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

Dreams.—Children of night, of indigestion bred.

—Churchill.

—Cowper.

Those who think that in order to dress well, it is necessary to dress extravagantly or grandly, make a great mistake. Nothing so well becomes true feminine beauty as simplicity.

—Geo. D. Prentice.

Numbers vi, 3.—"He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink."

THE RIGHT ANSWER.

In an address to a temperance society, Admiral Capps told a story which is printed in the New York Tribune.—A man who had ruined his health with alcohol sat looking sadly at his wife, to whom he had made many promises of reform.

"Jenny," he said, "you are a clever woman, a courageous, good woman. You should have married a better man than I am."

She looked at him, thin-limbed and stoop-shouldered, prematurely old, and answered, quietly, "I did, James."

Genesis ix, 21—"Noah drank of the wine, and was drunken."

Pray tell me whence you derive the origin of the word dun? The true origin of this expression owes its birth to one Joe Dunn, a famous bailiff of the town of Lincoln, England, so extremely active, and so dexterous at the management of his rough business, that it became a proverb, when a man refused to pay his debts, "Why don't you Dun him?" that is, why don't you send Dun to arrest him? Hence it grew a custom, and is now as old as since the days of Henry VII.

—Mulledulcia.

—Lewis Morris.

When a minister preaches his sermon, he should do so fearlessly, i. e. like a man who cuts up a big log,—let the chips fall where they may.

Do what you ought, come what may.

—French.

Duty:—I hate to see a thing done by halves; if it be right, do it boldly; if wrong, leave it undone.

—Gilpin.

Whosoever contents himself with doing the little duties of the day, great things will, by-and-by, present themselves to him for their fulfilment also.

—Howard Pyle.

We make time for duties we love.

—Unknown.

One should choose a wife with the ears, rather than with the eyes.

—Spanish.

What is told in the ear, is often heard a hundred miles off.

—Chinese.

'Tis easy for any man who has his foot unentangled by sufferings, both to exhort and to admonish him that is in difficulties.

—Aeschylus.

If you take things easy when you ought to be doing your best work, you will probably have to keep hard at work when you might be taking it easy.

Nothing is easy to the unwilling.

—From the German.

He that eats longest lives longest.

Half of what we eat is sufficient to enable us to live, and the other half that we eat enables the doctors to live.

—Dr. Osler.

Economy is the easy chair of old age.

He that will not economize may some day have to agonize.

—Confucius.

Economy is no disgrace; it is better living on a little, than living beyond your means.

In abundance prepare for scarcity.

—Mencius.

Lay up something for a rainy day; it may be needed some day.

Economy is something like a savings-bank, into which we drop pennies and get dollars in return.

—H. W. Shaw.

Take care to be an economist in prosperity: there is no fear of your being one in adversity.

—Zimmerman.

Economy is too late at the bottom of the purse.

—Italian.

Every man must educate himself. His books and teacher are but helps; the work is his.

—Webster.

Scottish Education. "A boy was compelled by the poverty of his parents to leave school and take temporary work as an assistant to Lady Abercombie's gardener. When his services were no longer required, the lady gave him a guinea and said, 'Well, Jack, how are you going to spend your guinea?' 'Oh my lady,' he replied, 'I've just made up my mind to tak' a quarter o' Greek, for I hadna got beyond Latin when I left school."

—Dr. J. Herr.

Nearly all things are difficult before they are easy.

—From the French.

There is as much eloquence in the tone of voice, in the eyes, and in the air of a speaker, as in his choice of words.

—Rochefoucauld.

EXTERNAL SIGNS OF EMOTIONS AND PASSIONS.

