.
PLEASURES.
Pleasures are like those mountains which charm us when beheld from a distance; but lose all the beauty of their deceitful hue when approached near.
CONCEIT.
It is usually the most conceited people who take offence at the affectation of others.
FRIENDS.
Friends, like wine, require to be kept before use.
GRATITUDE.
Gratitude is a prospective, rather than a retrospective virtue.
VIRTUE.
We seldom attain virtue until we have been purified by affliction—as only martyrs become saints.
JUDGMENT OF WORKS.
The frame of mind in which we read a work, often influences our judgment of it. The predominant feeling of the moment colours all that we read; and we are often surprised on a second perusal, to find no longer either the merits or defects which we supposed it to contain.
AMBITION.
As the pearl, which is the object of universal admiration, is produced by the disease of the oyster, so do many of the most illustrious actions originate in that mental disease,—an overweening ambition.
GENIUS.
Men of genius may be said to reside in an illuminated and unapproachable palace of crystal, which, while it displays their brightness, reveals also certain small blemishes, which are rendered disproportionally conspicuous by the contrast of light; while ordinary mortals dwell in opaque residences, in which no ray discloses the grave faults of mediocrity.
KNOWLEDGE OF THE WORLD.
We betray a profound knowledge of the world, by withdrawing from it when misfortune assails us.
WEAK MEN.
A weak man will sustain afflictions that destroy a strong one, as the willow which yields its pliant branches to the blast escapes the destruction of the oak that resists it.
WIT.
Wit is the lightning of the mind, reason the sunshine, and reflection the moonlight; for as the bright orb of the night owes its lustre to the sun, so does reflection owe its existence to reason.
VIRTUE.
It is more difficult to convince the vicious that virtue exists, than to persuade the good that it is rare.
WORKS.
The works of Vapidus might be said not to be the overflowing of a full mind, but the dregs of an exhausted one.
PUBLIC.
We have a reading, a talking, and a writing public. _When_ shall we have a _thinking_?
CIVILIZATION.
Civilization begets vices, but the want of it occasions crimes.
AFFLICTION.
The first heavy affliction rends the veil of illusion, and lets us behold the dark side of life.
PASSIONS.
The passions which have stimulated us to crime, ultimately die of satiety, leaving us when too late with a sense of our transgressions, unmitigated by the artful palliations and delusions which originally conduced to them.
GENIUS.
Genius is like the eagle which doth make abode in solitude, and, perched on high, looks down forgetful of all meaner birds.
MEDIOCRITY.
Mediocrity is only offensive when accompanied by pretension; because it then wounds our vanity by implying that it thought itself capable of deceiving us.
PHILOSOPHY.
The philosophy which has not been acquired in society will rarely enable us to resist its injustice; as a person theoretically taught to swim, will find his knowledge of little avail if he fall into a river.
GOOD TALKERS.
To be listened to with attention, and to acquire the reputation of a good talker, never speak of yourself, but always in implied praise of those you address, or in pungent satire of their contemporaries.
PREMATURE WISDOM.
The premature wisdom of youth resembles the forced fruit of our hot-houses: it looks like the natural production, but has not its flavour or raciness.
MEN OF GENIUS.
How must a neglected man of genius, conscious of his own powers, pity those who cannot appreciate him, and who bestow what is _his_ due on mere pretenders.
POPULARITY.
Those who have been the idols of the populace, generally end by becoming its victims; for the multitude resemble children who build castles of cards, only for the pleasure of destroying them with a breath.
POOR.
A term of reproach in England, and of pity in most other countries.
METAPHYSICS.
Metaphysics, a science, the study of which _proves_ that to be incomprehensible which was before only suspected of being so.
PROSPERITY.
As the fabled cup of the poet was said to be productive of good or evil, according to the lip that pressed it, so is prosperity productive of virtue or vice, according to the nature of him who possesses it.
FLATTERY.
Strabo asserts that a species of honey was produced at Pontus, which, owing to the bees having fed on aconite and hemlock, was poisonous. May we not liken flattery to this poison—sweet, but destructive?
FAULTS.
No human being is exempt from faults nor destitute of virtues. The wicked, who are many, will quickly detect the first, and the good, who are but few, will alone discern the second. Hence men’s faults will always be more known than their virtues.
BELIEF IN GOODNESS.
We give credit to others for just as much goodness as we ourselves possess.
MERE MORTALS.
There are some mortals whose bodies are but as the sepulchres of their dead hearts.
POETS AND ASTRONOMERS.
Poets view nature as a book, in which they read a language unknown to common minds, as astronomers regard the heavens and therein discover objects that escape the vulgar ken.
GRIEF.
