271.
One man envies the success in life of another, and hates him in secret; nor is he willing to give him good advice when he is consulted, except it be by some wonderful effort of good feeling, and there are, alas, few such men in the world. A real friend, on the other hand, exults in his friend’s happiness, rejoices in all his joys, and is ready to afford him the best advice.
Herodotus.
272.
This body is a tent which for a space
Does the pure soul with kingly presence grace;
When he departs, comes the tent-pitcher, Death,
Strikes it, and moves to a new halting-place.
Omar Khayyām.
273.
Speak but little, and that little only when thy own purposes require it. Heaven has given thee two ears but only one tongue, which means: listen to two things, but be not the first to propose one.
Hāfiz.
274.
The natural hostility of beasts is laid aside when flying from pursuers; so also when danger is impending the enmity of rivals is ended.
Bhāravi.
275.
He who toils with pain will eat with pleasure.
Chinese.
276.
A day of fortune is like a harvest-day, we must be busy when the corn is ripe.
Goethe.
277.
The fame of good men’s actions seldom goes beyond their own doors, but their evil deeds are carried a thousand miles’ distance.
Chinese.
278.
A subtle-witted man is like an arrow, which, rending little surface, enters deeply, but they whose minds are dull resemble stones dashing with clumsy force, but never piercing.
Māgha.
279.
It is good to tame the mind, which is difficult to hold in, and flighty, rushing wheresoever it listeth: a tamed mind brings blessings.
Dhammapada.
280.
The man who every sacred science knows,
Yet has not strength to keep in check the foes
That rise within him, mars his Fortune’s fame,
And brings her by his feebleness to shame.
Bhāravi.
281.
What a rich man gives and what he consumes, that is his real worth.
Hitopadesa.
282.
He who does not think too much of himself is much more esteemed than he imagines.
Goethe.
283.
It is a kind of policy in these days to prefix a fantastical title to a book which is to be sold; for as larks come down to a day-net, many vain readers will tarry and stand gazing, like silly passengers, at an antic picture in a painter’s shop that will not look at a judicious piece.
Burton.
284.
With many readers brilliancy of style passes for affluence of thought: they mistake buttercups in the grass for immeasurable gold mines under the ground.
Longfellow.
285.
The doctrine that enters only into the ear is like the repast one takes in a dream.
Chinese.
286.
Adorn thy mind with knowledge, for knowledge maketh thy worth.
Firdausī.
287.
Men hail the rising sun with glee,
They love his setting glow to see,
But fail to mark that every day
In fragments bears their life away.
All Nature’s face delight to view,
As changing seasons come anew;
None sees how each revolving year
Abridges swiftly man’s career.
Ramāyāna.
288.
The good man shuns evil and follows good; he keeps secret that which ought to be hidden; he makes his virtues manifest to all; he does not forsake one in adversity; he gives in season: such are the marks of a worthy friend.
Bhartrihari.
289.
No one hath come into the world for a continuance save him who leaveth behind him a good name.*
Sa’dī.
* Cf. 29.
290.
Gross ignorance produces a dogmatic spirit. He who knows nothing thinks he can teach others what he has himself just been learning. He who knows much scarcely believes that what he is saying is unknown to others, and consequently speaks with more hesitation.
La Bruyère.
291.
When you see a man elated with pride, glorying in his riches and high descent, rising even above fortune, look out for his speedy punishment; for he is only raised the higher that he may fall with a heavier crash.
Menander.
292.
The ridiculous is produced by any defect that is unattended by pain, or fatal consequences; thus, an ugly and deformed countenance does not fail to cause laughter, if it is not occasioned by pain.
Aristotle.
293.
Happy the man who early learns the difference between his wishes and his powers.
Goethe.
294.
There is nothing more pitiable in the world than an irresolute man vacillating between two feelings, who would willingly unite the two, and who does not perceive that nothing can unite them.
Goethe.
295.
Beauty in a modest woman is like fire at a distance, or like a sharp sword: neither doth the one burn nor the other wound him that comes not too near them.
Cervantes.
296.
We are more sociable and get on better with people by the heart than the intellect.
La Bruyère.
297.
A good man may fall, but he falls like a ball [and rebounds]; the ignoble man falls like a lump of clay.
