Philosophy is to poetry what old age is to youth; and the stern truths of philosophy are as fatal to the fictions of the one as the chilling testimonies of experience are to the hopes of the other. Colton.
Philosophy, rightly defined, is simply the love of wisdom. Cic.
Philosophy teaches us to do willingly and 10 from conviction what others do under compulsion. Arist.
Philosophy, when superficially studied, excites doubt; when thoroughly explored, it dispels it. Bacon.
Philosophy, while it soothes the reason, damps the ambition. Bulwer Lytton.
Philosophy will clip an angel's wings. Keats.
[Greek: phobou to gêras, ou gar erchetai monon]—Fear old age, for it does not come alone. Gr. Pr.
Phœnices primi, famæ si creditur, ausi / Mansuram 15 rudibus vocem signare figuris—The Phœnicians, if rumour may be trusted, were the first who dared to write down the fleeting word in rude letters. Lucan.
Physic, for the most part, is nothing else but the substitute of exercise and temperance. Addison.
Physic is of little use to a temperate person, for a man's own observation on what he finds does him good or what hurts him, is the best physic to preserve health. Bacon.
Physical courage, which despises all danger, will make a man brave in one way; and moral courage, which defies all opinion, will make a man brave in another. Colton.
Physical science has taught us to associate Deity with the normal rather than with the abnormal. Lecky.
Physician, heal thyself. Heb. Pr. 20
Physicians, of all men, are most happy; whatever good success soever they have, the world proclaimeth; and what faults they commit, the earth covereth. Quarles.
Pia fraus—A pious fraud (either for good or evil).
Pick out of mirth, like stones out of thy ground, / Profaneness, filthiness, abusiveness. George Herbert.
Pickpockets and beggars are the best practical physiognomists, without having read a line of Lavater, who, it is notorious, mistook a philosopher for a highwayman. Colton.
Pictoribus atque poetis / Quidlibet audendi 25 semper fuit æqua potestas—The power of daring anything their fancy suggests has always been conceded to the painter and the poet. Hor.
Pictures and shapes are but secondary objects, and please or displease but in memory. Bacon.
Pie repone te—Repose in pious confidence. M.
Pièce de position—A heavy gun. Fr.
Pièce de résistance—A solid joint. Fr.
Pièces de théâtre—Plays. Fr. 30
Piety is a kind of modesty. It makes us cast down our thoughts, just as modesty makes us cast down our eyes in presence of whatever is forbidden. Joubert.
Piety is not a religion, although it is the soul of all religions. Joubert.
Piety is only a means whereby, through purest inward peace, we may attain to highest culture. Quoted by Emerson from Goethe.
Piety, like wisdom, consists in the discovery of the rules under which we are actually placed, and in faithfully obeying them. Froude.
Piety, stretched beyond a certain point, is the 35 parent of impiety. Sydney Smith.
Pigmæi gigantum humeris impositi plusquam ipsi gigantes vident—Dwarfs on a giant's back see more than the giant himself. Didacus Stella.
Pigmies are pigmies still, though perched on Alps; / And pyramids are pyramids in vales. Young.
Pigs grow fat where lambs would starve. Pr.
Pigs grunt about everything and nothing. Pr.
Pigs when they fly go tail first. Pr. 40
Pikes are caught when little fish go by. R. Southwell.
Pillen muss man schlingen, nicht kauen—Pills must be swallowed, not chewed. Ger. Pr.
Pin thy faith to no man's sleeve; hast thou not two eyes of thy own? Carlyle.
Pinguis venter non gignit sensum tenuem—A fat paunch does not produce fine sense. St. Jerome, from the Greek.
Pis-aller—A last shift. Fr. 45
Pitch a lucky man into the Nile and he will come up with a fish in his mouth. Arab. Pr.
Pitch thy behaviour low, thy projects high; / So shalt thou humble and magnanimous be. George Herbert.
Pith's gude at a' play but threadin' o' needles. Sc. Pr.
Pity and friendship are passions incompatible with each other. Goldsmith.
Pity and need make all flesh kin. There is no 50 caste in blood / Which runneth of one hue; nor caste in tears, which trickle salt with all. Sir Edwin Arnold.
Pity him who has his choice, and chooses the worse. Gael. Pr.
Pity is a thing often avowed, seldom felt; hatred is a thing often felt, seldom avowed. Colton.
Pity is imagination or fiction of future calamity to ourselves proceeding from the sense of another man's calamity. Hobbes.
Pity is the virtue of the law, / And none but tyrants use it cruelly. Timon of Athens, iii. 5.
Pity makes the world / Soft to the weak and 55 noble for the strong. Sir Edwin Arnold.
Pity only with new objects stays, / But with the tedious sight of woe decays. Dryden.
Pity shapes not into syllogisms; / Nor can affection ape philosophy. Lewis Morris.
Pity, the tenderest part of love. Yalden.
Pity those whom Nature abuses, never those who abuse Nature. Sheridan.
Pity weakness and ignorance, bear with the 5 dulness of understandings, or perverseness of tempers. Law.
Più ombra che frutto fanno gli arberi grandi—Large trees yield more shade than fruit. It. Pr.
Più sa il matto in casa sua che il savio in casa d'altri—The fool knows more in his own house than a wise man does in another's. It. Pr.
Più vale il fumo di casa mia, che il fuoco dell'altrui—The smoke of my own house is better than the fire of another's. It. Pr.
Place moral heroes in the field, and heroines will follow them as brides. Jean Paul.
Placeat homini quidquid Deo placuit—That 10 which has seemed good to God should seem good to man. Sen.
