Ipse Jupiter, neque pluens omnibus placet, neque abstinens—Even Jupiter himself cannot please all, whether he sends rain or fair weather. Pr.
Ipse pavet; nec qua commissas flectat habenas, / Nec scit qua sit iter; nec, si sciat, imperet illis—Scared himself, he knows neither how to turn the reins intrusted to him, nor which way to go; nor if he did, could he control the horses. Ovid, of Phaethon.
Ipsissima verba—The exact words. 35
Ipso facto—By the fact itself.
Ipso jure—By the law itself.
Ir por lana, y volver trasquilado—To go for wool and come back shorn. Sp. Pr.
Ira furor brevis est; animum rege, qui, nisi paret, / Imperat: hunc frenis, hunc tu compesce catena—Anger is a shortlived madness; control thy temper, for unless it obeys, it commands thee; restrain it with bit and chain. Hor.
Ira quæ tegitur nocet; / Professa perdunt 40 odia vindictæ locum—Resentment which is concealed is dangerous; hatred avowed loses its opportunity of revenge. Sen.
Irarum tantos volvis sub pectore fluctus?—Dost thou roll such billows of wrath within your breast? Virg.
Iratus cum ad se redit, sibi tum irascitur—When an angry man returns to himself, he is angry with himself. Pub. Syr.
Ire tamen restat, Numa quo devenit et Ancus—It still remains for you to go where Numa has gone, and Ancus before you. Hor.
Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. Bible.
Iron with often handling is worn to nothing. 45 Lyly's Euphues.
Irony is an insult conveyed in the form of a compliment. Whipple.
Irony is jesting hidden behind gravity. John Weiss.
Irremeabilis unda—The river there is no recrossing; the styx. Hor.
Irresolution loosens all our joints; like an ague, it shakes not this limb or that limb, but all the body is at once in a fit. The irresolute man hatches nothing, but addles all his actions. Feltham.
Irritabis crabrones—You will irritate the hornets. 50 Plaut.
Irritation, like friction, is likely to generate heat instead of progress. George Eliot.
Irrthum verlässt uns nie; doch ziehet ein höher Bedürfniss immer den strebenden Geist leise zur Wahrheit hinan—Error never leaves us, yet a higher need always draws the striving spirit gently on to truth. Goethe.
Is a man one whit the better because he is grown great in other men's esteem? Thomas à Kempis.
Is any place so inaccessible that an ass laden with gold cannot penetrate? Philip of Macedon to a scout who pronounced a certain territory impregnable.
Is beauty vain because it will fade? Then are earth's green robe and heavens light vain. Pierpont.
Is cadet ante senem, qui sapit ante diem—He 5 will die before he is old who is prematurely wise. Pr.
Is common opinion the standard of merit? Thomas à Kempis.
Is habitus animorum fuit, ut pessimum facinus auderent pauci, plures vellent, omnes paterentur—Such was the public temper, that some few dared to perpetrate the vilest crimes, more were fain to do so, and all looked passively on. Tac.
Is it in destroying and pulling down that skill is displayed? The shallowest understanding, the rudest hand, is more equal to that task. Burke.
Is it not astonishing that the love of repose keeps us in continual agitation? Stanislaus.
Is it not strange that men should be so ready 10 to fight for religion and so reluctant to observe its precepts? Lichtenberg.
Is it not the same to whoso wears a shoe as if the earth were thatched all over with leather? Hitopadesa.
Is it right to despair, and shall truth make us sad? Renan.
Is maxime divitiis utitur, qui minime divitiis indiget—He employs riches to the best purpose who least needs them. Sen.
Is mihi demum vivere et frui anima videtur, qui aliquo negotio intentus, præclari facinoris aut artis bonæ famam quærit—He alone appears to me to live and to enjoy life, who, being engaged in some business, seeks reputation by some illustrious action or some useful art. Sall.
Is mihi videtur amplissimus qui sua virtute in 15 altiorem locum pervenit—He is in my regard the most illustrious man who has risen by his own virtues. Cic.
Is not belief the true God-announcing miracle? Novalis.
Is not cant the prima materia of the devil, from which all falsehoods, imbecilities, abominations body themselves, from which no true thing can come? Carlyle.
Is not light greater than fire? It is the same element in a state of purity. Carlyle.
Is not marriage an open question when it is alleged, from the beginning of the world, that such as are in the institution wish to get out, and such as are out wish to get in? Emerson.
Is not shame the soil of all virtue, of all good 20 manners and good morals? Carlyle.
Is ordo vitio careto, cæteris specimen esto—Let this class (viz. the nobility of Rome) be free from vice and a pattern to the rest. The Twelve Tables.
Is sapiens qui se ad casus accommodet omnes; / Stultus pugnat in adversis ire natator aquis—He is a wise man who adapts himself to all contingencies; the fool struggles like a swimmer against the stream.
Is that a wonder which happens in two hours; and does it cease to be wonderful if happening in two millions? Carlyle.
Is the God present, felt in my own heart, a thing which Herr von Voltaire will dispute out of me or dispute into me? To the "worship of sorrow" (Christianity) ascribe what origin and genesis thou pleasest, has not that worship originated and been generated; is it not here? Feel it in thy heart and then say whether it is of God! Carlyle.
Is the jay more precious than the lark because 25 his feathers are more beautiful? Tam. of Shrew, iv. 3.
Is there anything of its own nature beautiful or not beautiful? The beauty of a thing is even that by which it shineth. Hitopadesa.
Is there evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? Bible.