Bhartrihari.
298.
Do not anxiously expect what is not yet come; do not vainly regret what is already past.
Chinese.
299.
The way to subject all things to thyself is to subject thyself to reason; thou shalt govern many if reason govern thee. Wouldst thou be a monarch of a little world, command thyself.
Quarles.
301.
There are many who talk on from ignorance rather than from knowledge, and who find the former an inexhaustible fund of conversation.
Hazlitt.
302.
Whoever brings cheerfulness to his work, and is ever active, dashes through the world’s labours.
Tieck.
303.
Grossness is not difficult to define: it is obtrusive and objectionable pleasantry.
Theophrastus.
304.
Do not consider any vice as trivial, and therefore practise it; do not consider any virtue as unimportant, and therefore neglect it.
Chinese.
305.
To bad as well as good, to all,
A generous man compassion shows;
On earth no mortal lives, he knows,
Who does not oft through weakness fall.
Rāmāyana.
306.
The good extend their loving care
To men, however mean or vile;
E’en base Chándálas’* dwellings share
Th’ impartial sunbeam’s silver smile.
Hitopadesa.
* Chándálas, or Pariahs, are the lowest, or of no caste.
307.
Let a man accept with confidence valuable knowledge even from a person of low degree, good instruction regarding duty even from a humble man, and a jewel of a wife even from an ignoble family.
Manu.
308.
We cannot too soon convince ourselves how easily we may be dispensed with in the world. What important personages we imagine ourselves to be! We think that we alone are the life of the circle in which we move; in our absence, we fancy that life, existence, breath will come to a general pause, and, alas, the gap which we leave is scarcely perceptible, so quickly is it filled again; nay, it is often the place, if not of something better, at least for something more agreeable.
Goethe.
309.
The friendships formed between good and evil men differ. The friendship of the good, at first faint like the morning light, continually increases; the friendship of the evil at the very beginning is like the light of midday, and dies away like the light of evening.*
Bhartrihari.
* In many parts of the East there is practically no twilight.
310.
A hundred long leagues is no distance for him who would quench the thirst of covetousness; but a contented mind has no solicitude for grasping wealth.
Hitopadesa.
311.
The noble-minded dedicate themselves to the promotion of the happiness of others—even of those who injure them. True happiness consists in making happy.
Bhāravi.
312.
A benefit given to the good is like characters engraven on a stone; a benefit given to the evil is like a line drawn on water.
Buddhist.
313.
The undertaking of a careless man succeeds not, though he use the right expedients: a clever hunter, though well placed in ambush, kills not his quarry if he falls asleep.
Bhāravi.
314.
All love, at first, like generous wine,
Ferments and frets until ’tis fine;
But when ’tis settled on the lee,
And from th’ impurer matter free,
Becomes the richer still the older,
And proves the pleasanter the colder.
Butler.
315.
Safe in thy breast close lock up thy intents,
For he that knows thy purpose best prevents.
Randolph.
316.
Frugality should ever be practised, but not excessive parsimony.
Hitopadesa.
317.
He who receives a favour must retain a recollection of it for all time to come; but he who confers should at once forget it, if he is not to show a sordid and ungenerous spirit. To remind a man of a kindness conferred on him, and to talk of it, is little different from a reproach.
Demosthenes.
318.
Pride not thyself on thy religious works,
Give to the poor, but talk not of thy gifts:
By pride religious merit melts away,
The merit of thy alms, by ostentation.
Manu.
319.
The empty beds of rivers fill again;
Trees leafless now renew their vernal bloom;
Returning moons their lustrous phase resume;
But man a second youth expects in vain.*
Somadeva.
* Cf. Job, XIV, 7.
320.
Shall He to thee His aid refuse
Who clothes the swan in dazzling white,
Who robes in green the parrot bright,
The peacocks decks in rainbow hues?*
Hitopadesa.
Cf. Matt. VI, 25, 26.
321.
A bad man is as much pleased as a good man is distressed to speak ill of others.
Mahābhārata.
322.
Every bird has its decoy, and every man is led and misled in his own peculiar way.
Goethe.
323.