Grief is our natural state, and joy but comes Like gleams of sunshine in a wint’ry day, Showing the darkness of the low’ring clouds That threaten to obscure its waning lustre. Grief shares our pillow, colours even our dreams, Awakens when we wake, and through the day Sits by us, calling Mem’ry to her aid, That she, by whisp’ring of the happy past, May make the gloomy present still more dark.
PHILOSOPHERS.
Men who expect little enjoyment in life, and who are therefore not disappointed.
MONEY.
Money is the direct or indirect cause of nearly all crimes: by the possession of it the rich are enabled to commit them, and through the want of it the poor are excited into the adoption of a similar course.
VIRTUE.
Horne Tooke said of intellectual philosophy, that he had become better acquainted with it, as with the country, though having sometimes lost his way. May not the same be said of virtue? for never is it so truly known or appreciated as by those who, having strayed from its path, have at length regained it.
QUALITIES.
Those who are poor in good qualities, assume their appearance; as persons who are not sufficiently rich to buy jewels, procure false ones.
PEACE OF MIND.
Though peace of mind does not constitute happiness, happiness cannot exist without it; our serenity being the result of our own exertions, while our happiness is dependent on others: hence the reason why it is so rare; for, on how few can we count? Our wisdom, therefore, is best shown in cultivating all that leads to the preservation of this negative blessing, which, while we possess it, will prevent us from ever becoming wholly wretched.
ARITHMETIC.
A science differently studied by fathers and sons: the first generally confining themselves to addition, and the second to subtraction.
SACRIFICES.
More sacrifices originate in ostentation than generosity.
ADVERSITY.
As bees can breed no poison, though they suck the deadliest juices, so the noble mind, though forced to drain the cup of misery, can yield but generous thoughts and noble deeds.
GRIEF.
Desperate is the grief of him whom prosperity having elated and hardened, feels the first arrow of affliction strike at his heart, through the life of the object dearest to him on earth.
SOLITUDE.
Hail, solitude! the nurse of high-born thought— The strength’ner of our virtues—the best friend To shield us from temptations which await Where thou art not, and lead us far from peace.
REFLECTION.
If we could bring ourselves to consider self but as a subordinate atom in the great mass that forms the world, we should perhaps bear our troubles with more equanimity: but such is our vanity, that each considers himself the centre of a little world of his own.
MELANCHOLY.
There are certain hearts in which the germ of melancholy is implanted even in their earliest youth, and maturity only strengthens it. On such persons, the inevitable ills of life fall with a weight, that, if it crush them not wholly, leaves them eternally bruised in spirit.
AGE.
If age deprives us of our pleasures, it also deadens our sense of misfortunes, by subduing the acuteness of our sensibility.
POLITENESS.
Politeness may prevent the want of wit and talents from being observed; but wit and talents cannot prevent the discovery of the want of politeness.
AGE.
Oh! reverence grey hairs—they tell a tale Of heavy trials, sore afflictions borne: For none e’er wore these harbingers of death Without being schooled in all life’s bitter truths.
FATALITY.
Fatality is another name for misconduct.
QUALITIES.
There are some qualities in our natures rendered noxious or innoxious by their encounter with others,—just as various medicines lose or receive power by an intermixture.
STORMS.
Storms in the heart generally make a wreck of peace.
QUALITIES.
There are as many ruined by their good qualities as enriched by their bad.
SATIRE.
Satire, like conscience, reminds us of what we often wish to forget.
FAULTS.
Our faults are lessons writ for other men, Who, reading them, are taught at our expense, Nor thank us for the knowledge they attain. Though bought at heavy cost of woe to us.
WISDOM.
Wisdom is lulled to sleep by pleasure, but awakens at the touch of sorrow.
WIT.
Those who have no wit are prone to doubt that of others.
SELF-KNOWLEDGE.
It is by self-knowledge that we prevent the seeds of evil from arising in our minds, and making that a wilderness of weeds which might have become a garden of precious flowers.
FRIENDS.
It requires sunshine to see our friends, for they become invisible when our horizon is clouded.
FRIEND AND WIFE.
Give me a friend, within whose well-poised mind Experience holds her seat. But let my bride Be innocent as flowers that fragrance shed, Yet know not they are sweet.
ADVICE.
Most people seem to imagine that advice, like physic, to do good must be disagreeable.
THE FUTURE.
A consolation for those who have no other.
TIME.
Time is a stream in which there is no mooring the barks of life, because there is no casting anchor in it.
WRITER.
When Inanis writes history, he draws on his imagination; and when he gives us poetry, trusts only to his memory.
FALSE APPEARANCES.
We cover our actions with a sort of veil, which, like the varnish on pictures, gives them an artificial lustre that serves to soften their defects.
PREJUDICES.