Is there for honest poverty / That hangs his head, and a' that? / The coward slave we pass him by, / We dare be poor for a' that. Burns.
Is there no God, then? but at best an absentee God, sitting idle, ever since the first Sabbath, at the outside of His universe, and seeing it go? Carlyle.
Is there no stoning save with flint and rock? 30 Tennyson.
Is there no way to bring home a wandering sheep but by worrying him to death? Thomas Fuller.
Is this a dagger which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. Macb., ii. 1.
Is thy complexion sour? / Then keep such company. Herbert.
Is your trumpeter dead, that you are obliged to praise yourself? Pr.
Isaac's fond blessing may not fall on scorn, / 35 Nor Balaam's curse on love which God hath blest. Keble.
Island ez hinn besta haud sun solinn shinnar uppà—Iceland is the best land on which the sun shines. Icelandic Pr.
Isolation is the sum-total of wretchedness to a man. Carlyle.
Ist's Gottes Werk, so wird's besteh'n / Ist's Menschenwerk, wird's untergeh'n—If it be God's work, it will stand; if man's, it will perish.
Ista decens facies longis vitiabitur annis; / Rugaque in antiqua fronte senilis erit—That comely face of thine will be marred by length of years, and the wrinkle of age will one day scar thine aged brow. Ovid.
Istæc in me cudetur faba—I shall have to smart 40 for it (lit. that bean will hit me). Ter.
Istuc est sapere, non quod ante pedes modo est / Videre, sed etiam illa quæ futura sunt / Prospicere—That is wisdom, not merely to see what is immediately before one's eyes, but to forecast what is going to happen. Ter.
Istuc est sapere, qui, ubicunque opus sit, animum possis flectere—You are a wise man if you can easily direct your attention to whatever may require it. Ter.
It (love) adds a precious seeing to the eye. Love's L. Lost, iv. 3.
It belongs to great men to have great defects. Fr. Pr.
It can do us no harm to look at what is extraordinary with our own eyes. Goethe.
It chanceth in an hour that cometh not in seven years. Pr.
It costs more to revenge injuries than to bear 5 them. Pr.
It dawns no sooner for one's early rising. Port. Pr.
It exalteth a man from earthly things to love those that are heavenly. Thomas à Kempis.
It happens as with cages, the birds without despair to get in, and those within despair of getting out. Montaigne.
It happens to men of learning as to ears of corn; they shoot up and raise their heads high while they are empty; but when full and swelled with grain, they begin to flag and droop. (?)
It has been well said that our anxiety does 10 not empty to-morrow of its sorrows, but only empties to-day of its strength. Spurgeon.
It is a bad trade that of censor; he is sure to incur the hatred of those he censures, without finding them improved by the correction. Guy Patin.
It is a beautiful trait in the lover's character, that he thinks no evil of the object loved. Longfellow.
It is a beggarly conception to judge as if poetry should always be capable of a prose rendering. John Morley.
It is a brave act of valour to contemn death; but when life is more terrible than death, it is then the truest valour to dare to live. Sir T. Browne.
It is a characteristic of true genius to disturb 15 all settled ideas. Goethe.
It is a clear gain to sacrifice pleasure in order to avoid pain. Schopenhauer.
It is a common error to think that in politics legislation is everything and administration nothing. Macaulay.
It is a common failing of old men to attribute all wisdom to themselves. Fielding.
It is a common law of Nature, which no time will ever change, that superiors shall rule their inferiors. Dionysius.
It is a custom / More honoured in the breach 20 than the observance. Ham., i. 4.
It is a damnable audacity to bring forth that torturing Cross, and the Holy One who suffers on it, and to expose them to the light of the sun, which hid its face when a reckless world forced such a sight on it; to take these mysterious secrets, in which the divine depth of sorrow lies hid, and play with them, fondle them, trick them out, and rest not till the most reverend of all solemnities appears vulgar and paltry. Goethe.
It is a delusion (Wahn) to suppose that adversity (Unglück) makes man better. As well believe that the rust makes the knife sharp, dirt promotes purity, and mud clarifies the stream. Bodenstedt.
"It is a devout imagination." The Regent Murray's answer to John Knox's proposal to conserve the property of the Church for the spiritual benefit of the lieges.
It is a fair and holy office to be a prophet of Nature. Novalis.
It is a fine thing to command, though it were 25 but a herd of cattle. Cervantes.
It is a foul bird that dirties its own nest. Pr.
It is a golden rule not to judge men according to their opinions, but according to the effect these opinions have on their character. Lichtenberg.
It is a good divine that follows his own instructions. Mer. of Ven., i. 2.
It is a good horse that never stumbles, and a good wife that never grumbles. Pr.
It is a good thing to stay away till one's company 30 is desired, but not so good to stay after it is desired. Johnson.
It is a grave offence to bind a Roman citizen, a crime to flog him, almost the act of a parricide to put him to death; what shall I call crucifying him? Language worthy of such an enormity it is impossible to find. Cic.
It is a great ease to have one in our own shape a species below us, and who, without being enlisted in our service, is by nature of our retinue. Steele.
It is a great journey to life's end. Pr.
It is a great misfortune not to possess talent enough to speak well, or sense enough to hold one's tongue. La Bruyère.
It is a great mistake to think that because 35 you have read a masterpiece once or twice or ten times, therefore you have done with it.... You ought to live with it and make it part of your daily life. John Morley.
It is a great piece of folly to sacrifice the inner for the outer man. Schopenhauer.
It is a great pity when the man who should be the head figure is a mere figure-head. Spurgeon.
It is a great point of wisdom to find out one's own folly. Pr.