Plagiarists are always suspicious of being stolen from. Coleridge.
Plagiarists, at least, have the merit of preservation. I. Disraeli.
Plain dealing is dead, and died without issue. Pr.
Plain dealing's a jewel, but they that use it die beggars. Pr.
Plain living and high thinking. Wordsworth. 15
Plants are children of the earth; we are children of the ether. Our lungs are properly our root; we live when we breathe: we begin our life with breathing. Novalis.
Plaster thick, / Some will stick. Pr.
Plate sin with gold, / And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks; / Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw does pierce it. King Lear, iv. 6.
Plato enim mihi unus est instar omnium—Plato alone in my regard is worth them all. Antimachus, in Cic.
Plato's scheme was impossible even in his own 20 day, as Bacon's "New Atlantis" in his day, as Calvin's reform in his day, as Goethe's "Academe" in his. Out of the good there was in all these men, the world gathered what it could find of evil, made its useless Platonism out of Plato, its graceless Calvinism out of Calvin, determined Bacon to be the meanest of mankind, and of Goethe gathered only a luscious story of seduction, and daintily singable devilry. Ruskin.
Plausibus ex ipsis populi, lætoque furore, / ingenium quodvis incaluisse potest—At the applauses of the public, and at its transports of joy, every genius may grow warm. Ovid.
Plausus tunc arte carebat—In those days applause was unaffected. Ovid.
Play not for gain, but sport. George Herbert.
Play, that is, activity, not pleasures, will keep children cheerful. Jean Paul.
Play the man. George Herbert. 25
Pleasant tastes depend, not on the things themselves, but their agreeableness to this or that particular palate. Locke.
Pleasant words are as an honeycomb; sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. Bible.
Pleas'd with a rattle, tickl'd with a straw. Pope.
Pleasure and action make the hours seem short. Othello, ii. 3.
Pleasure and pain, though directly opposite, 30 are yet so contrived by nature as to be constant companions. Charron.
Pleasure and revenge / Have ears more deaf than adders to the voice / Of any true decision. Troil. and Cress., ii. 2.
Pleasure and sympathy in things is all that is real and again produces reality; all else is empty and vain. Goethe.
Pleasure can be supported by illusion; but happiness rests upon truth. Chamfort.
Pleasure is a wanton trout; / An ye drink but deep ye'll find him out. Burns.
Pleasure is far sweeter as a recreation than a 35 business. R. D. Hitchcock.
Pleasure is nothing else but the intermission of pain, the enjoying of something I am in great trouble for till I get it. John Selden.
Pleasure is the greatest incentive to evil. Plato.
Pleasure is the reflex of unimpeded energy. Sir W. Hamilton.
Pleasure itself is painful at bottom. Montaigne.
Pleasure of every kind quickly satisfies. 40 Burke.
Pleasure preconceived and preconcerted ends in disappointment; but disappointment, when it involves neither shame nor loss, is as good as success; for it supplies as many images to the mind, and as many topics to the tongue. Johnson.
Pleasure soon exhausts us, and itself also but endeavour never does. Jean Paul.
Pleasure which cannot be obtained but by unreasonable and unsuitable expense, must always end in pain. Johnson.
Pleasure which must be enjoyed at the expense of another's pain, can never be such as a worthy mind can fully delight in. Johnson.
Pleasure's couch is virtue's grave. Duganne. 45
Pleasures are like poppies spread, / You seize the flower, its bloom is shed; / Or, like the snowflake in the river, / A moment white, then melts for ever. Burns.
Pleasures lie thickest where no pleasures seem; / There's not a leaf that falls upon the ground / But holds some joy of silence or of sound, / Some sprite begotten of a summer dream. Blanchard.
Pleasures waste the spirits more than pains. Zimmermann.
Pledges taken of faithless minds, / I hold them but as the idle winds / Heard and forgot. Dr. W. Smith.
Plenty, and peace, breeds cowards; hardness 50 ever of hardiness is mother. Cymbeline, iii. 6.
Plenty makes dainty. Sc. Pr.
[Greek: pleon hêmisy pantos]—The half (i.e. well used) is more than the whole (i.e. abused). Hesiod.
Plerique enim lacrimas fundunt ut ostendant; et toties siccos oculos habent, quoties spectator definit—Many shed tears merely for show; and have their eyes quite dry whenever there is no one to observe them. Sen.
Plerumque modestus / Occupat obscuri speciem, taciturnus acerbi—Usually the modest man passes for a reserved man, the silent for a sullen one. Hor.
Ploratur lacrymis amissa pecunia veris—The loss of money is bewailed with unaffected tears. Juv.
Ploravere suis non respondere favorem / Speratum meritis—They lamented that their merits did not meet with the gratitude they hoped for. Hor.
Plough deep while sluggards sleep. Franklin.
Plough or not plough, you must pay your rent. 5 Pr.
Plunge boldly into the thick of life, and seize it where you will, it is always interesting. Goethe.
Plura faciunt homines e consuetudine quam e ratione—Men do more things from custom than from reason.
Plura sunt quæ nos terrent, quam quæ premunt; et sæpius opinione quam re laboramus—There are more things to alarm than to harm us, and we suffer much oftener in apprehension than reality. Sen.
Plures adorant solem orientem quam occidentem—More do homage to the rising sun than the setting one. Pr.
Plures crapula quam gladius—Excess kills more 10 than the sword. Pr.
Plurima mortis imago—Death in very many a form. Virg.