There is such a grateful tickling in the mind of man in being commended that even when we know the praises which are bestowed on us are not our due, we are not angry with the author’s insincerity.
Feltham.
324.
Too much to lament a misery is the next way to draw on a remediless mischief.
R. Chamberlain.
325.
There is no remembrance which time doth not obliterate, nor pain which death doth not put an end to.
Cervantes.
326.
Look not mournfully into the Past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the Present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy Future, without fear, and with a manly heart.
Longfellow.
327.
Plans that are wise and prudent in themselves are rendered vain when the execution of them is carried on negligently and with imprudence.
Guicciardini.
328.
Every man stamps his value on himself. The price we challenge for ourselves is given us. Man is made great or little by his own will.
Schiller.
329.
Hath any wronged thee, be bravely revenged. Slight it, and the work’s begun; forgive it, and ’tis finished. He is below himself that is not above an injury.
Quarles.
330.
As gold is tried by the furnace, and the baser metal shown, so the hollow-hearted friend is known by adversity.
Metastasio.
331.
The rose does not bloom without thorns. True, but would that the thorns did not outlive the rose.
Richter.
332.
Truth from the mouth of an honest man and severity from a good-natured man have a double effect.
Hazlitt.
333.
Most virgins marry, just as nuns
The same thing the same way renounce;
Before they’ve wit to understand
The bold attempt, they take in hand;
Or, having stayed and lost their tides,
Are out of season grown for brides.
Butler.
334.
The fountain of content must spring up in the mind, and he who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts, and multiply the griefs which he purposes to remove.
Johnson.
335.
In all things, to serve from the lowest station upwards is necessary. To restrict yourself to a trade is best. For the narrow mind, whatever he attempts is still a trade; for the higher, an art; and the highest in doing one thing does all, or, to speak less paradoxically, in the one thing which he does rightly he sees the likeness of all that is done rightly.
Goethe.
336.
Misanthropy ariseth from a man trusting another without having sufficient knowledge of his character, and, thinking him to be truthful, sincere, and honourable, finds a little afterwards that he is wicked, faithless, and then he meets with another of the same character. When a man experiences this often, and more particularly from those whom he considered his most dear and best friends, at last, having frequently made a slip, he hates the whole world, and thinks that there is nothing sound at all in any of them.
Plato.
337.
Pleasure, most often delusive, may be born of delusion. Pleasure, herself a sorceress, may pitch her tents on enchanted ground. But happiness (or, to use a more accurate and comprehensive term, solid well-being) can be built on virtue alone, and must of necessity have truth for its foundation.
Coleridge.
338.
Entangled in a hundred worldly snares,
Self-seeking men, by ignorance deluded,
Strive by unrighteous means to pile up riches.
Then, in their self-complacency, they say,
“This acquisition I have made to-day,
That will I gain to-morrow, so much pelf
Is hoarded up already, so much more
Remains that I have yet to treasure up.
This enemy I have destroyed, him also,
And others in their turn, I will despatch.
I am a lord; I will enjoy myself;
I’m wealthy, noble, strong, successful, happy;
I’m absolutely perfect; no one else
In all the world can be compared to me.
Now will I offer up a sacrifice,
Give gifts with lavish hand, and be triumphant.”
Such men, befooled by endless vain conceits,
Caught in the meshes of the world’s illusion,
Immersed in sensuality, descend
Down to the foulest hell of unclean spirits.*
Mahābhārata.
* Cf. Luke, XII, 17-20; see also 291.
339.
There needs no other charm, nor conjuror,
To raise infernal spirits up, but Fear,
That makes men pull their horns in, like a snail,
That’s both a prisoner to itself and jail;
Draws more fantastic shapes than in the grains
Of knotted wood, in some men’s crazy brains,
When all the cocks they think they are, and bulls,
Are only in the insides of their skulls.
Butler.
340.
He that rectifies a crooked stick bends it the contrary way, so must he that would reform a vice learn to affect its mere contrary, and in time he shall see the springing blossoms of a happy restoration.
R. Chamberlain.
341.
The more weakness the more falsehood; strength goes straight: every cannon ball that has in it hollows and holes goes crooked.
Richter.
342.
Learning dissipates many doubts, and causes things otherwise invisible to be seen, and is the eye of everyone who is not absolutely blind.