It is a great shame to a man to have a poor heart and a rich purse. Cato.
It is a great sin to swear unto a sin, / But a 40 greater still to keep a sinful oath. 2 Hen. VI., v. 1.
It is a great step in finesse to make people under-estimate your acuteness. La Bruyère.
It is a hard winter when one wolf eats another. Pr.
It is a kindly spirit which actually constitutes the human element in man. Schiller.
It is a long lane that has no turning. Pr.
It is a long way from granite to the oyster; 45 farther yet to Plato, and the preaching of the immortality of the soul. Emerson.
It is a low benefit to give me something; it is a high benefit to enable me to do somewhat of myself. Emerson.
It is a lucky eel that escapes skinning. George Eliot.
It is a main lesson of wisdom to know your own from another's. Emerson.
It is a man's sincerity and depth of vision that makes him a poet. Carlyle.
It is a mathematical fact that the casting of a pebble from my hand alters the centre of gravity of the universe. Carlyle.
It is a maxim of those who are esteemed perfect, that abundance is the perverter of reason. Hitopadesa.
It is a mere and miserable solitude to want true friends, without which the world is but a wilderness. Bacon.
It is a moral impossibility that any son or daughter of Adam can stand on any ground that mortal treads, and gainsay the healthy tenure on which we hold our existence. Dickens.
It is a poor art that the artisan can't live by. 5 It. Pr.
It is a poor heart that never rejoices. Pr.
It is a poor horse that is not worth its oats. Dan. Pr.
It is a poor mouse that has but one hole. Pr.
It is a poor sport that is not worth the candle. George Herbert.
It is a profound error to presume that everything 10 has been discovered; it is to take the horizon which bounds the eye for the limit of the world. Lemierre.
It is a proof of mediocrity of intellect to be addicted to relating stories. La Bruyère.
It is a rare thing, except it be from a perfect and entire friend, to have counsel given us, but such as shall be bowed and crooked to some ends which he hath that giveth it. Bacon.
It is a reproach to be the first gentleman of one's race, but greater to be the last. Pr.
It is a sad house where the hen crows louder than the cock. Pr.
It is a shame for a man to desire honour because 15 of his ancestors, and not to deserve it by his own virtue. St. Chrysostom.
It is a sign that your reputation is small or sinking if your own tongue must praise you. Judge Hale.
It is a sin against hospitality to open your doors and shut up your countenance. Pr.
It is a small virtue to keep silence on matters, but a grave fault to speak of what should be kept silent. Ovid.
It is a sorry goose that will not baste itself. Pr.
It is a strange habit of wise humanity to speak 20 in enigmas only. Ruskin.
It is a universal weakness of human nature to have an inordinate faith in things unseen and unknown, and to be affected unduly by them. Cæsar.
It is a very good world to live in, / To lend, or to spend, or to give in; / But to beg, or to borrow, or to get a man's own, / It is the very worst world that ever was known. Rochester.
It is a very risky, nay, a fatal thing, to be sociable. Schiller.
It is a virtue in hermits to forgive their enemies as well as their friends; but it is a fault in princes to show clemency towards those who are guilty. Hitopadesa.
It is a wise father that knows his own child. 25 Mer. of Ven., ii. 2.
It is absurd to contend for any sense of words in opposition to usage; for all senses are founded upon usage, and upon nothing else. Paley.
It is advisable that a man should know at least three things:—first, where he is; secondly, where he is going; thirdly, what he had best do under the circumstances. Ruskin.
It is all in my eye, i.e., it is nowhere else. Pr.
It is allowed by the laws of war to deceive an enemy by feints, false colours, spies, false intelligence, or the like; but by no means in treaties, truces, signals of capitulation or surrender. Paley.
It is always an ease, and sometimes a happiness, 30 to have nothing. Joseph Hall.
It is always by adventurers that great deeds are done, and not by the sovereigns of great empires.
It is always good when a man has two irons in the fire. F. Beaumont.
It is always necessary to show some good opinion of those whose good opinion we solicit. Johnson.
It is always term time in the court of conscience. Pr.
It is always the individual, not the age, that 35 stands up for the truth. Goethe.
It is always vitally important to ourselves to be scrupulously true. Spurgeon.
It is an argument of great wisdom to do nothing rashly, nor to be obstinate and inflexible in our opinions. Thomas à Kempis.
It is an assured sign of a worthy and generous spirit whom honour amends; for honour is, or should be, the place of virtue. Bacon.
It is an egregious error to go by the exception instead of the rule. Pascal.
It is an equal failing to trust everybody and 40 to trust nobody. Pr.
It is an honour for a man to cease from strife. Bible.
It is an ill sign to see a fox lick a lamb. Pr.
It is an ill wind that blows nobody good. Pr.
It is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others as to invent. Emerson.
It is as easy to be a scholar as a gamester. 45 Haweis.
It is as easy to deceive one's self without perceiving it, as it is difficult to deceive others without their finding it out. La Roche.
It is as great a point of wisdom to hide ignorance, as to discover knowledge. (?)
It is as little the part of a wise man to reflect much on the nature of beings above him as of beings beneath him. Ruskin.
It is as much a part of true temperance to be pleased with the little that we know and the little that we can do as with the little that we have. Ruskin.
It is as much intemperance to weep too much 50 as to laugh too much. Pr.
It is as natural for the old to be prejudiced as for the young to be presumptuous; and in the change of centuries each generation has something to judge for itself. Ruskin.
It is as rare as it is pleasant to meet an old man whose opinions are not ossified. J. F. Boyes.
