Absence of occupation is not rest; A mind quite vacant is a mind distressed. Couper. Idleness is the sepulchre of a living man. Men are so constituted that everybody undertakes what he sees another successful in, whether he has aptitude for it or not. Goethe. A man should be careful never to tell tales of himself to his own disadvantage; people may be amused and laugh at the time, but they will be remembered and brought up against him on some subsequent occasion. Johnson. There is very little influence where there is not great sympathy. Hence we are seldom influenced much by those who are greatly our seniors in age. Trifles light as air Are to the jealous confirmation strong Bulwer. Shakspeare. Every one complains of his memory, and no one of his judgment. La Rochefoucauld. Pope. 'Tis with our judgments as our watches-none Knowledge dwells In heads replete with thoughts of other men— Cowper. When I hear a man talk of an unalterable law, I think he is an unalterable fool. Man is the only creature endowed with the power of laughter; is he not also the only one that deserves to be laughed at? Greville. The every-day cares and duties, which men call drudgery, are the weights and counterpoises of the clock of time; giving its pendulum a true vibration and its hands a regular motion; and when they cease to hang upon its wheels, the pendulum no longer swings, the hands no longer move, the clock stands still. Longfellow. The three things most difficult to do, are-to keep a secret, to forget an injury, and to make good use of leisure. It is one of the worst effects of prosperity to make a man a vortex instead of a fountain; so that, instead of throwing out, he learns only to draw in. Beecher. I live for those who love me, For all human ties that bind me, A useless life is but an early death. Goethe We live in deeds, not years-in thoughts, not breathsIn feelings, not in figures on a dial; We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best. Bailey. The twenty-third psalm is the nightingale of the psalms. It is small, of a homely feather, singing shyly out of obscurity; but, oh, it has filled the air of the whole world with melodious joy, greater than the heart can conceive. Blessed he the day on which that psalm was born. Beecher. Success prompts to exertion, and habit facilitates success. Hazlitt. Were we as eloquent as angels, yet should we please some men and some women much more by listening than by talking. Colton. Complaisance renders a superior amiable, an equal agreeable, and an inferior acceptable. It smooths distinctions, sweetens conversation, and makes every one pleased with himself. It produces good nature and mutual benevolence, encourages the timorous, soothes the turbulent, humanizes the fierce, and distinguishes a society of civilized persons from a confusion of savages. Addison A man's good breeding is the best security against another's bad manners. Chesterfield. Nothing so much prevents our being natural as the desire of being so. La Rochefoucauld. We sleep, but the loom of life never stops; and the pattern which was weaving when the sun went down is weaving when it comes up to-morrow. Beecher. Never write on a subject until you have first read yourself full on it, and never read on a subject until you have first thought yourself hungry on it. Jean Paul He who is false to present duty breaks a thread in the loom, and will find the flaw when he may have forgotten its cause. Beecher. Some men are like pyramids, which are very broad where they touch the ground, but grow narrower as they reach the sky. Beecher. We are never so ridiculous from the qualities we have, as from those we affect to have. La Rochefoucauld. There's naught so much disturbs one's patience 'Tis like that sort of painful wonder Enormous arches give beholders. Moore. He that will not reason is a bigot, he that cannot reason is a fool, and he that dares not reason is a slave. Drummond. Religious contention is the devil's harvest. French Proverb. Everybody knows worse of himself than he knows of other men. Johnson. By affecting to be worse than we are, we become popular and get credit for being honest fellows. Be frank in words, and nobody will suspect hypocrisy in your designs. Bulwer He who lacks strength must attain his purpose by skill. Scott. Never seem wiser or more learned than the people you are with. Wear your learning, like your watch, in a private pocket, and bring it out when called for. Chesterfield. Can wealth give happiness? Look around and see The mind annihilates, and asks for more. Young. Those who have finished by making all others think with them, have usually been those who began by daring to think for themselves. Colton. Man never fastened one end of a chain around the neck of his brother, that God's own hand did not fasten the other end around the neck of the oppressor. There is no difficulty to him who wills. Lamartine. Kossuth Is it reasonable to suppose, that when a young lady offers to hem cambric handkerchiefs for a rich bachelor, she means to sew in order that she may reap? A gentleman traveling, was endeavoring to impress an argument upon a fellow passenger, who was rather dull of comprehension. At length being irritated, he exclaimed: "Why, sir, it's as plain as A. B. C." "That may be," replied. the other, but I am D. E. F." A wit asked Lord Lennox on the failure of Sir John Paul's bank: "Were you not upset?" "No," he replied, "I only lost my balance." A shoemaker was taken up for bigamy. "Which wife," asked a bystander, "will he be obliged to take?" He is a cobbler," replied another," and of course must stick to the last." A married woman said to her husband: "You have never taken me to the cemetery." "No, dear," replied he, "that is a pleasure I have yet in anticipation." The first thing that some women will want to do when they get to heaven will be to hunt for a broom, and dust and clean house. A prosy tedious congressman said to Henry Clay: "You speak, sir, for the present generation, but I speak for posterity." Yes," replied Clay, "and it seems you are resolved to speak until your audience arrive." A college student, in rendering to his father an account of his term expenses, inserted: "To charity, thirty dollars." His father wrote back: "I fear charity covers a multitude of sins." A swell while being measured for a pair of boots, observed: "Make them cover the calf." "Impossible," retorted the astonished bootmaker, surveying his customer from head to foot, "I haven't leather enough." A wag said that he was journeying in a stage with a dozen persons, of whom he did not know a single one. In turning a corner, the stage was upset, and then said he: "I found them all out." When a man and woman are made one by a clergyman, the question is, which is the one. Sometimes there is a long struggle between them before this matter is finally settled. "John, did you take the note to Mr. Jones?" "Yes, but I don't think he can read it." "Why so John?" "Because he is blind sir. While I wur in the room, he axed me twice where my hat was, and it wur on my head all the time." A Frenchman showed a sword, which he said was the one Balaam had. A spectator said: "Balaam had no sword, only wished for one." 'Vel, zis is ze sword he wished for." A person referring to the painful position of the Siamese Twins, said: "However, it's well they are brothers; if strangers to each other, their predicament would be distressing." A young lady being asked where her native place was, replied, "I have none, I am the daughter of a Methodist preacher." "Aunt Kate, little Mattie has swallowed a button." "Wel, child, what good will that do her?" "Not any good, Auntie, unless she swallows a button hole." "Father, haven't you had another wife? The Bible says you married Anno Domini 1835." "Boy, what's become of that hole I saw in your pants the other day?" "It's worn out, sir." Two Irishmen took refuge under the bed clothes from the mosquitoes. At last one of them ventured to peep out, and seeing a firefly, said to his companion: "Mickey, it's no use, here's one of the craythers searching for us wid a lantern.” Pawnbrokers prefer parties who are without any redeeming qualities. "Isaac, let the good book be a lamp unto your path." "Mother, isn't that making light of sacred things?" An officer on parade was thrown from his horse. He said to a friend: "I thought I had improved in my riding, but I see I have fallen off." A good natured passenger fell asleep in a train, and was carried a few miles beyond his destination before he awoke. "Pretty good joke on you, wasn't it?" said a friend. "Rather too far-fetched," was the reply. "Who is he?" said a passer by to a policeman, who was endeavoring to raise an intoxicated person. "Can't say, sir,” replied the policeman, " he can't give an account of himself.” "Of course not," said the other, "how can you expect an account from a man who has lost his balance?” |