One would not imagine who has not given particular attention, that the body should be susceptible to such variety of attitudes and emotions, as readily to accompany every different emotion with a corresponding expression. Humility for example, is expressed naturally by hanging the head; arrogance, by its elevation; and languor or despondence, by reclining it to one side. The expressions of the hands are manifold by different attitudes and motions; they express desire, hope, fear; they assist us in promising, in inviting, in keeping one at a distance; they are made instruments of threatening, of supplication, of praise, and of horror; they are employed in approving, in refusing, in questioning; in showing our joy, our sorrow, our doubts, our regret, and our admiration.

—Lord Hames.

The evil one does not tempt people whom he finds suitably employed.

—Jeremy Taylor.

To be employed is to be happy.

—Gray.

Do good to thy friend, that he may be more thy friend; and unto thy enemy, that he may become thy friend.

Boswell said of Dr. Johnson—"Though a stern true-born Englishman, and fully prejudiced against all other nations, he had discernment enough to see, and candour enough to censure, the cold reserve too common among Englishmen towards strangers. 'Sir,' said he, (Johnson) 'two men of any other nation who are shown into a room together, at a house where they are both visitors, will immediately find some conversation. But two Englishmen will probably go each to a different window, and remain in obstinate silence. Sir, we as yet do not enough understand the common rights of humanity.'"

Rochefoucauld said, "The truest mark of being born with great qualities is being born without envy."

If we did but know how little some enjoy the great things they possess, there would not be so much envy in the world.

All matches, friendships, and societies are dangerous and inconvenient, where the contractors are not equal.

—Estrange.

Equivocation is first cousin to a lie.

—From the French.

What has been done amiss should be undone as quickly as possible.

Beware of errors of the mouth.

—Hindu.

The man who never makes any blunders, seldom makes any good hits.

Etiquette.—Good taste rejects excessive nicety; it treats little things as little things, and is not hurt by them.

Certain signs precede certain events.

—Cicero.

AVOIDING THE SUGGESTION OF EVIL.

Sir Peter Lely made it a rule never to look at a bad picture, having found by experience that whenever he did so, his pencil took a tint from it. Bishop Home said of the above: "Apply this to bad books and bad company."

I am endowed by God with power to conquer all evil.

Ursula.

How quickly and quietly the eye opens and closes, revealing and concealing a world!

OTHER'S EYES.

—Shakespeare.

The silent upbraiding of the eye is the very poetry of reproach; it speaks at once to the imagination.

—Mrs. Balfour.

Eyes are more accurate witnesses than ears.

—Plautus.

Old men's eyes are like old men's memories; they are strongest for things a long way off.

The eyes of other people are the eyes that ruin us. If all but myself were blind, I should never want a fine house nor fine furniture.

—Franklin.

The eyes are the windows of the soul.

—Hiram Powers.

We always weaken whatever we exaggerate.

—La Harpe.

He who has seen much of the world, is very prone to exaggeration.

Every man is bound to tolerate the act of which he has himself given the example.

—Phaedrus.

Noble examples excite us to noble deeds.

He who makes excuses, himself accuses.

A man must often exercise, or fast, or take physic, or be sick.

—Sir W. Temple.

I am no longer the fool I was, I have learned by experience.

All is but lip-wisdom, which wants experience.

—Sir Philip Sidney.

Among all classes of society we see extravagance keeping pace with prosperity, and indeed outstripping it, realizing Archbishop Whately's paradox: "The larger the income, the harder it is to live within it."

—Hugh S. Brown.

FACE PICTURES.

Nature has written a letter of credit on some men's faces which is honored wherever it is presented.

—Thackeray.

The surest way not to fail, is to determine to succeed.

—Sheridan.

THE MOUNTAIN FLOWER.

