Life and Literature / Over two thousand extracts from ancient and modern writers, / and classified in alphabetical order

Men of age *  *  * content themselves with a mediocrity of success.

—Bacon.

Experience shows that success is due less to ability than to zeal. The winner is he who gives himself to his work.

If you would go to the top, first go to the bottom.

The worst use that can be made of success is to boast of it.

—Sir Arthur Helps.

Mediocrity succeeds best in the world.

—Colton.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT.

At a gathering in Australia, not long since, four persons met, three of whom were shepherds on a sheep-farm. One of these had taken a degree at Oxford, another at Cambridge, the third at a German university. The fourth was their employer, a squatter, rich in flocks and herds, but scarcely able to read and write, much less to keep accounts.

SUCCESSFUL MEN WHO WERE NOT RICH.

A sense of the power and luxury in money, beyond all the wonder tales, has suddenly come to us.

In times like these, it is good to remember Agassiz, who refused to lecture at five hundred dollars a night because he was too busy to make money; Spurgeon, who refused to go to America to deliver fifty lectures at one thousand dollars a night, saying he could do better—he could stay in London and try to save fifty souls; and Emerson, who steadfastly declined to increase his income beyond one thousand two hundred dollars because he wanted his time to think.

—F. Bellamy in Everybody's Magazine.

—Herrick.

Those who accomplish great things always begin with little things.

That success costs too dear, which is attained by any sacrifice of truth, honor, or justice.

He who waits to be absolutely sure of the success of an undertaking, will never undertake it.

The man who has a sufficiency, generally smiles at the artificial wants of others.

—Hesiod, a Greek, 850 B. C.

Sun.—The glorious lamp of heaven; with one eye vieweth all the world.

—Shakespeare.

When the sun shines on you you see your friends.

—George Herbert.

FOR LITTLE BOYS AND GIRLS TO KNOW.

A boy of twelve, said to his little companion: "Do you know why Sunday was instituted from the seventh to the first day of the week." "No, I don't," replied the little boy, "I wish you would tell me." "Well, I will, and I know it is true, for my father told me: It was instituted from Saturday to Sunday in remembrance of Christ's resurrection from the dead on the first day of the week."

—Belhaven.

The ways of superiors, are generally carried by inferiors, to excess.

It is easy to swim when another holds up your head.

—From the Danish.

Sympathy is the golden key that unlocks the hearts of others.

—S. Smith.

A GOOD TEST.

A respectable merchant of London having become embarrassed in his circumstances, and his misfortunes being one day the subject of conversation in the Royal Exchange, several persons expressed the great sympathy they felt for him; whereupon a foreigner who was present, said, "I feel five hundred pounds for him; what do you feel?"

I LAY IN SORROW, DEEP DISTRESSED.

—Charles Mackay.

The human heart sighs for sympathy and solace, in the dark hour of suffering and sorrow.

—Rev. Thos. M. McConnell.

—The Talmud.

For him who does everything in its proper time, one day is worth three.

There is nothing like addressing men at the proper time.

The world is always ready to receive talent with open arms.

—O. W. Holmes.

Talent is something, but tact is everything.

—Scargill.

All talk at once, to none respect is shown.

Talking.—What a spendthrift is he of his tongue!

—Shakespeare.

They always talk who never think.

—Prior.

He who talks much is sometimes right.

—Spanish.

The talker sows, the listener reaps.

—Italian.

You can doubtless name a number of people who talk too much—including yourself!

A man of sense talks little, and listens much.

—Chinese.

A Quiet Rebuke.—When Washington's secretary excused himself for the lateness of his attendance, and laid the blame on his watch, his master quietly said—"Then you must get another watch, or I another secretary."

The cost takes away the taste: I should really like the thing, but I dislike the expense.

To teach is to learn twice over.

Nothing dies sooner than a tear.

Do not make woman weep, for God counts her tears.

—From The Talmud.

—Shakespeare.

There are few things more beautiful than tears, whether they are shed for ourselves or others; they are the meek and silent effusions of sincere feeling.

Tears sometimes have the weight of words.

—Ovid.

Tears are the diamonds of the eye.

TEARS—SILENCE OF

—Young.

Control your temper, for if it does not obey you, it will govern you.

—Horace.

Good temper is like a sunny day.

—French.

If you have a good temper, keep it; if you have a bad one, don't lose it.

When you're in the right you can afford to keep your temper, and when you're in the wrong you can't afford to lose it.

Some temptations come to the industrious, but all temptations attack the idle.

—Spurgeon.

Toil is a foil against temptation.

ONE VIEW OF THEATRES.

The chief reason why no Christian should attend the theatre is the character of a large majority of plays put on the stage.

Listen to what the play-writers and actors themselves say:

M. Dumas, a French writer of plays, wrote: "Never take your daughter to the theatre; it is not merely the work that is immoral, it is the place."

W. C. Macready, the great actor, said: "None of my children shall ever, with my consent, enter a theatre, or have any visiting connection with actors or actresses."

Edwin Booth, the great tragedian, wrote: "My knowledge of the modern theatre is so very meagre that I never permit my wife or daughter to witness a play without previously ascertaining its character. The theatre is permitted to be a mere shop for gain, open to every huckster of immoral adventures,—jimcracks."

Fanny Kemble, the actress, confessed that life on the stage was unhealthy to morals, and said: "I never presented myself before an audience without a shirking feeling of reluctance, or without thinking the excitement I had undergone unhealthy, and the personal exhibition odious."

—Southern Churchman.

An ounce of practice is worth a ton of theory.