Plurima sont quæ / Non audent homines pertusa dicere læna—There are very many things that men, when their cloaks have got holes in them, dare not say. Juv.
Pluris est oculatus testis unus quam auriti decem. / Qui audiunt, audita dicunt: qui vident, plane sciunt—One eye-witness is better than ten from mere hearsay. Hearers can only tell what they heard. Those who see, know exactly. Plaut.
Plus aloes quam mellis habet—She has more of the aloe than the honey. Juv.
Plus dolet quam necesse est, qui ante dolet 15 quam necesse est—He who grieves before it is necessary, grieves more than is necessary.
Plus etenim fati valet hora benigni / Quam si nos Veneris commendet epistola Marti—A moment of smiling fortune is of more avail (to a soldier) than if he were recommended to Mars by an epistle from Venus. Juv.
Plus fait douceur que violence—Gentleness does more than violence. La Fontaine.
Plus impetus, majorem constantiam, penes miseros—We find greater violence and more perseverance among the wretched. Tac.
Plus in amicitia valet similitudo morum quam affinitas—Similarity of manners conduces more to friendship than relationship. Corn. Nep.
Plus in posse quam in actu—More in possibility 20 than actuality.
Plus je vis l'étranger, plus j'aimai ma patrie—The more I saw of foreign countries, the more I loved my own. De Belloy.
Plus on approche des grands hommes, plus on trouve qu'ils sont hommes—The nearer one approaches to great persons, the more one sees that they are but men. La Bruyère.
Plus on lui ôte, plus il est grand—The more you take from him, the greater he is. Quoted by Emerson.
Plus ratio quam vis cæca valere solet—Reason can generally effect more than blind force. Gallus.
Plus salis quam sumptus—More taste than expense. 25 Corn. Nep.
Plus une pierre est jétée de haut, plus elle fait d'impression où elle tombe—The greater the height from which a stone is cast, the greater the impression on the spot where it falls. Fr. (?)
Plus vetustis nam favet / Invidia mordax, quam bonis præsentibus—Stinging envy is more merciful to good things that are old than such as are new. Phædr.
Plutarch warns young men that it is well to go for a light to another man's fire, but by no means to tarry by it, instead of kindling a torch of their own. John Morley.
Plutôt une défaite au Rhin que l'abandon du Pape!—Rather a defeat on the Rhine than abandon the Pope. Louis Napoleon, to the proposal to buy the allegiance of Italy against Germany by the sacrifice of Rome.
Poco daño espanta, y mucho amansa—A little 30 loss alarms one, a great loss tames one down. Sp. Pr.
Poem (a) is a thought so passionate and alive, that, like the spirit of a plant or an animal, it has an architecture of its own, and adorns nature with a new thing. Emerson.
Poems that are great, books that are great, all of them, if you search the first foundation of their greatness, have been veridical, the truest they could get to be. Carlyle.
Poesie ist tiefes Schmerzen, / Und es kommt das echte Lied / Einzig aus dem Menschenherzen / Das ein tiefes Leid durchglüht—Poetry is deep pain, and the genuine song issues only from the human heart through which a deep sorrow glows. Justin Kerner.
Poesy is love's chosen apostle, and the very almoner of God. She is the home of the outcast, and the wealth of the needy. Lowell.
Poesy is of so subtle a spirit, that in pouring 35 out of one language into another it will evaporate. Denham.
Poeta nascitur, non fit—A poet is born, not made. L.
Poetica surgit / Tempestas—A storm is gathering in the poetic world. Juv.
Poetry comes nearer to vital truth than history. Plato.
Poetry creates life. Fred. W. Robertson.
Poetry has given me the habit of wishing to 40 discover the good and the beautiful in all that meets and surrounds me. Coleridge.
Poetry implies the whole truth, philosophy expresses a particle of it. Thoreau.
Poetry incorporates those spirits which, like angels, can never assume the body of an outward act; and sheds the perfume of those flowers which spring up but never bear any seed. Jean Paul.
Poetry interprets in two ways: by expressing with magical felicity the physiognomy and movements of the outer world; and by expressing with inward conviction the ideas and laws of the inward. Matthew Arnold.
Poetry is a spirit, not disembodied, but in the flesh, so as to affect the senses of living men. Stedman.
Poetry is always a personal interpretation of 45 life. H. W. Mabie.
Poetry is an art, the easiest to dabble in, and the hardest in which to reach true excellence. Stedman.
Poetry is an attempt man makes to render his existence harmonious. Carlyle.
Poetry is faith. Emerson.
Poetry is inestimable as a lonely faith, a lonely protest in the uproar of atheism. Emerson.
Poetry is inspiration; has in it a certain spirituality 5 and divinity which no dissecting knife will discover; arises in the most secret and most sacred region of man's soul, as it were in our Holy of Holies; and as for external things, depends only on such as can operate in that region; among which it will be found that Acts of Parliament and the state of Smithfield Markets nowise play the chief parts. Carlyle.
Poetry is music in words, and music is poetry in sound; both excellent sauce, but they have lived and died poor that made them their meal. Fuller.
Poetry is musical thought, thought of a mind that has penetrated into the inmost heart of a thing, detected the melody that lies hidden in it, ... the heart of Nature being everywhere music, if you can only reach it. Carlyle.
Poetry is only born after painful journeys into the vast regions of thought. Balzac.
Poetry is right royal. It puts the individual for the species, the one above the infinite many. Hazlitt.
Poetry is something to make us wiser and 10 better by continually revealing those types of beauty and truth which God has set in all men's souls. Lowell.
