PREFACE.
Cynics may ask, how many have profited by
the innumerable proverbs and maxims of
prudence which have been current in the world
time out of mind? They will say that their only
use is to repeat them after some unhappy wight
has “gone wrong.” When, for instance, a man has
played “ducks and drakes” with his money, the
fact at once calls up the proverb which declares
that “wilful waste leads to woful want”; but did not
the “waster” know this well-worn saying from
his early years downwards? What good, then, did
it do him? Again, how many have been benefited
by the saying of the ancient Greek poet, that
“evil communications corrupt good manners”?—albeit
they had it frequently before them in their
school “copy-books.” Are the maxims of morality
useless, then, because they are so much disregarded?
When a man has reached middle-age he generally
feels with tenfold force the truth of those “sayings
of the wise” which he learned in his early years, and
has cause to regret, as well as wonder, that he had
not all along followed their wholesome teaching.
For it is to the young, who are about to cross
the threshold of active life, that such terse convincing
sentences are more especially addressed, and, spite
of the proverbial heedlessness of youth, there will
be found many who are not deaf to this kind of
instruction, if their moral environment be favourable.
But, even after the spring-time of youth is past,
there are occasions when the mind is peculiarly
susceptible to the force of a pithy maxim, which
may tend to the reforming of one’s way of life.
There is commonly more practical wisdom in a
striking aphorism than in a round dozen of “goody”
books—that is to say, books which are not good
in the highest sense, because their themes are
overlaid with commonplace and wearisome reflections.
May we not find the “whole duty of man”
condensed into a few brief sentences, which have
been expressed by thoughtful men in all ages and in
countries far apart?—such as: “Love thy neighbour
as thyself,” “Do unto others as ye would that they
should do unto you.” The chief themes of all
teachers of morality are: benevolence and beneficence;
tolerance of the opinions of others; self-control; the
acquisition of knowledge—that jewel beyond price;
the true uses of wealth; the advantages of resolute,
manly exertion; the dignity of labour; the futility
of worldly pleasures; the fugacity of time; man’s
individual insignificance. They are never weary of
inculcating taciturnity in preference to loquacity, and
the virtues of patience and resignation. They iterate
and reiterate the fact that true happiness is to be
found only in contentment; and they administer consolation
and infuse hope by reminding us that as
dark days are followed by bright days, so times of
bitter adversity are followed by seasons of sweet
prosperity; and thus, like the immortal Sir Hudibras,
when “in doleful dumps”, we may “cheer ourselves
with ends of verse, and sayings of philosophers.”
In the following small selection of aphorisms,
a considerable proportion are drawn from Eastern
literature. Indian wisdom is represented by passages
from the great epics, the Mahābhārata and the
Rāmāyana; the Panchatantra and the Hitopadesa,
two Sanskrit versions of the famous collection of
apologues known in Europe as the Fables of Bidpaï,
or Pilpay; the Dharma-sastra of Manu; Bhāravi,
Māgha, Bhartrihari, and other Hindu poets. Specimens
of the mild teachings of Buddha and his more
notable followers are taken from the Dhammapada
(Path of Virtue) and other canonical works; pregnant
sayings of the Jewish Fathers, from the Talmud;
Moslem moral philosophy is represented by extracts
from Arabic and Persian writers (among the great
poets of Persia are, Firdausī, Sa’dī, Hāfiz, Nizāmī,
Omar Khayyām, Jāmī); while the proverbial wisdom
of the Chinese and the didactic writings of the
sages of Burmah are also occasionally cited.
The ordinary reader will probably be somewhat
surprised to discover in the aphorisms of the ancient
Greeks and Hindus several close parallels to the
doctrines of the Old and New Testaments, and he
will have reasoned justly if he conclude that the
so-called “heathens” could have derived their spiritual
light only from the same Source as that which
inspired the Hebrew prophets and the Christian
apostles.