Everything that has a beginning comes to an end.

Do little things now; so shall big things come to thee by and by asking to be done.

—Persian Proverb.

Don't despise a slight wound, or a poor relative.

Never despise small things, for we were all infants before we became men, and pupils, ere we became teachers.

Thought.—How often must we repeat it?—rules the world.

—Carlyle.

At a dinner when Daniel Webster was Secretary of State, after a period of silence which fell upon the company of some twenty gentlemen who were present, one of the guests said, "Mr. Webster, will you tell us what was the most important thought that ever occupied your mind?" Webster slowly passed his hand over his forehead, and in a low tone enquired of one near him, "Is there any one here who does not know me?" "No; all are your friends." "The most important thought that ever occupied my mind," said Webster, "was that of my individual responsibility to God." And after speaking on this subject in the most solemn strain for fully ten minutes, he silently rose from the table and retired to his room. This incident serves to illustrate the attitude of great minds towards eternal things. Great men are not scoffers. The men of flippant jeers and godless jests are invariably men of small calibre and shallow intellect.

First thoughts are not always the best.

—Alfieri.

In matters of conscience, first thoughts are best; in matters of prudence last thoughts are the best.

—Rev. Robert Hall.

To be without evil thoughts is God's best gift.

—Aeschylus.

It is said, the thumb is stronger than all the other fingers together.

THUNDER.—A LOVER OF

There is scarcely any one who may not, like a trout, be taken by tickling.

—Southey.

Time is a great master, he sets many things right.

With thee conversing I forget all time.

—Milton.

The happier the time, the quicker it passes.

—Pliny, the Younger.

Since time is not a person we can overtake when he is past, let us honor him with mirth and cheerfulness of heart while he is passing.

—Goethe.

How noiseless falls the foot of time.

—W. R. Spencer.

An hour lost in the morning is never found all day.

Time passes like the wind.

—Portuguese.

Spare moments are the gold dust of time.

Time unveils truth.

—Portuguese.

ONE WAY OF ACQUIRING A TITLE.

Tobacco-takers.—Dr. Caldwell says that there are but three animals that can abide tobacco, namely:—The African rock goat—the most loathsome creature on earth,
The foul tobacco worm,
And the rational creature, man!

—Alice Carey.

Better be preparing for tomorrow, than regretting yesterday.

To-morrow is, ah, whose?

—D. M. Mullock.

What cannot be told, had better not be done.

Never hold any one by the button or the hand, in order to be heard out; for if people are unwilling to hear you, you had better hold your tongue than them.

—Chesterfield.

Though we have two eyes, we are supplied with but one tongue. Draw your own moral.

—Alphonse Karr.

If you will control the tongue, you will soon be able also to control the mind.

Tongue.—When we advance a little into life, we find that the tongue creates nearly all the mischief of the world.

The tongue is the instrument of the greatest good and the greatest evil that is done in the world.

Let mildness ever attend thy tongue.

It is more necessary to guard the mouth than the chest.

—From the German.

It is related that a peasant once came to a monk to be taught the Scriptures. The holy man began with the Psalm, 39 chapter, 1st verse: "I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue."

The peasant went his way to practice this and never returned. Lifelong was the lesson, and lifelong the endeavor to master it.

The tongue's not steel, yet it often cuts.

A sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.

—Irving.

There are tourists who so busy themselves in traveling that they see nothing.

A useful trade may be said to be like a mine of gold.

—Moore.

He who has a trade may travel through the world.

—From the Spanish.

INFLUENCES OF FOREIGN TRAVEL.

One of the remarks which an American is expected to make on returning from a foreign tour, especially his first return, is: "Well I'm a better American for having gone abroad," meaning that foreign travel has increased his love for his own country—in other words, has toned up his patriotism.         *         *         *         *         *         *         *        *

Foreign travel will make any intelligent American a better citizen, because an increase of knowledge is a betterment. One honored resident of Washington, a gentleman past middle life, recently returned from his first European tour, and on being asked if he could make the stereotyped report of having been "made a better American," replied: "Yes; I think I am a better American for having had a deal of conceit knocked out of me." That was a profitable experience.

From Baltimore Sun, November, 1906.

He that would make his travels delightful, must first make himself delightful.

It will be observed, that when giving me (Boswell) advice as to my travels, Dr. Johnson did not dwell upon cities, and palaces, and pictures, and shows. He was of Lord Essex's opinion, who advises his kinsman, Roger, Earl of Rutland, "rather to go a hundred miles to speak with one wise man, than five miles to see a fair town."

—Boswell's Johnson.

Deuteronomy xxxiii, 19—"They shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of the treasures hid in the sand."

THE BEECH TREE'S PETITION.

Like a tree, am I sheltering others by my life?

The greater the difficulty the more glory in surmounting it. Skilful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.

TROUBLE.

Deuteronomy xxii, 4.—"Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or ass fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them; thou shalt surely help him lift them up again."

To tell our troubles, is often the way to lighten them.

PERFECT TRUST AND RESIGNATION.

In Boswell's Life of Johnson, he says:—Next morning, while we were at breakfast, Johnson gave a very earnest recommendation of what he himself practised with the utmost conscientiousness: I mean a strict attention to truth, even in the most minute particulars. "Accustom your children," said he, "constantly to this: If a thing happened at one window, and they, when relating it, say that it happened at another, do not let it pass, but instantly check them; you do not know where deviation from truth will end."

Dare to be true: Nothing can need a lie.

TRUTH, CONTRASTED WITH FALSEHOOD.