Poetry is the art of substantiating shadows and of lending existence to nothing. Burke.
Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth by calling imagination to the help of reason. Johnson.
Poetry is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge; it is the impassioned expression which is the countenance of all science. Wordsworth.
Poetry is the exquisite expression of exquisite impressions. J. Roux.
Poetry is the first and last of all knowledge—it 15 is as immortal as the heart of man. Wordsworth.
Poetry is the key to the hieroglyphics of nature. Hare.
Poetry is the language of feeling. W. Winter.
Poetry is the morning dream of great minds. Lamartine.
Poetry is the music of the soul; and, above all, of great and feeling souls. Voltaire.
Poetry is the offspring of the rarest beauty, 20 begot by imagination upon thought, and clad by taste and fancy in habiliments of grace. Simms.
Poetry is the only verity, the expression of a sound mind speaking after the ideal, and not after the apparent. Emerson.
Poetry is the perpetual endeavour to express the spirit of the thing; to pass the brute body, and search the life and reason which cause it to exist; to see that the object is always flowing away, whilst the spirit or necessity which causes it subsists. Emerson.
Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds. Shelley.
Poetry is the utterance of truth,—deep, heartfelt truth. The true poet is very near the oracle. Chapin.
Poetry is the worst mask in the world behind 25 which folly and stupidity could attempt to hide their features. Bryant.
Poetry itself is strength and joy, whether it be crowned by all mankind, or left alone in its own magic hermitage. J. Sterling.
Poetry must first be good sense, though it is something better. Quoted by Emerson.
Poetry ought to go straight to the heart, because it has come from the heart; and aim at the man in the citizen, and not the citizen in the man. Schiller.
Poetry says more and in fewer words than prose. Voltaire.
Poetry should be great and unobtrusive. Keats. 30
Poetry should be vital, either stirring our blood by its divine movements, or snatching our breath by its divine perfection. A. Birrell.
Poetry uses the rainbow tints for special effects, but always keeps its essential object in the purest white light of truth. Holmes.
Poetry was given to us to hide the little discords of life and to make man contented with the world and his condition. Goethe.
Poetry, were it the rudest, so it be sincere, is the attempt which man makes to render his existence harmonious, the utmost he can do for that end; it springs therefore from his whole feelings, opinions, activity, and takes its character from these. It may be called the music of the whole inner being. Carlyle.
Poets and heroes are of the same race; the 35 latter do what the former conceive. Lamartine.
Poets and painters ha'e leave to lee. Sc. Pr.
Poets are all who love, who feel great truths, and tell them. Bailey.
Poets are liberating gods; they are free and make free. Emerson.
Poets are natural sayers, sent into the world for the end of expression. Emerson.
Poets are never young in one sense. Their 40 delicate ear hears the far-off whispers of eternity, which coarser souls must travel towards for scores of years before their dull sense is touched by them. A moment's insight is sometimes worth a life's experience. Holmes.
Poets are the hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration, the mirrors of the gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present. Schiller.
Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. Disraeli.
Poets lose half the praise they should have got, / Could it be known what they discreetly blot. Waller.
Poets of old date, being privileged with senses, had also enjoyed external Nature; but chiefly as we enjoy the crystal cup which holds good or bad liquor for us; that is to say, in silence, or with slight incidental commentary; never, as I compute, till after the "Sorrows of Werter" was there man found who would say: Come, let us make a description: Having drunk the liquor, Come, let us eat the glass. Carlyle.
Poets should be lawgivers; that is, the boldest lyric inspiration should not chide and insult, but should announce and lead the civil code, the day's work. Emerson.
Poets should turn philosophers in age, as Pope did. We are apt to grow chilly when we sit out our fire. Sterne.
Poets utter great and wise things which they do not themselves understand. Plato.
Point d'argent, point de Suisse—No money, no Swiss. Fr. Pr.
Policy sits above conscience. Timon of Athens, 5 iii. 2.
Polished steel will not shine in the dark; no more can reason, however refined, shine efficaciously but as it reflects the light of Divine truth shed from heaven. John Foster.
Politeness is benevolence in small things. (?)
Politeness is real kindness kindly expressed. Witherspoon.
Politeness is the flower of humanity. Joubert.
Politeness is to goodness what words are to 10 thoughts. Joubert.
Politeness makes a man appear outwardly as he should be within. La Bruyère.
Political liberty is to be found only in moderate governments. Montesquieu.
Politicians think that by stopping up the chimney they can stop its smoking. They try the experiment; they drive the smoke back, and there is more smoke than ever. Borne.
Politics is a deleterious profession, like some poisonous handicrafts. Emerson.
Politics is the science of exigencies. Theodore 15 Parker.
[Greek: polla metaxy pelei kylikos kai cheileos akrou]—Much may happen between the cup and the lip. Gr.
[Greek: polla ta deina kouden anthrôpou deinoteron pelei]—Many dread powers exist, and no one more so than man. Sophocles.
Pompa mortis magis terret quam mors ipsa—The solemnity associated with death awes us more than death itself.
[Greek: pompholox ho anthrôpos]—Man is an air-bubble. Gr. Pr.
Ponamus nimios gemitus; flagrantior æquo / 20 Non debet dolor esse viri, nec vulnere major—Let us dismiss excessive laments; a man's grief should not be immoderate, nor greater than the wound received. Juv.
Ponderanda sunt testimonia, non numeranda—Testimonies are to be weighed, not counted.
Pone seram, cohibe; sed quis custodiet ipsos / Custodes? cauta est, et ab illis incipit uxor—Fasten the bolt and restrain her; but who is to watch over the watchers themselves? The wife is cunning, and will begin with them. Juv.