Among English writers of aphorisms Francis
Bacon, Lord Verulam, is pre-eminent, but none
of his pithy sentences find place here, because
they are procurable in many inexpensive forms,
(e.g., Counsels from my Lord Bacon, 1892), and
must be familiar to what is termed “the average
general reader.” The Enchiridion of Frances Quarles
and the Resolves of Owen Feltham are, however,
laid under contribution, as also Robert Chamberlain,
an author who is probably unknown to many
pluming themselves on their thorough acquaintance
with English literature, some of whose aphorisms
(published in 1638, under the title of Nocturnal
Lucubrations) I have deemed worthy of reproduction.
In more modern times, with the sole exception
of William Hazlitt, our country has produced no very
successful writer of aphorisms. Colton’s Lacon;
or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to
Those who Think, went through several editions
soon after its first publication in 1820; it is
described by Mr. John Morley—and not unfairly—as
being “so vapid, so wordy, so futile as to have
a place among those books which dispense with
parody”; it is “an awful example to anyone who
is tempted to try his hand at an aphorism.”
Mr. Morley is hardly less severe in speaking of the
“Thoughts” in Theophrastus Such: “the most
insufferable of all deadly-lively prosing in our sublunary
world.” However this may be, assuredly other
works of the author of Adam Bede will be found
to furnish many examples of admirable apothegms.
It only remains to add that, bearing in mind
that a great collection of gravities commonly proves
quite as wearisome reading as a large compilation
of gaieties, or facetiæ, I have confined my selection
of “sayings of the wise” within the limits of a
pocket-volume.
W. A. C.
1.
The enemies which rise within the body,
hard to be overcome—thy evil passions—should
manfully be fought: he who
conquers these is equal to the conquerors
of worlds.
Bhāravi.
2.
If passion gaineth the mastery over reason,
the wise will not count thee amongst
men.
Firdausī.
3.
Knowledge is destroyed by associating
with the base; with equals equality
is gained, and with the distinguished,
distinction.
Hitopadesa.
4.
Dost thou desire that thine own heart
should not suffer, redeem thou the
sufferer from the bonds of misery.
Sa’dī.
5.
To friends and eke to foes true kindness show;
No kindly heart unkindly deeds will do;
Harshness will alienate a bosom friend.
And kindness reconcile a deadly foe.
Omar Khayyām.
6.
There is no greater grief in misery
than to turn our thoughts back to
happier times.*
Dante.
7.
We in reality only know when we doubt
a little. With knowledge comes doubt.
Goethe.
8.
In the hour of adversity be not without
hope, for crystal rain falls from black
clouds.
Nizāmī.
9.
One common origin unites us all, but
every sort of wood does not give the
perfume of the lignum aloes.
Arabic.
10.
I asked an experienced elder who had
profited by his knowledge of the world,
“What course should I pursue to obtain
prosperity?” He replied, “Contentment—if
you are able, practise contentment.”
Selman.
11.
Every moment that a man may be in
want of employment, than such I hold
him to be far better who is forced to labour
for nothing.
Afghan.
12.
The foolish undertake a trifling act, and
soon desist, discouraged; wise men engage
in mighty works, and persevere.
Māgha.
13.
Those who wish well towards their
friends disdain to please them with
words which are not true.
Bhāravi.
14.
Reason is captive in the hands of
the passions, as a weak man in the
hands of an artful woman.
Sa’dī.
15.
Like an earthen pot, a bad man is easily
broken, and cannot readily be restored
to his former situation; but a virtuous man,
like a vase of gold, is broken with difficulty,
and easily repaired.
Hitopadesa.
16.
The son who delights his father by his
good actions; the wife who seeks only
her husband’s good; the friend who is the
same in prosperity and adversity—these three
things are the reward of virtue.
Bhartrihari.
17.
Let us not overstrain our abilities, or
we shall do nothing with grace. A
clown, whatever he may do, will never
pass for a gentleman.
La Fontaine.
18.
To abstain from speaking is regarded as
very difficult. It is not possible to
say much that is valuable and striking.*
Mahābhārata.
19.
Pagodas are, like mosques, true houses of prayer;
’Tis prayer that church bells waft upon the air;
Kaaba and temple, rosary and cross,
All are but divers tongues of world-wide prayer.
Omar Khayyām.
20.
In no wise ask about the faults of others,
for he who reporteth the faults of others
will report thine also.