Few people look on any object as it really is; but regard it through some fantastic prism presented by their own prejudices, which invest it with a false colour.
PRIDE.
Pride has seldom a just medium; men have either too much or too little of it. An excess, though most offensive to the spectator, is the least injurious to its possessor, for it saves him from the commission of all actions that beget humiliation, while a deficiency continually entails it upon him.
PRAISE.
Praise is the only gift for which people are really grateful.
TIME.
Time is the true Lethe, in which is engulphed the recollection of our sorrows.
GUARDIANS.
The best guardian for a woman’s happiness is her husband’s love, and for her honour her own affection.
PASSION.
Passion is a tyrant strong only through the weakness of his slaves.
THE ART OF PLEASING.
The most certain art of pleasing people with us, is to make them pleased with themselves.
GRIEF.
Grief lengthens our nights, but shortens our days.
PLAGIARISMS.
Borrowed thoughts, like borrowed money, only reveal the poverty that compelled the loan.
HAPPINESS.
Happiness resembles the bird of paradise, which is said never to be seen but at a distance.
FRIENDS AND ENEMIES.
While we value the praise of our friends, we should not despise the censures of our enemies; as, from the malice of the latter, we frequently learn our faults, which the partiality of the former led them to overlook.
SORROW.
Sorrow sets her seal on the brows of those she has stricken; and, like freemasons, they know each other by a sign, unintelligible to the uninitiated, even when pleasure spreads her fascinations around them.
SELF-KNOWLEDGE.
“Rentrez en vous-même, vous y trouverez les Dieux,” was the advice of an ancient philosopher. How few have ever entered into the depth of their own minds, which are to them as undiscovered springs in the abysses of the earth! Enter into your own mind, and if you find not the gods there, you may, by constant examination and correction, render it worthy of becoming their residence.
CONVERSATION.
Conversation is the legs on which thought walks; and writing, the wings by which it flies.
MISFORTUNE.
Misfortune, though difficult to be borne, has some advantages: it precludes us from fear of the future, proves the sincerity of friends, and even reconciles us to the approach of death; while happiness, however grateful during its brief tenure, is too frequently poisoned by the dread of its interruption.
HOME.
The heart turns to home, even as the tortoise, wherever it may be placed, turns its head towards its native element, and tries to regain it.
POLITICS.
Politics is a science, which no one believes those who differ with him to understand.
PASSION.
Passion conducts to vice, and sentiment leads to virtue.
MISTAKES.
Hardness of heart is frequently mistaken for firmness of soul; a want of imagination, for reason; and obstinacy, for strength of character; yet how utterly unlike are they all!
OSTENTATION.
To appear rich, we become poor.
MEN AND WOMEN.
Men resemble the trees of earth, sturdy and full of strength; but women resemble the flowers, fair and fragile, and cherished the more because they are delicate.
OSTENTATION.
Ostentation produces more sacrifices than generosity.
CONVERSATION.
The conversation of some persons resembles occasional gleams of sunshine, piercing an opaque cloud; the light is only sufficient to make the general darkness visible.
OPINION.
All desire, but few are willing to pay the price of, the good opinion of the world.
FEAR.
He who fears not, is to be feared.
MIDDLE AGE.
Middle age is an isthmus between youth and death.
MORAL COURAGE.
Those only can explore the profoundest depths of suffering who have moral courage sufficient to resist it; as that physical force which augments the violence of fever, enables the patient to survive it. The intenseness of maladies, mental and bodily, is proportioned to the robustness of those condemned to sustain them; and the weak escape, or only slightly experience, the ills which the strong surmount or sink beneath.
THOUGHT.
“Les grandes pensées viennent du cœur,” was the observation of a reflecting mind: all that touches the heart, gives rise to thoughts more elevated than those that originate only in the head.
CELEBRITY AND NOTORIETY.
Celebrity and notoriety are frequently mistaken for each other, yet nothing can be more distinct: a great man becomes celebrated; a bad one, notorious.
MEMORIES.
Some memories are powerfully retentive of injuries, but totally oblivious of benefits.
TRIALS.
Great trials demand, and are generally met by courage; for we summon all our energies to support them. But it is the every-day minor cares of life that weary the temper and irritate the health; because singly, and in detail, they do not appear sufficiently important to induce us to rally our force to encounter them. As the sailor, who, having ploughed the ocean in its fiercest moods, returns to perish in the stream that wantons before his cottage home, so many a mind that has withstood the most severe trials, has been broken down by a succession of ignoble vexations.
COURAGE.
Courage is often but the effect of despair, for we cease to fear when we have ceased to hope.
BEAUTY.
Beauty without religion is the most dangerous gift that nature can bestow on woman; and talents without principles, the most pernicious to man.