Pons asinorum—The asses' bridge. The Fifth Proposition in the First Book of Euclid.
Ponto nox incubat atra, / Intonuere poli et crebris micat ignibus æther—Black night sits brooding on the deep; the heavens thunder, and the ether gleams with incessant flashes. Virg.
Poor and content is rich and rich enough; / 25 But riches fineless is as poor as winter / To him that ever fears he shall be poor. Othello, iii. 3.
Poor folk hae neither ony kindred nor ony freends. Sc. Pr.
Poor folk seek meat for their stomachs, and rich folks stomachs for their meat. Sc. Pr.
Poor folks are glad of porridge. Sc. Pr.
Poor folks must say "Thank ye" for little. Pr.
Poor folk's wisdom goes for little. Dut. Pr. 30
Poor in abundance, famished at a feast, man's grief is but his grandeur in disguise, and discontent is immortality. Young.
Poor is the triumph o'er the timid hare. Thomson.
Poor love is lost in men's capacious minds; / In women's it fills all the room it finds. John Crowne.
Poor men do penance for rich men's sins. It. Pr.
Poor men, when Yule is cold, / Must be content 35 to sit by little fires. Tennyson.
Poor men's tables are soon placed. Pr.
Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, / That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, / How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, / Your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you / From seasons such as these? O I have ta'en / Too little care of this! Lear, iii. 2.
Poor tenant bodies, scant o' cash, / How they maun thole (bear) a factor's snash; / He'll stamp and threaten, curse and swear, / He'll apprehend them, poind their gear; / While they maun (must) stan', wi' aspect humble, / An' hear it a', and fear and tremble! Burns.
Poor the raiment you may wear, / Scanty fare at best be thine; / Let the soul within be clothed / With a majesty divine. M. W. Wood.
Poor though I am, despised, forgot, / Yet God, 40 my God, forgets me not; / And he is safe, and must succeed, / For whom the Lord vouchsafes to plead. Cowper.
Poor, wandering, wayward man! Art thou not tired, and beaten with stripes, even as I am? Ever, whether thou bear the royal mantle or the beggar's gaberdine, art thou so weary, so heavy-laden; and thy bed of rest is but a grave. Carlyle.
Poor when I have, poor when I haven't, poor will I ever be. Gael. Pr.
Poortith (poverty) is better than pride. Sc. Pr.
Popular glory is a perfect coquette; her lovers must toil, feel every inquietude, indulge every caprice, and perhaps at last be jilted into the bargain. Goldsmith.
Popular opinion is the greatest lie in the world. 45 Carlyle.
Popular opinions, on subjects not palpable to sense, are often true, but seldom or never the whole truth. J. S. Mill.
Popularity is a blaze of illumination, or alas! of conflagration, kindled round a man; showing what is in him; not putting the smallest item more into him; often abstracting much from him; conflagrating the poor man himself into ashes and "caput mortuum." Carlyle.
Populus me sibilat; at mihi plaudo / Ipse domi, simul ac nummos contemplor in arca—The people hiss me; but I applaud myself at home as soon as I gaze upon the coins in my chest. Hor., for the miser.
Populus vult decipi; decipiatur—The people wish to be deceived; then let them.
Por mucho madrugar, no amanéce mas aina—Early rising does not make the day dawn sooner. Sp. Pr.
Porcus Epicuri-A pig of Epicurus.
Porro unum est necessarium—But one thing is needful. M.
Porte fermée, le diable s'en va—The devil goes 5 away when he sees a shut door. Fr. Pr.
Portrait-painting may be to the painter what the practical knowledge of the world is to the poet, provided he considers it as a school by which he is to acquire the means of perfection in his art, and not as the object of that perfection. Burke.
Portraiture is the basis and the touchstone of historic painting. Schlegel.
Positive happiness is constitutional and incapable of increase; misery is artificial, and generally proceeds from our folly. Goldsmith.
Positiveness is a good quality for preachers and orators, because whoever would obtrude his thoughts and reasons upon a multitude, win convince others the more as he appears convinced himself. Swift.
Posse comitatus—The power of the county, which 10 the sheriff has the power to raise in certain cases. L.
Possession is nine-tenths of the law. Pr.
Possession of land implies the duty of living on it, and by it, if there is enough to live on; then ... if there is more land than enough for one's self, the duty of making it fruitful and beautiful for as many more as can live on it. Ruskin.
Possunt quia posse videntur—They are able because they look as if they were. Virg.
Post bellum auxilium—Aid after the war is over.
Post cineres gloria sera venit—- Glory comes too 15 late after one is reduced to ashes. Mart.
Post epulas stabis vel passus mille meabis—After eating, you should either stand or walk a mile. Pr.
Post equitem sedet atra cura—Behind the horseman sits dark care. Hor.
Post hoc; ergo propter hoc—After this; therefore on account of this. A logical fallacy.
Post mediam noctem visus quum somnia vera—He appeared to me in vision after midnight, when dreams are true. Hor.
Post nubila Phœbus—After clouds the sun. M.
Post prælia præmia—After battle rewards. M.
Post tenebras lux—After darkness light. M.
Post tot naufragia portum—After so many shipwrecks we reach port. M.
Posthumous charities are the very essence of selfishness, when bequeathed by those who, when alive, would part with nothing. Colton.
Postulata—Things admitted; postulates. 25
Pot! don't call the kettle black. Pr.
Potatoes don't grow by the side of the pot. Pr.