Firdausī.
21.
He that holds fast the golden mean,
And lives contentedly between
The little and the great,
Feels not the wants that pinch the poor,
Nor plagues that haunt the rich man’s door,
Embittering all his state.
Horace.
22.
Nothing is more becoming a man
than silence. It is not the preaching
but the practice which ought to be considered
as the more important. A profusion
of words is sure to lead to error.
Talmud.
23.
Consider, and you will find that
almost all the transactions of the time
of Vespasian differed little from those of
the present day. You there find marrying
and giving in marriage, educating children,
sickness, death, war, joyous holidays, traffic,
agriculture, flatterers, insolent pride, suspicions,
laying of plots, longing for the death
of others, newsmongers, lovers, misers, men
canvassing for consulship—yet all these
passed away, and are nowhere.
M. Aurelius.
24.
The friendship of the bad is like the
shade of some precipitous bank with
crumbling sides, which, falling, buries him
who is beneath.
Bhāravi.
25.
His action no applause invites
Who simply good with good repays;
He only justly merits praise
Who wrongful deeds with kind requites.*
Panchatantra.
26.
Death comes, and makes a man his prey,
A man whose powers are yet unspent;
Like one on gathering flowers intent,
Whose thoughts are turned another way.
Begin betimes to practise good,
Lest fate surprise thee unawares
Amid thy round of schemes and cares;
To-morrow’s task to-day conclude.*
Mahābhārata.
27.
Let a man’s talents or virtues be what
they may, we feel satisfaction in his
society only as he is satisfied in himself.
We cannot enjoy the good qualities of a
friend if he seems to be none the better
for them.
Hazlitt.
28.
It was a false maxim of Domitian that
he who would gain the people of Rome
must promise all things and perform nothing.
For when a man is known to be false in
his word, instead of a column, which he
might be by keeping it, for others to rest
upon, he becomes a reed, which no man
will vouchsafe to lean upon. Like a floating
island, when we come next day to seek it,
it is carried from the place we left it in,
and, instead of earth to build upon, we
find nothing but inconstant and deceiving
waves.
Feltham.
29.
He is not dead who departs this life
with high fame; dead is he, though
living, whose brow is branded with infamy.
Tieck.
30.
In the height of thy prosperity expect
adversity, but fear it not. If it come
not, thou art the more sweetly possessed
of the happiness thou hast, and the more
strongly confirmed. If it come, thou art the
more gently dispossessed of the happiness
thou hadst, and the more firmly prepared.
Quarles.
31.
A prudent man will not discover his
poverty, his self-torments, the disorders
of his house, his uneasiness, or his
disgrace.
Hitopadesa.
32.
Men are of three different capacities:
one understands intuitively; another
understands so far as it is explained; and
a third understands neither of himself nor
by explanation. The first is excellent, the
second, commendable, and the third, altogether
useless.
Machiavelli.
33.
It is difficult to understand men, but still
harder to know them thoroughly.
Schiller.
34.
Worldly fame and pleasure are destructive
to the virtue of the mind;
anxious thoughts and apprehensions are
injurious to the health of the body.
Chinese.
35.
Alas, for him who is gone and hath
done no good work! The trumpet of
march has sounded, and his load was not
bound on.
Persian.
36.
Human experience, like the stern-lights
of a ship at sea, illumines only the
path which we have passed over.
Coleridge.
37.
Man is an actor who plays various parts:
First comes a boy, then out a lover starts;
His garb is changed for, lo! a beggar’s rags;
Then he’s a merchant with full money-bags;
Anon, an aged sire, wrinkled and lean;
At last Death drops the curtain on the scene.*
Bhartrihari.
38.
Through avarice a man loses his
understanding, and by his thirst for
wealth he gives pain to the inhabitants of
both worlds.
Hitopadesa.
39.
Men soon the faults of others learn,
A few their virtues, too, find out;
But is there one—I have a doubt—
Who can his own defects discern?
Sanskrit.
40.
In learning, age and youth go for nothing;
the best informed take the precedence.
Chinese.
41.
Mention not a blemish which is thy
own in detraction of a neighbour.
Talmud.
