Pearls of Thought Part 41

Perpetual pus.h.i.+ng and a.s.surance put a difficulty out of countenance, and make a seeming impossibility give way.--_Jeremy Collier._

Much rain wears the marble.--_Shakespeare._

I'm proof against that word failure. I've seen behind it. The only failure a man ought to fear is failure in cleaving to the purpose he sees to be best.--_George Eliot._

Every man who observes vigilantly, and resolves steadfastly, grows unconsciously into genius.--_Bulwer-Lytton._

Perseverance is not always an indication of great abilities. An indifferent poet is invulnerable to a repulse, the want of sensibility in him being what a n.o.ble self-confidence was in Milton. These excluded suitors continue, nevertheless, to hang their garlands at the gate, to anoint the door-post, and even kiss the very threshold of her home, though the Muse beckons them not in.--_Wordsworth._

~Perverseness.~--The strength of the donkey mind lies in adopting a course inversely as the arguments urged, which, well considered, requires as great a mental force as the direct sequence.--_George Eliot._

~Philosophy.~--Philosophy is the art of living.--_Plutarch._

Philosophy consists not in airy schemes, or idle speculations; the rule and conduct of all social life is her great province.--_Thomson._

The philosopher knows the universe and knows not himself.--_Fontaine._

Philosophy is the rational expression of genius.--_Lamartine._

It is a maxim received among philosophers themselves from the days of Aristotle down to those of Sir William Hamilton, that philosophy ceases where truth is acknowledged.--_Bulwer-Lytton._

~Physiognomy.~--It is a point of cunning to wait upon him with whom you speak with your eye, as the Jesuits give it in precept; for there be many wise men that have secret hearts and transparent countenances.--_Bacon._

As the language of the face is universal, so 'tis very comprehensive; no laconism can reach it; 'tis the short-hand of the mind, and crowds a great deal in a little room.--_Jeremy Collier._

The distinguis.h.i.+ng characters of the face, and the lineaments of the body, grow more plain and visible with time and age; but the peculiar physiognomy of the mind is most discernible in children.--_Locke._

What knowledge is there, of which man is capable, that is not founded on the exterior; the relation that exists between visible and invisible, the perceptible and the imperceptible?--_Lavater._

~Piety.~--Among the many strange servilities mistaken for pieties one of the least lovely is that which hopes to flatter G.o.d by despising the world and vilifying human nature.--_G. H. Lewes._

Piety softens all that courage bears.--_Madame Swetchine._

Piety is a kind of modesty. It makes us turn aside our thoughts, as modesty makes us cast down our eyes in the presence of whatever is forbidden.--_Joubert._

Piety is not an end, but a means of attaining the highest degree of culture by perfect peace of mind. Hence it is to be observed that those who make piety an end and aim in itself for the most part become hypocrites.--_Goethe._

~Pity.~--Pity is not natural to man. Children are always cruel. Savages are always cruel. Pity is acquired and improved by the cultivation of reason. We may have uneasy sensations from seeing a creature in distress, without pity; for we have not pity unless we wish to relieve them. When I am on my way to dine with a friend, and, finding it late, bid the coachman make haste, if I happen to attend when he whips his horses, I may feel unpleasantly that the animals are put to pain, but I do not wish him to desist; no, sir, I wish him to drive on.--_Johnson._

Pity is sworn servant unto love, and this be sure, wherever it begin to make the way, it lets the master in.--_Daniel._

Those many that need pity, and those infinities of people that refuse to pity, are miserable upon a several charge, but yet they almost make up all mankind.--_Jeremy Taylor._

Of all the sisters of Love one of the most charming is Pity.--_Alfred de Musset._

~Place.~--In place there is a license to do good and evil, whereof the latter is a curse; for in evil the best condition is not to will; the second, not to can.--_Lord Bacon._

Where you are is of no moment, but only what you are doing there. It is not the place that enn.o.bles you, but you the place; and this only by doing that which is great and n.o.ble.--_Petrarch._

I take sanctuary in an honest mediocrity.--_Bruyere._

A true man never frets about his place in the world, but just slides into it by the gravitation of his nature, and swings there as easily as a star.--_Chapin._

~Plagiarism.~--Nothing is sillier than this charge of plagiarism. There is no sixth commandment in art. The poet dare help himself wherever he lists--wherever he finds material suited to his work. He may even appropriate entire columns with their carved capitals, if the temple he thus supports be a beautiful one. Goethe understood this very well, and so did Shakespeare before him.--_Heinrich Heine._

~Pleasure.~--Consider pleasures as they depart, not as they come.--_Aristotle._

We have not an hour of life in which our pleasures relish not some pain, our sours some sweetness.--_Ma.s.singer._

How many there are that take pleasure in toil: that can outrise the sun, out.w.a.tch the moon, and outrun the field's wild beasts! merely out of fancy and delectation, they can find out mirth in vociferation, music in the barking of dogs, and be content to be led about the earth, over hedges and through sloughs, by the windings and the s.h.i.+fts of poor affrighted vermin; yet, after all, come off, as Messalina, tired, and not satisfied with all that the brutes can do. But were a man enjoined to this that did not like it, how tedious and how punishable to him would it prove! since, in itself, it differs not from riding post.--_Feltham._

Boys immature in knowledge p.a.w.n their experience to their present pleasure.--_Shakespeare._

'Tis a wrong way to proportion other men's pleasures to ourselves. 'Tis like a child's using a little bird--"Oh, poor bird, thou shalt sleep with me"--so lays it in his bosom and stifles it with his hot breath.

The bird had rather be in the cold air. And yet, too, 'tis the most pleasing flattery to like what other men like.--_Selden._

There is no pleasure but that some pain is nearly allied to it.--_Menander._

All fits of pleasure are balanced by an equal degree of pain or languor; 'tis like spending this year part of the next year's revenue.--_Swift._

Fly the pleasure that bites to-morrow.--_George Herbert._

Look upon pleasures not upon that side that is next the sun, or where they look beauteously, that is, as they come towards you to be enjoyed, for then they paint and smile, and dress themselves up in tinsel, and gla.s.s gems, and counterfeit imagery.--_Jeremy Taylor._

Pleasure has its time; so, too, has wisdom. Make love in thy youth, and in old age attend to thy salvation.--_Voltaire._

A man of pleasure is a man of pains.--_Young._

Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought. Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.--_Johnson._

What would we not give to still have in store the first blissful moment we ever enjoyed!--_Rochepedre._

Most pleasures embrace us but to strangle.--_Montaigne._

~Poetry.~--Poetry is the apotheosis of sentiment.--_Madame de Stael._

Poetry is the sister of sorrow. Every man that suffers and weeps is a poet; every tear is a verse, and every heart a poem.--_Marc Andre._

Much is the force of heaven-bred poesy.--_Shakespeare._

Poetry, good sir, in my opinion, is like a tender virgin, very young, and extremely beautiful, whom divers other virgins--namely, all the other sciences--make it their business to enrich, polish, and adorn; and to her it belongs to make use of them all, and on her part to give a l.u.s.tre to them all.--_Cervantes._

Poetry is the overflowing of the soul.--_Tuckerman._

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 music of thought, conveyed to us in the music of language.--_Chatfield._