Potentissimus est, qui se habet in potestate—He is the most powerful who has himself in his power. Sen.
Potter is jealous of potter, and craftsman of craftsman; and poor man has a grudge against poor man, and poet against poet. Hesiod.
[Greek: pou stô]—Where I may stand, and plant my lever. 30 Archimedes.
Pound an almond, and the clear white colour will be altered into a dirty one, and the sweet taste into an oily one. Locke.
Pour avoir du goût, il faut avoir de l'âme—To have taste, one must have some soul. Vauvenargues.
Pour bien connaître un homme il faut avoir mangé un boisseau de sel avec lui—To know a man well, one must have eaten a bushel of salt with him. Fr. Pr.
Pour bien désirer—To desire good. M.
Pour bien instruire, il ne faut pas dire tout ce 35 qu'on sait, mais seulement ce qui convient à ceux qu'on instruit—To teach successfully we must not tell all we know, but only what is adapted to the pupil we are teaching. La Harpe.
Pour comble de bonheur—As the height of happiness. Fr.
Pour connaître le prix de l'argent, il faut être obligé d'en emprunter—To know the value of money, a man has only to borrow. Fr. Pr.
Pour connaître les autres, il faut se connaître soi-même—To know other people one must know one's self. Fr. Pr.
Pour couper court—To cut the matter short. Fr.
Pour dompter les anglais, / Il faut bâtir un 40 pont / Sur le Pas-de-Calais—To conquer the English one must build a bridge over the Straits of Dover. A French song.
Pour encourager les autres—To encourage the rest to go and do likewise. Fr.
Pour être assez bon, il faut l'être trop—To be good enough, one must be too good. Fr. Pr.
Pour exécuter de grandes choses il faut vivre comme si on ne devait jamais mourir—To achieve great things a man should so live as if he were never to die. La Roche.
Pour faire de l'esprit—To play the wit. Fr.
Pour faire rire—To excite laughter. Fr. 45
Pour faire un bon ménage il faut que l'homme soit sourd et la femme aveugle—To live happily together the husband must be deaf and the wife blind. Fr. Pr.
Pour forth thy fervours for a healthful mind, / Obedient passions, and a will resigned; / For love, which scarce collective man can fill; / For patience, sovereign o'er transmuted ill; / For faith, that, panting for a happier seat, / Counts death kind Nature's signal of retreat. Johnson.
Pour grands que soient les rois, ils sont ce que nous sommes; / Ils peuvent se tromper comme les autres hommes—However great kings may be, they are what we are; they may be deceived like other men. Corn.
Pour l'ordinaire la fortune nous vend bien chèrement, ce qu'on croit qu'elle nous donne—Fortune usually sells us very dear what we fancy she is giving us. Fr.
Pour parvenir à bonne foy—To succeed honourably. 50 M.
Pour qui ne les croit pas, il n'est pas de prodiges—There are no miracles for those who have no faith in them. Fr.
Pour ranger le loup, il faut le marier—To tame the wolf you must get him married. Fr. Pr.
Pour savoir quelles étoient véritablement les opinions des hommes, je devois plutôt prendre garde à ce qu'ils pratiquoient qu'à ce qu'ils disoient—To know what men really think, I would pay regard rather to what they do than to what they say. Descartes.
Pour se faire valoir—To make one's self of consequence.
Pour s'établir dans le monde, on fait tout ce que l'on peut pour y paraître établi—To establish himself in the world a man must do all he can to appear already established. La Roche.
Pour soutenir les droits que le ciel autorise, / Abîme tout plutôt; c'est l'esprit de l'église—To maintain your rights granted by Heaven, let everything perish rather than yield; this is the spirit of the Church. Boileau.
Pour tromper un rival l'artifice est permis: / 5 On peut tout employer contre ses ennemis—We may employ artifice to deceive a rival, anything against our enemies. Richelieu.
Pour un plaisir mille douleurs—For a single pleasure a thousand pains. Fr. Pr.
Pour y parvenir—To carry your point. M.
Povertà non ha parenti—Poor people have no relations. It. Pr.
Poverty and hunger have many learned disciples. Ger. Pr.
Poverty breeds strife. Pr. 10
Poverty breeds wealth, and wealth in its turn breeds poverty. The earth to form the mould is taken out of the ditch; and whatever may be the height of the one will be the depth of the other. Hare.
Poverty consists in feeling poor. Emerson.
Poverty demoralises. Emerson.
Poverty ever comes at the call. Goldsmith.
Poverty has no greater foe than bashfulness. 15 Pr.
Poverty, incessant drudgery, and much worse evils, it has often been the lot of poets and wise men to strive with, and their glory to conquer. Carlyle.
Poverty is but as the pain of piercing the ears of a maiden, and you hang jewels in the wound. Jean Paul.
Poverty is in want of much, avarice of everything. Pub. Syr.
Poverty is no crime and no credit. Pr.
Poverty is not a shame, but the being ashamed 20 of it is. Pr.
Poverty is often concealed in splendour, and often in extravagance. It is the care of a great part of mankind to conceal their indigence from the rest. They support themselves by temporary expedients, and everyday is lost in contriving for to-morrow. Johnson.
Poverty is the mither (mother) o' a' arts. Sc. Pr.
Poverty is the only load which is the heavier the more loved ones there are to assist in supporting it. Jean Paul.
Poverty is the reward of idleness. Dut. Pr.
Poverty makes people satirical—soberly, sadly, 25 bitterly satirical. H. Friswell.
Poverty of soul is irreparable. Montesquieu.