42.
Affairs succeed by patience, and he
that is hasty falleth headlong.
Sa’dī.
43.
A man who has learnt little grows old
like an ox: his flesh grows, but his
knowledge does not grow.
Dhammapada.
44.
Unsullied poverty is always happy,
while impure wealth brings with it
many sorrows.
Chinese.
45.
Both white and black acknowledge women’s sway,
So much the better and the wiser too,
Deeming it most convenient to obey,
Or possibly they might their folly rue.*
Persian.
46.
We are never so much disposed to
quarrel with others as when we
are dissatisfied with ourselves.
Hazlitt.
47.
No one is more profoundly sad than he
who laughs too much.
Richter.
48.
The heaven that rolls around cries aloud
to you while it displays its eternal
beauties, and yet your eyes are fixed upon
the earth alone.
Dante.
49.
This world is a beautiful book, but of
little use to him who cannot read it.
Goldoni.
50.
Sorrows are like thunder-clouds: in
the distance they look black, over our
heads, hardly gray.
Richter.
51.
The gem cannot be polished without friction,
nor man perfected without trials.
Chinese.
52.
Health is the greatest gift, contentedness
the best riches.
Dhammapada.
53.
Great and unexpected successes are
often the cause of foolish rushing into
acts of extravagance.
Demosthenes.
54.
Let none with scorn a suppliant meet,
Or from the door untended spurn
A dog; an outcast kindly treat;
And so thou shalt be blest in turn.
Mahābhārata.
55.
Choose knowledge, if thou desirest a
blessing from the Universal Provider;
for the ignorant man cannot raise himself
above the earth, and it is by knowledge
that thou must render thy soul praiseworthy.
Firdausī.
56.
Good fortune is a benefit to the wise,
but a curse to the foolish.
Chinese.
57.
In this thing one man is superior to
another, that he is better able to bear
adversity and prosperity.
Philemon.
58.
The rays of happiness, like those of light,
are colourless when unbroken.
Longfellow.
59.
There are three things which, in great
quantity, are bad, and, in little, very
good: leaven, salt, and liberality.
Talmud.
60.
Who aims at excellence will be above
mediocrity; who aims at mediocrity
will be far short of it.
Burmese.
61.
Keep thy heart afar from sorrow, and
be not anxious about the trouble
which is not yet come.
Firdausī.
62.
If thy garments be clean and thy heart be
foul, thou needest no key to the door
of hell.
Sa’dī.
63.
We ought never to mock the wretched,
for who can be sure of being
always happy?
La Fontaine.
64.
To those who err in judgment, not in
will, anger is gentle.
Sophocles.
65.
Not only is the old man twice a child,
but also the man who is drunk.
Plato.
66.
Wrapt up in error is the human mind,
And human bliss is ever insecure;
Know we what fortune yet remains behind?
Know we how long the present shall endure?
Pindar.
67.
A wise man adapts himself to circumstances,
as water shapes itself to the
vessel that contains it.
Chinese.
68.
He who formerly was reckless and afterwards
became sober brightens up this
world like the moon when freed from clouds.
Dhammapada.
69.
When a base fellow cannot vie with
another in merit he will attack him
with malicious slander.
Sa’dī.
70.
If a man be not so happy as he desires,
let this be his comfort—he is not so
wretched as he deserves.
R. Chamberlain.
71.
In conversation humour is more than wit,
easiness, more than knowledge; few
desire to learn, or to think they need it;
all desire to be pleased, or, if not, to be
easy.
Sir W. Temple.
72.
The greatest men sometimes overshoot
themselves, but then their very mistakes
are so many lessons of instruction.
Tom Browne.
73.
We may be as good as we please, if
we please to be good.
Barrow.
74.
The round of a passionate man’s life
is in contracting debts in his passion
which his virtue obliges him to pay. He
spends his time in outrage and acknowledgment,
injury and reparation.
Johnson.
75.
To reprehend well is the most necessary
and the hardest part of friendship.
Who is it that does not sometimes merit
a check, and yet how few will endure one?