It is as sport to a fool to do mischief. Bible.
It is at least fatal to the philosophic pretension of a line or stanza if, when it is fairly reduced to prose, the prose discloses that it is nonsense. John Morley.
It is bad, having once known the right, / And the impulse of nobleness prized, / To accept the less worthy, and order the fight / For a cause that is meaner, and walk by a light / That you once had despised. Dr. Walter Smith.
It is beneath the dignity of a soul that has but a grain of sense to make chance, and winds, and waves the arbitrary disposers of happiness. Lucas.
It is best not to be angry; and best, in the next 5 place, to be quickly reconciled. Johnson.
It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken. Arist.
It is best to take half in hand and the rest by and by. Pr.
It is best to take with thankfulness and admiration from each man what he has to give. John Morley.
It is better and kinder to flog a man to his work than to leave him idle till he robs and flog him afterwards. Ruskin.
It is better for a young man to blush than to 10 turn pale. Cato.
It is better for the man whom God helps than for him who rises early. Cervantes.
It is better living on a little than outliving a great deal. (?)
It is better not to live at all than to live dishonoured. Sophocles.
It Is better to be a self-made man, filled up according to God's original pattern, than to be half a man, made after some other man's pattern. J. G. Holland.
It is better to be affected with a true penitent 15 sorrow for sin than to be able to resolve the most difficult cases about it. Thomas à Kempis.
It is better to be lost than to be saved all alone. Amiel.
It is better to be nothing than a knave. M. Antoninus.
It is better to be the hammer than the anvil. Fr. Pr.
It is better to be the head o' the commonalty than the tail o' the gentry. Sc. Pr.
It is better to be wrong by rule than to be 20 wrong with nothing but the fitful caprice of our disposition to impel us. Natalia in "Wilhelm Meister."
It is better to cleanse ourselves of our sins now, than to reserve them to be cleansed at some future time. Thomas à Kempis.
It is better to create than to be learned. Creating is the essence of life. Niebuhr.
It is better to die once than live always in fear of death. Cæsar.
It is better to do well than to say well. Pr.
It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop 25 than with a brawling woman in a wide house. Bible.
It is better to fight for the good than to rail at the ill. Tennyson.
It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting. Bible.
It is better to have a lion at the head of an army of sheep than a sheep at the head of an army of lions. Defoe.
It is better to have friends in our passage through life than grateful dependants; and as love is a more willing, so it is a more lasting tribute than extorted obligation. Goldsmith.
It is better to have loved and lost than never 30 to have loved at all. Tennyson.
It is better to have one's evil days when one is young than when one is old. Carlyle.
It is better to have to do with God than with His saints. Fr. Pr.
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools. Bible.
It is better to live by begging one's bread than to gratify the mouth at the expense of others. Hitopadesa.
It is better to live in a haunted forest ... than 35 to live amongst relations after the loss of wealth. Hitopadesa.
It is better to live on the crust of your own industry than on the fruits of other people's. Cervantes.
It is better to make friends than adversaries of a conquered race. B. R. Haydon.
It is better to trust the eye than the ear. Ger. Pr.
It is bitter fare eating one's own words. Dan. Pr.
It is but the outer hem of God's great mantle 40 our poor stars do gem. Ruskin.
It is but vain to waste honey on those that will be caught with gall. Quarles.
It is by attempting to reach the top by a single leap that so much misery is produced in the world. Cobbett.
It is by being conversant with the inventions of others that we learn to invent, as by reading the thoughts of others we learn to think. Joshua Reynolds.
It is by faith that poetry as well as devotion soars above this dull earth. Henry Giles.
It is by his personal conduct that any man of 45 ordinary power will do the greatest amount of good that is in him to do. Ruskin.
It is by imitation, more than by precept, that we learn anything. Burke.
It is by presence of mind in untried circumstances that the native metal of a man is tested. Lowell.
It is by study that we become contemporaries of every age and citizens of the world. (?)
It is certain my belief gains quite infinitely the moment I can convince another mind thereof. Novalis.
It is certain that either wise bearing or 50 ignorant carriage is caught as men take diseases, one of another. 2 Hen. IV., v. 1.
It is character which builds an existence out of circumstance. Our strength is measured by our plastic power. Carlyle.
It is cheap enough to say, "God help you." Pr.
It is common to esteem most what is unknown. Tac.
It is commonly the imagination which is wounded first, rather than the heart; it is so much more sensitive. Thoreau.
It is courage that conquers in war, and not good weapons. Sp. Pr.
It is cowardly to quit the post the gods elect for us before they permit us. Pythagoras.
It is delightful, after wandering in the thick darkness of metaphysics, to behold again the fair face of Truth. Carlyle.
It is delightful to transport one's self into the spirit of the past, to see how a wise man has thought before us, and to what a glorious height we have at last reached. Goethe.
It is difficult to act a part long, for where 5 truth is not at the bottom, nature will peep out and betray itself one time or other. South.
It is difficult to descend with grace without seeming to fall. Blair.
It is difficult to do good without multiplying the sources of evil. Ruskin.
It is difficult to feel deep veneration and great affection for one and the same person. La Roche.
It is difficult to know at what moment love begins; it is less difficult to know that it has begun. Longfellow.
It is difficult to say whether irresolution renders 10 a man the more unhappy or the more despicable; also whether it is productive of worse consequences to make a bad resolution, or none at all. La Bruyère.
It is difficulties that give birth to miracles. Dr. Sharpe.
It is dreary (öde) to be able to respect nothing but one's self. Fr. Hebbel.