Hitopadesa.
343.
Very distasteful is excessive fame
To the sour palate of the envious mind,
Who hears with grief his neighbours good by name,
And hates the fortune that he ne’er shall find.
Pindar.
344.
A more glorious victory cannot be gained over another man than this, that when the injury began on his part the kindness should begin on ours.
Tillotson.
345.
Time, which gnaws and diminishes all things else, augments and increases benefits, because a noble action of liberality done to a man of reason doth grow continually by his generously thinking of it and remembering it.
Rabelais.
346.
Were all thy fond endeavours vain
To chase away the sufferer’s smart,
Still hover near, lest absence pain
His lonely heart.
For friendship’s tones have kindlier power
Than odorous fruit, or nectared bowl,
To soothe, in sorrow’s languid hour,
The sinking soul.
Sa’dī.
347.
The faults of others are easily perceived, but those of oneself are difficult to perceive; a man winnows his neighbour’s faults like chaff, but his own fault he hides as a cheat hides the false dice from the gamester.
Dhammapada.
348.
Education and morals will be found almost the whole that goes to make a good man.
Aristotle.
349.
Toil and pleasure, in their natures opposite, are yet linked together in a kind of necessary connection.
Livy.
350.
Enjoy thou the prosperity of others,
Although thyself unprosperous; noble men
Mahābhārata.
351.
Neither live with a bad man nor be at enmity with him; even as if you take hold of glowing charcoal it will burn you, if you take hold of cold charcoal it will soil you.
Buddhist.
352.
In the sandal-tree are serpents, in the water lotus flowers, but crocodiles also; even virtues are marred by the vicious—in all enjoyments there is something which impairs our happiness.
Hitopadesa.
353.
There is no pleasure of life sprouting like a tree from one root but there is some pain joined to it; and again nature brings good out of evil.
Menander.
354.
The manner of giving shows the character of the giver more than the gift itself. There is a princely manner of giving and accepting.
Lavater.
355.
Perfect ignorance is quiet, perfect knowledge is quiet; not so the transition from the former to the latter.
Carlyle.
356.
Superstition is the religion of feeble minds; and they must be tolerated in an admixture of it in some trifling or enthusiastic shape or other; else you will deprive weak minds of a resource found necessary to the strongest.
Burke.
357.
Fair words without good deeds to a man in misery are like a saddle of gold clapped upon a galled horse.
Chamberlain.
358.
There is a rabble among the gentry as well as the commonalty; a sort of plebeian heads whose fancy moves with the same wheel as these men—in the same level with mechanics, though their fortunes do sometimes gild their infirmities and their purses compound for their follies.
Sir Thomas Browne.
359.
It is a common remark that men talk most who think least; just as frogs cease their quacking when a light is brought to the water-side.
Richter.
361.
Vociferation and calmness of character seldom meet in the same person.
Lavater.
362.
Wit and wisdom differ. Wit is upon the sudden turn, wisdom is in bringing about ends.
Selden.
363.
Real and solid happiness springs from moderation.
Goethe.
364.
In all the world there is no vice
Less prone t’excess than avarice;
It neither cares for food nor clothing:
Nature’s content with little, that with nothing.
Butler.
365.
Beside the streamlet seated, mark how life glides on:
That sign, how swift each moment goes, to me’s enough.
Behold this world’s delights, and view its various pains:
If not to you, the joy it shows to me’s enough.
Hāfiz.
366.
The lake no longer water holds—
Off fly the fowls, the lilies stay:
If friends are friends when wealth is gone,
The lily’s constancy they share.
Hindu Poetess.
367.
Let us be well persuaded that everyone of us possesses happiness in proportion to his virtue and wisdom, and according as he acts in obedience to their suggestion.
Aristotle.
368.
All property which comes to hand by means of violence, or infamy, or baseness, however large it may be, is tainted and unblest. On the other hand, whatever is obtained by honest profit, small though it be, brings a blessing with it.*
Akhlak-i-Jalālī.
* See 44.
369.
We should know mankind better if we were not so anxious to resemble one another.
Goethe.
370.
Root out the love of self, as you might the autumn lotus with your hand.