Yet wherein can a friend more unfold his
love than in preventing dangers before
their birth, or in bringing a man to safety
who is travelling on the road to ruin? I
grant there is a manner of reprehending
which turns a benefit into an injury, and
then it both strengthens error and wounds
the giver. When thou chidest thy wandering
friend do it secretly, in season, in love,
not in the ear of a popular convention,
for oftentimes the presence of a multitude
makes a man take up an unjust defence,
rather than fall into a just shame.
Feltham.
76.
I put no account on him who esteems
himself just as the popular breath may
chance to raise him.
Goethe.
77.
He who seeks wealth sacrifices his own
pleasure, and, like him who carries
burdens for others, bears the load of anxiety.
Hitopadesa.
78.
Circumspection in calamity; mercy
in greatness; good speeches in assemblies;
fortitude in adversity: these are the
self-attained perfections of great souls.
Hitopadesa.
79.
The best preacher is the heart; the best
teacher is time; the best book is the
world; the best friend is God.
Talmud.
80.
A woman will not throw away a garland,
though soiled, which her lover gave: not
in the object lies a present’s worth, but in the
love which it was meant to mark.
Bhāravi.
81.
Men who have not observed discipline,
and have not gained treasure in their
youth, perish like old herons in a lake
without fish.
Dhammapada.
82.
As drops of bitter medicine, though minute,
may have a salutary force, so words,
though few and painful, uttered seasonably,
may rouse the prostrate energies of those who
meet misfortune with despondency.
Bhāravi.
83.
There are three whose life is no life: he
who lives at another’s table; he whose
wife domineers over him; and he who suffers
bodily affliction.
Talmud.
84.
Let thy words between two foes be such
that if they were to become friends
thou shouldst not be ashamed.
Sa’dī.
85.
An indiscreet man is more hurtful than an
ill-natured one; for as the latter will
only attack his enemies, and those he wishes
ill to, the other injures indifferently both
his friends and foes.
Addison.
86.
A man of quick and active wit
For drudgery is more unfit,
Compared to those of duller parts,
Than running nags are to draw carts.
Butler.
87.
All affectation is the vain and ridiculous
attempt of poverty to appear rich.
Lavater.
88.
There never was, there never will be,
a man who is always praised, or a
man who is always blamed.
Dhammapada.
89.
A good man’s intellect is piercing, yet
inflicts no wound; his actions are deliberate,
yet bold; his heart is warm, but
never burns; his speech is eloquent, yet
ever true.
Māgha.
90.
He who can feel ashamed will not
readily do wrong.
Talmud.
91.
A stranger who is kind is a kinsman;
an unkind kinsman is a stranger.
Hitopadesa.
92.
The good to others kindness show,
And from them no return exact;
The best and greatest men, they know,
Thus ever nobly love to act.*
Mahābhārata.
93.
Trees loaded with fruit are bent down;
the clouds when charged with fresh
rain hang down near the earth: even so
good men are not uplifted through prosperity.
Such is the natural character of
the liberal.
Bhartrihari.
94.
The man who neither gives in charity
nor enjoys his wealth, which every
day increases, breathes, indeed, like the
bellows of a smith, but cannot be said to
live.
Hitopadesa.
95.
That energy which veils itself in mildness
is most effective of its object.
Māgha.
96.
Our writings are like so many dishes,
our readers, our guests, our books,
like beauty—that which one admires another
rejects; so we are approved as men’s fancies
are inclined.... As apothecaries, we make
new mixtures every day, pour out of one
vessel into another; and as those old
Romans robbed all cities of the world to
set out their bad-cited Rome, we skim off
the cream of other men’s wits, pick the
choice flowers of their tilled gardens, to
set out our own sterile plots. We weave
the same web still, twist the same rope
again and again; or, if it be a new invention,
’tis but some bauble or toy, which
idle fellows write, for as idle fellows to read.*
Burton.
97.
It is our follies that make our lives
uncomfortable. Our errors of opinion,
our cowardly fear of the world’s worthless
censure, and our eagerness after unnecessary
gold have hampered the way of virtue,
and made it far more difficult than, in itself,
it is.
Feltham.
98.
There is not half so much danger in
the desperate sword of a known foe
as in the smooth insinuations of a pretended
friend.