It is doubt (Zweifel) which turns good into bad. Goethe.
It is downright madness to contend where we are sure to be worsted. L'Estrange.
It is easier for a wit to keep fire in his mouth, 15 than to hold in a witty saying that he is burning to tell. Cic.
It is easier not to begin to go wrong than it is to turn back and do better after beginning. President Garfield.
It is easier to carry the world in one's thoughts than on one's shoulders. A. B. Alcott.
It is easier to know man in general than men in particular. La Roche.
It is easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it. Ben. Franklin.
It is easier to worship than to obey. Jean 20 Paul.
It is easier to write an indifferent poem than to understand a good one. Montaigne.
It is easy for a man who sits idle at home, and has nobody to please but himself, to ridicule or censure the common ways of mankind. Johnson.
It is easy for men to write and talk like philosophers; but to act with wisdom, there's the rub. Rivarole.
It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. Emerson.
It is easy to be a spendthrift with other people's 25 property. Platen.
It is easy to condemn; it is better to pity. Abbott.
It is easy to criticise an author, but it is difficult to appreciate him. Vauvenargues.
It is easy to give offence, though it is hard to appease. Grillparzer.
It is easy to open a shop, but hard to keep it open. Chinese Pr.
It is easy to screw one's self up into high and 30 ever higher altitudes of Transcendentalism, and see nothing under one but the everlasting snows of Himalaya, the earth shrinking into a planet, and the indigo firmament sowing itself with daylight stars; but whither does it lead? One dreads always to inanity and mere injuring of the lungs. Carlyle to Emerson.
It is enough for thee to know what each day wills; and what each day wills the day itself will tell. Goethe.
It is exactly in the treatment of trifles that a man shows what he is. Schopenhauer.
It is exceedingly difficult for a man to be as narrow as he could have been had he lived a century ago. Whipple.
It is excellent / To have a giant's strength, but tyrannous / To use it like a giant. Meas. for Meas., ii. 2.
It is falling in with their own mistaken ideas 35 that makes fools and beggars of the half of mankind. Young.
It is fancy, not the reason of things, that makes us so uneasy. L'Estrange.
It is far better to give work which is above the men than to educate the men to be above their work. Ruskin.
It is far easier to make a great rush than to plod steadily on through a long life. Spurgeon.
It is far from universally true that to get a thing you must aim at it. There are some things which can only be gained by renouncing them. Renan.
It is far more difficult to be simple than to be 40 complicated; far more difficult to sacrifice skill and ease exertion in the proper place, than to expend both indiscriminately. Ruskin.
It is folly to lay out money in the purchase of repentance. Ben. Franklin.
It is folly to live in Rome and strive with the Pope. Pr.
It is folly to pretend that one ever wholly recovers from a disappointed passion. Such wounds always leave a scar. Longfellow.
It is for the sake of him (the virtuous man) and of those like him that the earth exists and maintains itself in being. Renan.
It is for truth that God created genius. Lamartine. 45
It is for want of application, rather than of means, that men fail of success. La Roche.
It is force and right that determine everything in the world; force till right is ready. Joubert (?).
It is fortune, not wisdom, that rules man's life. Cic.
It is from books that wise men derive consolation in the troubles of life. Victor Hugo.
It is from the difference we feel between the 50 finitude of fact and the infinitude of fantasy that all the evils spring which torment humanity. Rousseau.
It is fruition, and not possession, that renders us happy. Montaigne.
It is generally a sign of a small mind to think differently from great minds. Goethe.
It is given us to live only once in the world. Goethe.
It is good for a man to be driven, were it by never such harsh methods, into looking at this great universe with his own eyes, for himself and not for another, and trying to adjust himself truly there. Carlyle.
It is good that we sometimes be contradicted, 5 and that we always bear it well; for perfect peace cannot be had in this world. Jeremy Taylor.
It is good to do nothing bad, but better to wish nothing bad. M. Claudius.
It is good to fear the worst; the best can save itself. Pr.
It is good to lend to God and the soil; they pay good interest. Dan. Pr.
It is good to rub and polish our brains against that of others. Montaigne.
It is great, it is manly, to disdain disguise. 10 Young.
It is great prudence to gain as many friends as we honestly can, especially when it may be done at so easy a rate as a good word. Judge Hale.
It is hard even to the most miserable to die. Pr.
It is hard for an empty sack to stand upright. Pr.
It is hard to be poor and honest. Pr.
It is hard to carry a full cup. Pr. 15
It is hard to kick against the pricks. Pr.
It is hard to maintain the truth, but much harder to be maintained by it. South.
It is hard to put old heads on young shoulders. Pr.
It is hard to suffer wrong and pay for it too. Pr.
It is harder to avoid censure than to gain applause; 20 for this may be done by one great or wise action in an age; but to escape censure, a man must pass his whole life without saying or doing one ill or foolish thing. (?)
It is harder to marry a daughter well than to bring her up well. Pr.
It is harder to weave than to gather wool. Spurgeon.
It is harder work to resist vices and passions, than to toil in bodily labours. Thomas à Kempis.
It is his excess of sensibility that distinguishes man from other animals. Schopenhauer.
It is his moral sentences on mankind or the 25 state that rank the prose writer among the sages. John Morley.
It is his restraint which is honourable to a man, not his liberty. Ruskin.
It is human nature to hate him whom you have injured. Tac.
It is idleness that creates impossibilities; and where men care not to do a thing, they shelter themselves under a persuasion that it cannot be done. South.
It is ill standing in dead men's shoes. Pr.