Poverty often deprives a man of all spirit and virtue. It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright. Ben. Franklin.
Poverty palls the most generous spirits; it cows industry and casts resolution itself into despair. Addison.
Poverty persuades a man to do and suffer everything that he may escape from it. Lucian.
Poverty should engender an honest pride, that 30 it may not lead and tempt us to unworthy actions. Dickens.
Poverty sits by the cradle of all our great men, and rocks them up to manhood. Heine.
Poverty snatches the reins out of the hands of piety. Saadi.
Poverty takes away so many means of doing good, and produces so much inability to resist evil, both natural and moral, that it is by all virtuous means to be avoided. Johnson.
Poverty treads upon the heels of great and unexpected riches. La Bruyère.
Poverty wants some, luxury many, and avarice 35 all things. Cowley.
Power and permanence reside only in limitations. Grabbe.
Power belongeth unto God. Bible.
Power cannot have too gentle an expression. Jean Paul.
Power exercised with violence has seldom been of long duration, but temper and moderation generally produce permanence in all things. Sen.
Power, in its quality and degree, is the 40 measure of manhood. J. G. Holland.
Power is according to quality, not quantity. How much more are men than nations? Emerson.
Power is ever stealing from the many to the few. Wendell Phillips.
Power is no blessing in itself, but when it is employed to protect the innocent. Swift.
Power is nothing but as it is felt, and the delight of superiority is proportionate to the resistance overcome. Johnson.
Power is so characteristically calm, that calmness 45 in itself has the aspect of strength. Bulwer Lytton.
Power, like a desolating pestilence, / Pollutes whate'er it touches; and obedience, / Bane of all genius, virtue, freedom, truth, / Makes slaves of men, and of the human frame a mechanized automaton. Shelley.
Power, like the diamond, dazzles the beholder, and also the wearer; it dignifies meanness; it magnifies littleness; to what is contemptible, it gives authority; to what is low, exaltation. Colton.
Power to do good is the true and lawful end of aspiring. Bacon.
Power will intoxicate the best hearts, as wine the strongest heads. No man is wise enough, no man good enough, to be trusted with unlimited power. Colton.
Power's footstool is opinion, and his throne the 50 human heart. Sir Aubrey de Vere.
Powerful attachment will give a man spirit and confidence which he could by no means call up or command of himself; and in this mood he can do wonders which would not be possible to him without it. Matthew Arnold.
Practically men have come to imagine that the laws of this universe, like the laws of constitutional countries, are decided by voting; that it is all a study of division-lists, and for the universe too depends a little on the activity of the whippers-in. Carlyle.
Practice aims at what is immediate; speculation at what is remote. In practical life, the wisest and soundest men avoid speculation, and ensure success, because, by limiting their range, they increase the tenacity with which they grasp events, while in speculative life the course is exactly the reverse, since in that department the greater the range the greater the command. Buckle.
Practice in time becomes second nature. Anon.
Practice is everything. Periander.
Practice makes perfect. Pr. 5
Practice must settle the habit of doing without reflecting on the rule. Locke.
Practise thrift, or else you'll drift. Pr.
Præcedentibus insta—Follow close on those who precede. M.
Præcepta ducunt, at exempla trahunt—Precept guides, but example draws. Pr.
Præmia virtutis honores—Honours are the rewards 10 of virtue. M.
Præsis ut prosis—Be first, that you may be of service. M.
Præsto et persto—I press on and persevere. M.
Praise a fool and you may make him useful. Dan. Pr.
Praise a fool, and you water his folly. Pr.
Praise follows truth afar off, and only overtakes 15 her at the grave. Plausibility clings to her skirts and holds her back till then. Lowell.
Praise from an enemy is the most pleasing of all commendations. Steele.
Praise God more, and blame neighbours less. Pr.
Praise is indeed the consequence and encouragement of virtue; but it is sometimes so unseasonably applied as to become its bane and corruption too. Thomas à Kempis.
Praise is so pleasing to the mind of man that it is the original motive of almost all our actions. Johnson.
Praise is the tribute of men, but felicity the 20 gift of God. Bacon.
Praise is virtue's shadow; who courts her doth more the handmaid than the dame admire. Heath.
Praise, like gold and diamonds, owes its value only to its scarcity. Johnson.
Praise makes good men better, and bad men worse. Pr.
Praise Peter, but don't find fault with Paul. Pr.
Praise the bridge which carries you over. Pr. 25
Praise the hill, but keep below. Pr.
Praise the sea, but keep on land. George Herbert.
Praise undeserved is satire in disguise. Pope.
[Greek: praos tous logous, oxys ta pragmata]—Mild in speech, keen in action. Himerius.
Pray devoutly, / And hammer stoutly. Pr. 30
Pray to God, but keep the hammer going. Pr.
Pray to God, sailor, but pull for the shore. Pr.
Prayer and practice is good rhyme. Sc. Pr.
Prayer and provender never hinder a journey. Pr.
Prayer is a groan. St. Jerome. 35
Prayer is a powerful thing; for God has bound and tied himself thereto. Luther.
Prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge to Satan. Bunyan.
Prayer is a study of truth,—a sally of the soul into the unfound infinite. Emerson.
Prayer is a turning of one's soul, in heroic reverence, in infinite desire and endeavour, towards the Highest, the All-excellent, Supreme. Carlyle, in a letter to a young friend.
Prayer is intended to increase the devotion of 40 the individual, but if the individual himself prays he requires no formulæ.... Real inward devotion knows no prayer but that arising from the depths of its own feelings. W. v. Humboldt.
