Since we have loaves, let us look not for cakes.
To be content with little is difficult; to be content with much—impossible.
If thou hast but little, make it not less by murmuring.
Contentment will make a cabbage look as fair as a palace.
May we never murmur without a cause, nor have cause to murmur.
He that is rich need not live sparingly, and he that can live sparingly need not be rich.
Is it possible to find perfect contentment? Some one once said:—"The secret of perfect contentment is, that there isn't any."
"It is a great blessing to possess what one wishes," said one to an ancient philosopher, who replied, "It is a greater blessing still, not to desire what one does not possess."
Contentment is a pearl of great price, and whoever procures it at the expense of ten thousand desires, makes a wise and happy purchase.
He that deserves nothing should be content with anything.
He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.
When the well is dry, then we all know the worth of water.
Conversation.—To please others we should talk on subjects they like and that interest them; avoid disputes, seldom ask questions, and never let them see that we pretend to be better informed than they are.
The first ingredient in conversation is truth, the next good sense, the third good humor, and the fourth wit.
Conversation is the music of the mind; an intellectual orchestra, where all the instruments should bear a part, but where none should play together.
Never argue in society; if any person differs from you, bow, and turn the conversation.
One of the best rules in conversation is, never say a thing which any of the company can reasonably wish had been left unsaid.
Conversation.—As it is the mark of great minds to say many things in a few words, so it is that of little minds to use many words to say nothing.
"So much they talked, so very little said."
To say nothing charmingly is a great gift.
Conversation.—In general those who nothing have to say contrive to spend the longest time in doing it.
With thee conversing, I forget all time.
It is better to turn back than to go astray.
He who converses with no one, learns nothing.
As rust corrupts iron, so envy corrupts man.
Corporations have no souls:—Lord Chancellor Thurlow said, "that corporations have neither bodies to be punished, nor souls to be condemned; they therefore do as they like."
The thatched cottage where one is merry, is preferable to a palace where one weeps.
Good counsel never comes too late.
From a safe port 'tis easy to give counsel.
He that winna be counselled canna be helped.
In many counsellors there is safety.
The countenance is frequently more expressive than the tongue.
A pleasing countenance is no slight advantage.
A smiling countenance indicates courtesy, joy, good humor and happiness.
The character of a man's native country is as strongly impressed on his mind as its accent is on his tongue.
The fact that the following verses are heard to-day proves their "convenience," to say the least, for they were written by William Livingston in 1747:——
The wise men of Greece were asked which was the best governed country. Clemenese replied, "the people who have more respect for the laws than the orators."
He who loves not his country, can love nothing.
A great deal of talent is lost to the world for the want of courage.
Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy.
The courtesy with which I receive a stranger, and the civility I show him, form the background on which he paints my portrait.
Courtesy on one side, never lasts long.
Men dream in courtship, but in wedlock wake.
Courtship and Marriage.—"Their courtship was carried on in poetry." Alas! many a pair have courted in poetry, and after marriage lived in prose.
Courtship may be said to consist of a number of quiet attentions, not so pointed as to alarm, nor so vague as not to be understood.
Covetousness.—A young man once picked up a sovereign lying in the road. Ever afterward, in walking along, he kept his eye fixed steadily upon the ground in hopes to find another. And in the course of a long life he did pick up, at different times, a goodly number of coins, gold and silver. But all these years, while he was looking for them, he saw not that the heavens were bright above him, and nature beautiful around. He never once allowed his eye to look up from the mud and filth in which he sought his treasure; and when he died—a rich old man—he only knew this fair earth as a dirty road to pick up money as you walk along. Thus you see the desire of having is the sin of covetousness.
The coward only threatens when he is secure.
The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.
Credit, like a looking-glass, broken once, is gone, alas!
He who doesn't take care of his credit will soon have none to take care of.
There are two directly opposite reasons why some men cannot get credit—one is because he is not known—the other because he is.