It is ill to take out of the flesh what is bred in 30 the bone. Pr.
It is impossible completely to understand what we do not love. Mrs. Jameson.
It is impossible for any man to form a right judgment of his neighbour's sufferings. Addison.
It is impossible that an ill-natured man can have a public spirit; for how should he love ten thousand men who never loved one? Pope.
It is impossible that anything so natural, so necessary, and so universal as death should ever have been designed by Providence as an evil to mankind. Swift.
It is impossible to be a hero in anything unless 35 one is first a hero in faith. Jacobi.
It is impossible to be just, if one is not generous. Pascal.
It is in great perils we see great acts of daring. Regnard.
It is in human nature soon to relax when not impelled by personal advantage or disadvantage. Goethe.
It is in the politic as in the human constitution; if the limbs grow too large for the body, their size, instead of improving, will diminish, the vigour of the whole. Goldsmith.
It is in the soul of man, when reverence, love, 40 intelligence, magnanimity have been developed there, that the Highest can disclose itself face to face in sun-splendour, independent of all cavils and jargonings;—there, of a surety, and nowhere else. Carlyle.
It is in the world that a man, devout or other, has his life to lead, his work waiting to be done. Carlyle.
It is in trifles that the mind betrays itself. Bulwer.
It is in vain for a man to be born fortunate, if he be unfortunate in his marriage. Dacier.
It is incalculable what by arranging, commanding, and regimenting you can make of men. Carlyle.
It is inconceivable how much wit it requires 45 to avoid being ridiculous. Chamfort.
It is incredible how much the mind can do to sustain the body. Goethe.
It is indeed all twilight in this world, a trifle more or less. Goethe.
It is indeed only in old age that intellectual men attain their sublime expression. Schopenhauer.
It is infamy to die and not be missed. C. Wilcox.
It is invariably found that the contented man 50 is a weak man. John Wagstaffe.
It is joy to think the best we can of human kind. Wordsworth.
It is just those who grope with the mole and cling with the bat who are vainest of their sight and of their wings. Ruskin.
It is less difficult to bear misfortunes than to remain uncorrupted by pleasure. Tac.
It is madness to make fortune the mistress of events, because in herself she is nothing, but is ruled by prudence. Dryden.
It is matter of the commonest remark how a 55 timid man who is in love will show courage, or an indolent man will show diligence. Matthew Arnold.
It is meet / That noble minds keep ever with their likes; / For who so firm that cannot be seduced? Jul. Cæs., i. 2.
It is mere cowardice to take safety in negations. George Eliot.
It is mere Philistinism on the part of private individuals to bestow too much interest on matters that do not concern them. Goethe.
It is more blessed to give than to receive. Jesus.
It is more difficult, and calls for higher energies 5 of the soul, to live a martyr than to die one. H. Mann.
It is more honourable to be raised to a throne than be born to one; fortune bestows the one, merit obtains the other. Petrarch.
It is more important to discover a new source of happiness on earth than a new planet in the sky. (?)
It is more kindly to laugh at human life than to grin at it. Wieland.
It is more painful to do nothing than something. Pr.
It is more pleasing to see smoke brightening 10 into flame than flame sinking into smoke. Johnson.
It is much easier to be critical than to be correct. Disraeli.
It is much easier to bind on a wreath than to find a head worthy to wear it. Goethe.
It is much easier to recognise error than to find truth; the former lies on the surface, the latter rests in the depths. Goethe.
It is much more easy to inspire a passion than a faith. Simms.
It is much safer to obey than to govern. 15 Thomas à Kempis.
It is natural to a man to believe what he wishes to be true, and to believe it because be wishes it. Schopenhauer.
It is natural to man to regard himself as the final cause of creation. Goethe.
It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer; but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth. Bible.
It is never permitted to any one in heaven to stand behind another and look at the back of his head: for then the influx which is from the Lord is disturbed. Swedenborg.
It is never too late to mend. Pr. 20
It is never wise to slip the bonds of discipline. Lew. Wallace.
It is no man's business whether he has genius or not: work he must, whatever he is, but quietly and steadily; and the natural and unforced results of such work will always be the things that God meant him to do, and will be his best. Ruskin.
It is no mean happiness to be seated in the mean. Mer. of Ven., i. 2.
It is no more in our power to love always than it was not to love. La Bruyère.
It is no more possible to prevent thought from 25 reverting to an ideal than the sea from returning to the shore. Joseph Cook.
It is no small commendation to manage a little well. He is a good waggoner that can turn in a little room. Bp. Hall.
It is no such heinous matter to fall afflicted, as, being down, to lie dejected. S. Chrysostom.
It is no wonder man's religion has much suffering in it; no wonder he needs a suffering God. George Eliot.
It is nobler to become great than to be born great. Pr.
It is nobler to convert souls than to conquer 30 kingdoms. Louis le Debonnaire.
It is not a question how much a man knows, but what use he can make of what he knows. J. G. Holland.
It is not advisable to reward where men have the tenderness not to punish. L'Estrange.
It is not always necessary that the true should embody (verkörpere) itself; enough if it hovers around spiritually and produce accordance (Uebereinstimmung) in us; if it hover (wogt) through the atmosphere in earnest friendly tones like the sound of bells. Goethe.
It is not an unhealthy (kränkelnde) moral philosophy, but a sturdy morality that is of any profit to us. Feuchtersleben.
It is not because of his toils that I lament for 35 the poor; we must all toil, or steal, which is worse; no faithful workman finds his task a pastime.... But what I do mourn over is that the lamp of his soul should go out; that no ray of heavenly, or even earthly, knowledge should visit him; but only in the haggard darkness, like two spectres, Fear and Indignation bear him company. Carlyle.