In Ross-shire, Scotland, there is an immense mountain gorge. The rocks have been rent in twain, and set apart twenty feet, forming two perpendicular walls two hundred feet in height. On either side of these natural walls, in crevices where earth has collected, grow wild flowers of rare quality and beauty. A company of tourists visiting that part of the country were desirous to possess themselves of specimens of these beautiful mountain flowers; but how to obtain them they knew not. At length they thought they might be gathered by suspending a person over the cliff by a rope. They offered a Highland boy, who was near by, a handsome sum of money to undertake the difficult and dangerous task. The boy looked down into the awful abyss that yawned below, and shrunk from the undertaking; but the money was tempting. Could he confide in the strangers? Could he venture his life in their hands? He felt that he could not; but he thought of his father, and, looking once more at the cliff, and then at the proffered reward, his eyes brightened, and he exclaimed: "I'll go if my father holds the rope." Beautiful illustration of the nature of faith.

Faith builds a bridge from this world to the next.

—Dr. Young.

To be trusted is perhaps a greater compliment than to be loved.

He who believes in nobody knows that he himself is not to be trusted.

—Auerbach.

Trust not him that hath once broken faith.

—Shakespeare.

It goes a great way toward making a man faithful, to let him understand that you think him so.

—Seneca.

All that a man gets by being untruthful is, that he is not believed when he speaks the truth.

Telling an untruth is like leaving the highway and going into a tangled forest. You know not how long it will take you to get back, or how much you will suffer from the thorns and briers in the wild woods.

There is no greater mistake in social life than indulging in over-familiarity. Intercourse, even between intimate friends, should have some dignity about it.

A family is a little world within doors; the miniature resemblance of the great world without.

—J. A. James.

Where can one be happier than in the bosom of his family?

—Young.

FAMILY REUNION.

—Charles Sprague.

—Byron.

FAREWELL.

MAN AND THE FARM.

It is a common complaint that the farm and farm life are not appreciated by our people. We long for the more elegant pursuits, or the ways and fashions, of the town. But the farmer has the most sane and natural occupation, and ought to find it sweeter, if less highly seasoned, than any other. He alone, strictly speaking, has a home. How many ties, how many resources, he has!—his friendship with his cattle, his team, his dog, his trees; the satisfaction in his growing crops, in his improved fields; his intimacy with nature, with bird and beast, and with the quickening elemental forces; his co-operations with the cloud, the sun, the seasons, heat, wind, rain, frost. It humbles him, teaches him patience and reverence. Cling to the farm, make much of it, put yourself into it, bestow your heart and brain upon it.

—John Burroughs.

A HINT TO A FARMER.

MY FATHER.

How beautiful is the following picture by Caroline Anne Bowles, only child of Captain Charles Bowles, of Blackland, England. Born 1787:

—From Littell's Living Age.

MY FATHER.

Not to repent of a fault, is to justify it.

—Pliny.

—Pope.

Faults.—Every man has a bag hanging before him, in which he puts his neighbors' faults, and another behind him in which he stows his own.

—Shakespeare.

A GREAT MAN'S FAULTS.

Lord Bolingbroke was one evening at a large party. Political subjects were talked of, and the conversation finally turned on the famous Duke of Marlborough. Every one had something to say against him, many blaming his avarice. Bolingbroke was silent. One of the company inquired, "How is it that you say nothing? You knew him better than all of us, and could tell us a good deal about him." Bolingbroke replied, "He was a great man, and I have forgotten all his faults."

The greatest of faults, is to be conscious of none.

Wink at wee (little) faults; Your ain are muckle.

—Scotch.

He who asks timidly courts a refusal.

There is pleasure in meeting the eyes of one on whom you are going to confer a favor.

—La Bruyere.

FAVORITISM.

We like better to see those on whom we confer benefits, than those, alas! from whom we receive them.

It is not the quantity of the meat but the cheerfulness of the guests, which makes the feast.

—Lord Clarendon.

Feast to-day with many makes fast to-morrow.

—Plautus.

FEASTING AND FASTING.

—Raynard.

Every young man has a fine season in his life when he will accept no office, and every young woman has the same in hers, when she will accept no husband; by and by they both change, and often take one another into the bargain.

—Richter.

FIDELITY.

MY OWN FIRESIDE.