Buddhist.
371.
Whoever has the seed of virtue and honour implanted in his breast will drop a sympathising tear on the woes of his neighbour.
Nakhshabī.
372.
Do naught to others which, if done to thee, would cause thee pain: this is the sum of duty.*
Mahābhārata.
* Cf. Matt. VII, 12.
373.
A bad man, though raised to honour, always returns to his natural course, as a dog’s tail, though warmed by the fire and rubbed with oil, retains its form.*
Hitopadesa.
* Cf. Arab proverb: “A dog’s tail never can be made straight.”
374.
The man who cannot blush, and who has no feelings of fear, has reached the acme of impudence.
Menander.
375.
It is the usual consolation of the envious, if they cannot maintain their superiority, to represent those by whom they are surpassed as inferior to some one else.
Plutarch.
376.
Such as the chain of causes we call Fate, such is the chain of wishes: one links on to another; the whole man is bound in the chain of wishing for ever.
Seneca.
377.
I do remember stopping by the way,
To watch a potter thumping his wet clay;
And with its all-obliterated tongue
It murmured, “Gently, brother, gently, pray!”
Omar Khayyām.
378.
If you only knew the evils which others suffer, you would willingly submit to those which you now bear.
Philemon.
379.
Children form a bond of union than which the human heart finds none more enduring.
Livy.
380.
The sweetest pleasures soonest cloy,
And its best flavour temperance gives to joy.
Juvenal.
381.
To our own sorrows serious heed we give,
But for another’s we soon cease to grieve.
Pindar.
382.
Can anything be more absurd than that the nearer we are to our journey’s end, we should lay in the more provision for it?
Cicero.
383.
Set about whatever you intend to do; the beginning is half the battle.
Ausonius.
384.
All smatterers are more brisk and pert
Than those who understand an art;
As little sparkles shine more bright
Than glowing coals that gave them light.
Butler.
385.
No prince, how great soever, begets his predecessors, and the noblest rivers are not navigable to the fountain.
A. Marvell.
386.
The guilty man may escape, but he cannot be sure of doing so.
Epicurus.
387.
In everything you will find annoyances, but you ought to consider whether the advantages do not predominate.
Menander.
388.
Dreams in general take their rise from those incidents which have most occupied the thoughts during the day.
Herodotus.
389.
Sleeping, we image what awake we wish;
Dogs dream of bones, and fishermen of fish.*
Cf. Arab proverb: “The dream of the cat is always about mice.”
Theocritus.
390.
A man who does not endeavour to seem more than he is will generally be thought nothing of. We habitually make such large deductions for pretence and imposture that no real merit will stand against them. It is necessary to set off our good qualities with a certain air of plausibility and self-importance, as some attention to fashion is necessary.
Hazlitt.
391.
There is nothing more beautiful than cheerfulness in an old face, and among country people it is always a sign of a well-regulated life.
Richter.
392.
From things which have been obtained after having been long desired men almost never derive the pleasure and delight which they had anticipated.
Guicciardini.
393.
Seest thou good days? Prepare for evil times. No summer but hath its winter. He never reaped comfort in adversity that sowed not in prosperity.
Quarles.
394.
Every man knows his own but not others’ defects and miseries; and ’tis the nature of all men still to reflect upon themselves their own misfortunes, not to examine or consider other men’s, not to confer themselves with others; to recount their own miseries but not their good gifts, fortunes, benefits which they have, to ruminate on their adversity, but not once to think on their prosperity, not what they have but what they want.
Burton.
395.
Some people, you would think, are made up of nothing but title and genealogy; the stamp of dignity defaces in them the very character of humanity, and transports them to such a degree of haughtiness that they reckon it below them to exercise good nature or good manners.
L’Estrange.
396.
He alone is poor who does not possess knowledge.
Talmud.
397.
It is not enough to know; we must apply what we know. It is not enough to will; we must also act.
Goethe.
398.
Words of blame from those who are hostile to a great man cannot injure him. The moon is not hurt when barked at by a dog.
Arabic.
399.
The value of three things is justly appreciated by all classes of men: youth, by the old; health, by the diseased; and wealth, by the needy.
Omar Khayyām.
400.