It is not by shirking difficulties that we can remove them or escape them. M. R. Greg.
It is not enough that a poet possess inspiration; his inspiration must be that of a cultured spirit. Schiller.
It is not enough to aim; you must hit. It. Pr.
It is not enough to know how to steal; one must know also how to conceal. It. Pr.
It is not enough to know, one must also apply; 40 it is not enough to will to do, one must also do. Goethe.
It is not enough to speak, but to speak true. Mid. Night's Dream, v. 1.
It is not enough to take steps which may some day lead to a goal; each step must be itself a goal and a step likewise. Goethe.
It is not every man that can afford to wear a shabby coat. Colton.
It is not everybody one would set to choose a horse or a pig; how much less a member of Parliament? Ruskin.
It is not everybody who can bend the bow of 45 Ulysses, and most men only do themselves a mischief by trying to bend it. John Morley.
It is not fit to tell others anything but what they can take up. A man understands nothing but what is commensurate with him. Goethe.
It is not from masters, but from their equals, that youths learn a knowledge of the world. Goldsmith.
It is not from nature, but from education and habits, that our wants are chiefly derived. Fielding.
It is not given to the world to be contented. Goethe.
It is not good for man to be, especially to work, 50 alone. Goethe.
It is not good to have an oar in every one's boat. Camden.
It is not good to meddle with divine mysteries. Goethe.
It is not good to pass by that we dislike, even to gain that which we like; for the water of life becometh mortal when mixed with a poison. Hitopadesa.
It is not he who gives abuse or blows who affronts, but the view we take of these things as insulting. Epictetus.
It is not his own individual sins that the hero atones for, but original sin, i.e., the crime of existence. Schopenhauer.
It is not history which educates the conscience; 5 it is conscience which educates history. Amiel.
It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. Bible.
It is not juggling that is to be blamed, but much juggling; for the world cannot be governed without it. Selden.
It is not lost that comes at last. Pr.
It is not merely by virtue of the sunlight that falls now, and the rain and dew which it brings, that we continue here, but by virtue of the sunlight of æons of past ages. John Burroughs.
It is not metre, but metre-making agreement 10 that makes a poem, a thought so passionate and alive, that, like the spirit of a plant or an animal, it has an architect of its own, and adorns nature with a new thing. Emerson.
It is not poetry, but prose run mad. Pope.
It is not possible to buy obedience with money. Carlyle.
It is not proper to place confidence in one who cometh without any apparent cause. Hitopadesa.
It is not propositions, not new dogmas and a logical exposition of the world, that are our first need; but to watch and tenderly cherish the intellectual and moral sensibilities, those fountains of right thought, and woo them to stay and make their home with us. Emerson.
It is not quite so easy to do good as those may 15 imagine who never try. Rd. Sharp.
It is not so much our neighbour's interest as our own that we love him. Bp. Wilson.
It is not so much the being exempt from faults, as the having overcome them, that is an advantage to us. Swift.
It is not strength, but art obtains the prize. Pope.
It is not the beard that makes the philosopher. Pr.
It is not the custom when a prince doth sneeze 20 to say, as to other persons, "God help you," but only to make a low reverence. Gerbier.
It is not the face which deceives; it is we who deceive ourselves in reading in it what is not there. Schopenhauer.
It is not the fact that a man has riches which keeps him from the kingdom of heaven, but the fact that riches have him. Dr. Caird.
It is not the fraud, but the cold-heartedness which is chiefly dreadful in treachery. Ruskin.
It is not the greatness of a man's means that makes him independent, so much as the smallness of his wants. Cobbett.
It is not the insurrections of ignorance that 25 are dangerous, but the revolts of intelligence. Lowell.
It is not the knowledge, but the use which is made of it that is productive of real benefit. Scott.
It is not the loss of heritage / That makes life poor; It is that, stage by stage, / Some leave us with a lessening faith in man, / And less of love than when our life began. Dr. Walter Smith.
It is not the manner of noble minds to leave anything half done. Wieland.
It is not the number of facts he knows, but how much of a fact he is himself, that proves the man. Bovee.
It is not the punishment, but the crime that is 30 the disgrace. Alfieri.
It is not the quantity, but the quality of knowledge which determines the mind's dignity. W. E. Channing.
It is not the reading of many books that is necessary to make a man wise and good, but the well-reading of a few. R. Baxter.
It is not the stamp on the coin that gives it its value, though on the bank-note it is. J. Burroughs.
It is not the victory that constitutes the joy of noble souls, but the combat. Montalembert.
It is not thy works, which are all mortal, 35 infinitely little, ... but only the spirit thou workest in, that can have worth or continuance. Carlyle.
It is not titles that reflect honour on men, but men on their titles. Machiavelli.
It is not to taste sweet things, but to do noble and true things, and vindicate himself under God's heaven as a God-made man, that the poorest son of Adam dimly longs. Carlyle.
It is not, truly speaking, the labour that is divided, but the men; divided into mere segments of men, broken into small fragments and crumbs of life; so that all the little piece of intelligence that is left in a man is not enough to make a pin or a nail, but exhausts itself in making the point of a pin or the head of a nail. Ruskin.
It is not want, but rather abundance that creates avarice. Montaigne.
It is not want of good fortune, want of happiness, 40 but want of wisdom that man has to dread. Carlyle.
It is not well to make great changes in old age. Spurgeon.
It is not what he has, nor even what he does, which directly expresses the worth of a man, but what he is. Amiel.