R. Chamberlain.
99.
Nothing is so oppressive as a secret;
it is difficult for ladies to keep it
long, and I know even in this matter a
good number of men who are women.
La Fontaine.
100.
All kinds of beauty do not inspire
love: there is a kind of it which
pleases only the sight, but does not captivate
the affections.
Cervantes.
101.
Contentment consisteth not in heaping
more fuel, but in taking away
some fire.
Fuller.
102.
It is difficult to personate and act a part
long, for where truth is not at the bottom
Nature will always be endeavouring to
return, and will peep out and betray herself
one time or other.
Tillotson.
103.
The truest characters of ignorance
Are vanity, pride, and arrogance;
As blind men use to bear their noses higher
Than those that have their eyes and sight entire.
Butler.
104.
It is better to be well deserving without
praise than to live by the air of undeserved
commendation.
R. Chamberlain.
105.
He travels safe and not unpleasantly
who is guarded by poverty and guided
by love.
Sir P. Sidney.
106.
Never put thyself in the way of temptation:
even David could not resist
it.
Talmud.
107.
Pride is a vice which pride itself
inclines every man to find in others
and overlook in himself.
Johnson.
108.
By six qualities may a fool be known:
anger, without cause; speech, without
profit; change, without motive; inquiry,
without an object; trust in a stranger; and
incapacity to discriminate between friend
and foe.
Arabic.
109.
Men are not to be judged by their
looks, habits, and appearances, but
by the character of their lives and conversations.
’Tis better that a man’s own
works than another man’s words should
praise him.
Sir R. L’Estrange.
110.
To exert his power in doing good is
man’s most glorious task.
Sophocles.
111.
Those who are skilled in archery bend
their bow only when they are prepared
to use it; when they do not require
it they allow it to remain unbent, for otherwise
it would be unserviceable when the
time for using it arrived. So it is with man.
If he were to devote himself unceasingly
to a dull round of business, without breaking
the monotony by cheerful amusements, he
would fall imperceptibly into idiotcy, or be
struck with paralysis.
Herodotus.
112.
Blinded by self-conceit and knowing nothing,
Like elephant infatuate with passion,
I thought within myself, I all things knew;
But when by slow degrees I somewhat learnt
By aid of wise preceptors, my conceit,
Like some disease, passed off; and now I live
In the plain sense of what a fool I am.
Bhartrihari.
113.
Time is the most important thing in
human life, for what is pleasure after
the departure of time? and the most consolatory,
since pain, when pain has passed,
is nothing. Time is the wheel-track in which
we roll on towards eternity, conducting us
to the Incomprehensible. In its progress
there is a ripening power, and it ripens us
the more, and the more powerfully, when
we duly estimate it. Listen to its voice, do
not waste it, but regard it as the highest
finite good, in which all finite things are
resolved.
Von Humboldt.
114.
All that we are is made up of our
thoughts; it is founded on our thoughts,
it is made up of our thoughts. If a man
speak or act with a pure thought, happiness
will follow him, like a shadow that never
leaves him.
Dhammapada.
115.
Depend not on another, rather lean
Upon thyself; trust to thine own exertions:
Subjection to another’s will gives pain;
True happiness consists in self-reliance.
Manu.
116.
If the friendship of the good be interrupted,
their minds admit of no long
change; as when the stalks of a lotus are
broken the filaments within them are more
visibly cemented.
Hitopadesa.
117.
Anger that has no limit causes terror,
and unseasonable kindness does away
with respect. Be not so severe as to cause
disgust, nor so lenient as to make people
presume.
Sa’dī.
118.
Be patient, if thou wouldst thy ends accomplish;
for like patience is there
no appliance effective of success, producing
certainly abundant fruit of actions, never
damped by failure, conquering all impediments.
Bhāravi.
119.
As rain breaks through an ill-thatched
house, passion breaks through an unreflecting
mind.
Dhammapada.
120.
Most men, even the most accomplished,
are of limited faculties; every one
sets a value on certain qualities in himself
and others: these alone he is willing to
favour, these alone will he have cultivated.
Goethe.