THOUGHT.
Thought rarely dwells in the robust of frame, But chooses those whose nerves less stubborn are, And who, unknowing sensual impulses, Abstracted keep—freed from th’ ignoble thrall Of pleasures, that debase men into brutes.
COQUETTES.
Coquettes when old, like Penelope with her web, pass half the night in undoing the labours of the day.
MALICE.
Malice is the spur of wit, good nature the bridle.
MEDIOCRITY.
If mediocrity precludes men from attaining distinction, it does not prevent their acquiring popularity, because the mass of mankind are disposed to like those who can excite neither rivalry nor attention, and who consequently leave their own pretensions undisputed.
MODERN REFINEMENT.
Modern refinement consists in a delicacy in words, and indelicacy of thoughts and actions.
THOUGHT.
Thought sleeps, until awakened by the senses.
COMMON SENSE.
Is the most uncommon of all senses.
TALENTS.
Talents, like beauty, to be pardoned, must be unostentatious.
FEELINGS.
Feelings are always made the excuse of temper; whereas temper much more frequently influences feelings.
NATURE.
Every production of the vegetable, animal, and moral world, has its natural enemy. See how certain flowers, fruits, and plants, are injured by certain insects; certain animals tormented by certain flies; and certain men, by corresponding beings of their own species, who, discovering in them certain qualities, prey on them quite as mortally as do the flies and insects on the objects of their voracity.
DEATH.
We mourn the dead, as though _we_ could not die, Nor think that ere the grass grows on their graves, Nay, ere our tears are dried, we may be call’d To quit this life, while counting on long years.
FORGIVENESS.
It is difficult not to hate those whom we have injured, because the consciousness that we have behaved unworthily, humiliates us too much in our own estimation, not to impel us to avenge it on them.
NECESSITY.
Necessity has been called the mother of invention; but should she not rather be named the step-mother, for to her are invariably attributed many inexcusable actions?
ESPRIT FORT.
An _esprit fort_ might frequently, with more justice, be styled _une tête foible_.
EXPERIENCE.
Experience has taught us little, if it has not instructed us to pity the errors of others, and to amend our own.
ERRORS.
They who weep over errors, were not formed for crimes.
FRIENDSHIP.
Those who would preserve a faith in friendship, should never require its aid.
DUTIES.
Those who fulfil their duties, without feeling them to be irksome, are happy; but those who discharge them from a consciousness of their importance, are praiseworthy.
FASHION.
People who fall into the stream of fashion, like those who tumble into the Mississippi river, are seldom saved from its vortex.
FLATTERY.
Flattery, if judiciously administered, is always acceptable, however much we may despise the flatterer.
DEATH.
To reconcile us to Cimmerian death, Th’ approach of which strikes terror to all hearts, The God of mercy takes what most we love; And we no longer dread to follow them.
FRIENDS.
Guard, if it be possible, your friends from injuring you, lest they, by so doing, become your bitterest enemies, never forgiving the wrongs they have themselves inflicted.
PASSION.
The hurricane of passion withers the milder feelings, even as the blast of the simoom dries up and consumes all that it passes over.
SORROW.
The fountain of true poetry is sealed, And sorrow’s touch alone can bid it flow: Then only are its waters all reveal’d, For inspiration’s ever bought with woe.
PRIDE.
Pride prevents not the commission of unworthy actions, though it forbids the avowal of them.
HAPPINESS.
In seeking happiness we overlook content, which is always attainable, while happiness, though sometimes in view, is never within reach.
GENIUS.
Genius is the gold in the mine—education the miner who elicits it.
GREAT MEN.
Intrepidus was a naturally, and Diplomaticus an artificially great man. The first reposing a just confidence in his own powers, required no extraneous aid; while the latter solely depended on his implements for success or failure.
SOCIETY.
We must learn to bear with society, or to live without it. The latter appears the least difficult task to pursue.
BOYS AND MEN.
Mark well the boy; in him you see the man Of future years: their instincts, tastes, the same. Time but developes that which was in him Even from his cradle; it but gives more art To hide the evil, counterfeit the good, And cheat the world by seeming what he’s not.
HERMITS.
People are seldom tired of the world until the world is tired of them.
BLIGHTED HOPES.
Like a bird with wearied pinions flying over the sea, and painfully sensible of the approach of exhaustion while yet in the midst of his career, is he who, tired of life ere half its course is past, gazes with dismay upon the gloomy waste he has still to traverse.
HAPPINESS.
Such is our pride and weakness, that we consider happiness as our right, and misfortune as an injustice. A wise man, on the contrary, will consider a happy condition as a prize drawn in a lottery, which he had no right to expect, but which his good fortune secured for him.
PECULIARITIES OF MINDS.