It is not wisdom, but ignorance which teaches men presumption. Bulwer Lytton.
It is not with saying, "Honey, honey," that sweetness comes into the mouth. Turk. Pr.
It is not work that kills men, it is worry. 45 It is not the revolution that destroys the machinery, but the friction. Ward Beecher.
It is of more importance to teach manners and customs than to establish laws and tribunals. Mirabeau.
It is of no use running; to set out betimes is the main point. La Fontaine.
It is of some consequence for a man to forego his own inclinations, even in matters of no great importance. Thomas à Kempis.
It is often because an author proceeds from the thought to the expression, and the reader from the expression to the thought, that a clear writer is obscure. Speroni.
It is often easier, as well as more advantageous, to conform to the opinions of others than to persuade them into ours. La Bruyère.
It is often even wise to reveal what cannot long remain concealed. Schiller.
It is one of the wretchednesses of the great 5 that they have no approved friends. Channing.
It is one soul which animates all men. Emerson.
It is one thing to be tempted, another thing to fall. Shakespeare.
It is one thing to see that a line is crooked, and another thing to be able to draw a straight one. Rd. Sharp.
It is one thing to speak much, and another to speak pertinently. Pr.
It is only a part of art that can be taught; the 10 artist needs the whole. Goethe.
It is only at the first encounter that a face makes its full impression upon us. Schopenhauer.
It is only because they are not used to taste of what is excellent that the generality of people take delight in silly and insipid things, provided they be new. Goethe.
It is only by labour that thought can be made healthy, and only by thought that labour can be made happy. Ruskin.
It is only by universals, and never by singulars, that we can think. Dr. Hutchison Stirling.
It is only God's business to make laws, and 15 the lawyer's to read and enforce them. Ruskin.
It is only in society that a man's powers can have full play. Schopenhauer.
It is only in their misery that we recognise the hand and finger of God leading good men to good. Goethe.
It is only kindred griefs that draw forth our tears, and each weeps really for himself. Heine.
It is only men collectively that live the life of man. Goethe.
It is only necessary to grow old to become 20 indulgent. I see no fault committed that I have not committed myself. Goethe.
It is only on reality that any power of action can be based. Emerson.
It is only people who possess firmness that can possess true gentleness. La Roche.
It is only reason that teaches silence. The heart teaches us to speak. Jean Paul.
It is only rogues who feel the restraints of law. J. S. Holland.
It is only strict precision of thought that confers 25 facility of expression. Schiller.
It is only the finite that has wrought and suffered; the infinite lies stretched in smiling repose. Emerson.
It is only time that possesses full reality, and our existence lies in it exclusively. Schopenhauer.
It is only when a man is alone that he is really free. Schopenhauer.
It is only when it is bent that the bow shows its strength. Grillparzer.
It is only with renunciation that life, strictly 30 speaking, can be said to begin. Goethe.
It is our relation to circumstances that determines their influence over us. The same wind that carries one vessel into port may blow another off shore. Bovee.
It is petty expenses that empty the purse. It. Pr.
It is pleasant to die if there be gods, and sad to live if there be none. Marcus Antoninus.
It is possible to sin against charity, when we do not sin against truth. Pr.
It is precisely in accepting death as the end 35 of all and in laying down, on that sorrowful condition, his life for his friends, that the hero and patriot of all time has become the glory and safety of his country. Ruskin.
It is profound ignorance that inspires a degenerate tone. La Bruyère.
It is proof of a high culture to say the greatest matters in the simplest way. Emerson.
It is proper and beneficial sometimes to be left to thyself. Thomas à Kempis.
It is prudent to be on the reserve even with your best friend, when he betrays a too eager curiosity to worm out your secret. La Bruyère.
It is rare indeed that there is not ample 40 occasion for grumbling. John Wagstaffe.
It is religion that has formed the Bible, not the Bible that has formed religion. R. D. C. Levin.
It is sad to have to live in a place where all our activity must simmer within ourselves. Goethe.
It is sad to see how an extraordinary man so often strangles himself, struggling in vain with himself, his circumstances, and his time, without once coming upon a green branch. Goethe.
It is said no man is a hero to his valet. The reason is that it requires a hero to recognise a hero. The valet, however, will probably know well enough how to estimate his equals. Goethe.
It is so much easier to do what one has done 45 before than to do a new thing, that there is a perpetual tendency to a set mode. Emerson.
It is St. Christopher that carries Christ, not Christ St. Christopher, i.e., in this myth, it is not Christ that bears the Church, but the Church that bears Christ. Ed.
It is sure to be dark if you shut your eyes. Pr.
It is the ambiguous distracted training which they are subject to that makes men uncertain; it awakens wishes when it should quicken tendencies. Goethe.
It is the best sign of a great nature, that it opens a foreground, and, like the breath of morning landscapes, invites us onward. Emerson.
It is the best use of fate to teach a fatal courage. 50 Emerson.
It is the bright day that brings forth the adder, / And that craves wary walking. Jul. Cæs., ii. 1.
It is the cause, not the death, that makes the martyr. Napoleon.
It is the common error of builders and parents to follow some plan they think beautiful (and perhaps is so) without considering that nothing is beautiful which is displaced. Lady Montagu.
It is the common wonder of all men how, among so many millions of faces, there should be none alike. Sir Thomas Browne.
It is the company, and not the charge that makes the feast. Pr.
It is the condition of humanity to design what 5 never will be done, and to hope what never will be attained. Johnson.
It is the curse of kings to be attended / By slaves, that take their humours for a warrant. King John.