Some one has said that finding fault is done on a smaller capital than any other business, and it is a very fascinating business, too, for people of—small calibre.
The culture of a man is like the changing of raw material into the manufactured article. The uncultured man is comparatively helpless and worthless.
Daughter.—To a father waxing old nothing is dearer than a daughter; sons have spirits of higher pitch, but less inclined to sweet endearing fondness.
He mourns the dead who lives as they desire.
One of the Fathers said: "That there is but this difference between the death of old and young men,—that old men go to death, and death comes to young men."
There was a certain nobleman who kept a fool, to whom he one day gave a staff, with a charge to keep it till he should meet with one who was a greater fool than himself. Not many years after, the nobleman fell sick, even unto death. The fool came to see him: his lord said to him—"I must shortly leave you." "And whither are you going?" said the fool. "Into another world," replied his lordship. "And when will you come again? Within a month?" "No." "Within a year?" "No." "When then?" "Never." "Never!" said the fool, "and what provision hast thou made for thy entertainment there, whither thou goest?" "None at all." "No!" said the fool, "none at all! Here then, take my staff; for with all my folly, I am not guilty of any such folly as this."
The divinity who rules within us, forbids us to leave this world without his command.
When a man dies, they who survive him, ask what property he has left behind. The angel who bends over the dying man, asks what good deeds he has sent before him.
Happy is, or ought to be, the man who owes nothing.
If you would avoid paying debts, avoid incurring them.
Let him that hath done the good office conceal it; let him that hath received it disclose it.
"He wishes well" is worthless, unless the deed go with it.
Deformed.—Mock not at those who are misshapen by nature. He that despiseth them despiseth God that made them.
Away with delay! it always injures those that are prepared.
Do not delay: the golden moments fly!
True delicacy, that most beautiful heart-leaf of humanity, exhibits itself most significantly in little things.
Nothing prevents our being natural so much as the desire to appear so.
Remember that your dependents have seldom a full power of replying to you; and let the recollection of that make you especially considerate in your dealings with them.
Honorable descent is in all nations greatly esteemed; besides, it is to be expected that the children of men of worth will be like their fathers.
The desires of man increase with his acquisitions.
Not till after the death of a member of Parliament, a prominent county magistrate, the owner of large estates, and an active, public-spirited man in all local and national matters, was it known by those who had not seen him, that it was but the misshapen block of a man that had lived this active, manly life.
He was born with neither legs nor arms. After his death his story was told: how he resolved, when but a boy, to act and live as did other boys, without regard to his horrible misfortune; how he persisted in studying every book, in learning every game, in joining in every amusement possible to him, with his companions. How, to the last year of his life, he held himself to be as responsible as other men, and bravely paid every tithe of duty to God and to his fellows.
Even in lesser matters in life he pressed to the front. He was the most genial, witty guest at social dinner tables. Strapped to his horse, he hunted foxes in Yorkshire, or tigers in India, and with his brothers made long journeys in other parts of the world. Everywhere his cheerfulness and gaiety gave new life to duller souls.
Is there no lesson for us all in the life of this gallant gentleman?
Dr. Roux, the celebrated French physician, said: "The greater part of preparation for the digestion of food takes place in the mouth."
We have all met with a great many disappointments, and if we live much longer, shall likely meet with many more.
Discontent is a man's, and a woman's, worst enemy.
Be discreet in all things, and so render it unnecessary to be mysterious about anything.
Thy friend has a friend, and thy friend's friend has a friend;—be discreet.
Woe unto him that increaseth that which is not his!
No man's disposition will alter, say what we may.
Shut not thy purse-strings always against distress.
It is better occasionally to be deceived in people than for one to be always distrustful.
Did you never observe that dogs have not the power of comparing? A dog will take a small bit of meat as readily, when both are before him.
Food remains for three days in the stomach of the dog, because God knew that his food would be scanty.
If you are in doubt whether to write a letter or not—don't! The advice applies to doubts in life besides that of letter writing.