As one might nurse a tiny flame,
The able and far-seeing man,
E’en with the smallest capital,
Can raise himself to wealth.
Buddhist.
401.
By a husband wealth is accumulated; by a wife is its preservation.
Burmese.
402.
It is very hard for the mind to disengage itself from a subject on which it has been long employed. The thoughts will be rising of themselves from time to time, though we have given them no encouragement, as the tossings and fluctuations of the sea continue several hours after the winds are laid.
Addison.
403.
Hypocrisy will serve as well
To propagate a church as zeal;
As persecution and promotion
Do equally advance devotion:
So round white stones will serve, they say,
As well as eggs, to make hens lay.
Butler.
404.
Man differs from other animals particularly in this, that he is imitative, and acquires his rudiments of knowledge in this way; besides, the delight in imitation is universal.
Aristotle.
405.
The hooting fowler seldom takes much game. When a man has a project in his mind, digested and fixed by consideration, it is wise to keep it secret till the time that his designs arrive at their despatch and perfection. He is unwise who brags much either of what he will do or what he shall have, for if what he speaks of fall not out accordingly, instead of applause, a mock and scorn will follow him.
Feltham.
406.
What is the most profitable? Fellowship with the good. What is the worst thing in the world? The society of evil men. What is the greatest loss? Failure in one’s duty. Where is the greatest peace? In truth and righteousness. Who is the hero? The man who subdues his senses. Who is the best beloved? The faithful wife. What is wealth? Knowledge. What is the most perfect happiness? Staying at home.
Bhartrihari.
407.
If a man says that it is right to give every one his due, and therefore thinks within his own mind that injury is due from a just man to his enemies but kindness to his friends, he was not wise who said so, for he spoke not the truth, for in no case has it appeared to be just to injure any one.*
Plato.
* Cf. Matt. V, 43, 44.
408.
Faith is like love, it cannot be forced. Therefore it is a dangerous operation if an attempt be made to introduce or bind it by state regulations; for, as the attempt to force love begets hatred, so also to compel religious belief produces rank unbelief.
Schopenhauer.
409.
We are like vessels tossed on the bosom of the deep; our passions are the winds that sweep us impetuously forward; each pleasure is a rock; the whole life is a wide ocean. Reason is the pilot to guide us, but often allows itself to be led astray by the storms of pride.
Metastasio.
410.
Empty is the house of a childless man; as empty is the mind of a bachelor; empty are all quarters of the world to an ignorant man; but poverty is total emptiness.
Hitopadesa.
411.
The wicked have no stability, for they do not remain in consistency with themselves; they continue friends only for a short time, rejoicing in each other’s wickedness.
Aristotle.
412.
It is the natural disposition of all men to listen with pleasure to abuse and slander of their neighbour, and to hear with impatience those who utter praises of themselves.
Demosthenes.
413.
A man ought not to return evil for evil, as many think, since at no time ought we to do an injury to our neighbour.*
Plato.
* Cf. Rom. XII, 19; 1 Thess. V, 15.
414.
In all that belongs to man you cannot find a greater wonder than memory. What a treasury of all things! What a record! What a journal of all! As if provident Nature, because she would have man circumspect, had furnished him with an account-book, to carry always with him. Yet it neither burthens nor takes up room.
Feltham.
415.
He who will not freely and sadly confess that he is much a fool is all a fool.
Fuller.
416.
The man with hoary head is not revered as aged by the gods, but only he who has true knowledge; he, though young, is old.
Manu.
417.
No fathers and mothers think their own children ugly, and this self-deceit is yet stronger with respect to the offspring of the mind.
Cervantes.
418.
In thy apparel avoid singularity, profuseness, and gaudiness. Be not too early in the fashion, nor too late. Decency is half way between affectation and neglect. The body is the shell of the soul, apparel is the husk of that shell; the husk often tells you what the kernel is.
Quarles.
419.
We have more faith in a well-written romance while we are reading it than in common history. The vividness of the representations in the one case more than counterbalances the mere knowledge of the truth of facts in the other.
Hazlitt.
420.
It is easy to lose important opportunities, and difficult to regain them; therefore when they present themselves it is the more necessary to make every effort to retain them.
Guicciardini.