Prayer is the aspiration of our poor, struggling, heavy-laden soul towards its Eternal Father, and, with or without words, ought not to become impossible, nor need it ever. Loyal sons and subjects can approach the King's throne who have no "request" to make there except that they may continue loyal. Carlyle, in a letter to a young friend.
Prayer is the cable, at whose end appears / The anchor hope, ne'er slipp'd but in our fears. Quarles.
Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, / The Christian's native air. James Montgomery.
Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the muscles of Omnipotence. Martin Tupper.
Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, / Uttered 45 or unexpressed, / The motion of a hidden fire that trembles in the breast. J. Montgomery.
Prayer is the wing wherewith the soul flies to heaven; and meditation the eye with which we see God. St. Ambrose.
Prayer knocks till the door opens. Pr.
Prayer, like Jonathan's bow, returns not empty. Gurnall.
Prayer moves the hand that moves the universe. Anon.
Prayer must not come from the roof of the 50 mouth, but from the root of the heart. Pr.
Prayer purifies; it is a self-preached sermon. Jean Paul.
Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night. Pr.
Prayer that craves a particular commodity, anything less than all good, is vicious. As a means to effect a private end, it is meanness and theft. Emerson.
Prayers are but the body of the bird; desires are its angel's wings. Jeremy Taylor.
Praying's the end of preaching. George Herbert. 55
Preaching is of much avail, but practice is far more effective. A godly life is the strongest argument that you can offer to the sceptic. H. Ballou.
Preaching is the expression of the moral sentiment in application to the duties of life. Emerson.
Précepte commence, exemple achève—Precept begins, example perfects. Fr.
Precepts or maxims are of great weight; and a few useful ones at hand do more toward a happy life than whole volumes that we know not where to find. Sen.
Preces armatæ—Armed prayers, i.e., with arms to back them up.
Precious beyond price are good resolutions. Valuable beyond price are good feelings. H. R. Haweis.
Precious ointments are put in small boxes. Pr.
Predominant opinions are generally the 5 opinions of the generation that is vanishing. Disraeli.
Prefer loss before unjust gain; for that brings grief but once, this for ever. Chilo.
Prejudice is a prophet which prophesies only evil. Pr.
Prejudice is the child of ignorance. Hazlitt.
Prejudice squints when it looks, and lies when it talks. Duchess d'Abrantes.
Prejudice, which he pretends to hate, is man's 10 absolute lawgiver; mere use-and-wont everywhere leads him by the nose: thus let but a rising of the sun, let but a creation of the world happen twice, and it ceases to be marvellous, to be noteworthy or noticeable. Carlyle.
Prendre la clef des champs—To run away (lit. take the key of the fields). Fr. Pr.
Prendre les choses au pis—To regard matters in the most unfavourable light. Fr.
Prends le premier conseil d'une femme et non le second—Take a woman's first advice and not her second. Fr. Pr.
Prends moi tel que je suis—Take me as I am. M.
Present fears / Are less than horrible imaginings. 15 Macb., i. 3.
Preserve the rights of inferior places, and think it more honour to direct in chief than to be busy in all. Bacon.
Pressure alone causes water to rise and directs it. Renan.
Presumption is our natural and original disease. Montaigne.
Presumptuousness, which audaciously strides over all the steps of gradual culture, affords little encouragement to hope for any masterpiece. Goethe.
Prêt d'accomplir—Ready to accomplish. M. 20
Prêt pour mon pays—Ready for my country. M.
"Pretty Pussy" will not feed a cat. Pr.
Prevention is better than cure. Pr.
Pria Veneziani, poi Christiane—Venetian first, Christian afterwards. Ven. Pr.
Pride adds to a man's stature; vanity only 25 puffs him out. Chamfort.
Pride and grace ne'er dwell in ae place. Sc. Pr.
Pride and poverty are ill met, yet often live together. Pr.
Pride feels no cold. Pr.
Pride flows from want of reflection and ignorance of ourselves. Knowledge and humility come upon us together. Addison.
Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty 30 spirit before a fall. Bible.
Pride hath no other glass to show itself but pride. Troil. and Cress., iii. 3.
Pride, ill-nature, and want of sense are the three great sources of ill-manners; without some one of these defects no man will behave himself ill for want of experience, or what, in the language of fools, is called knowing the world. Swift.
Pride is a flower that grows in the devil's garden. Howell.
Pride is lofty, calm, immovable; vanity is uncertain, capricious, and unjust. Chamfort.
Pride is still aiming at the blest abodes; / 35 Men would be angels, angels would be gods; / Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell, / Aspiring to be angels, men rebel. Pope.
Pride is the source of a thousand virtues; vanity is that of nearly all vices and all perversities. Chamfort.
Pride must suffer pain. Pr.
Pride never leaves its master till he gets a fa'. Sc. Pr.
Pride of origin, whether high or low, springs from the same principle in human nature; one is but the positive, the other the negative, pole of a single weakness. Lowell.
Pride, the never-failing vice of fools. Pope. 40
Pride will have a fall; for pride goeth before, and shame cometh after. Pr.
Pride with pride will not abide. Pr.
Pride would never owe, nor self-love ever pay. La Roche.
Pride's chickens have bonny feathers, but bony bodies. Pr.
Priestcraft is no better than witchcraft. Pr. 45
Priesthoods that do not teach, aristocracies that do not govern; the misery of that, and the misery of altering that, are written in Belshazzar fire-letters on the history of France. Carlyle.
Priests pray for enemies, but princes kill. 2 Hen. VI., v. 2.
Prima et maxima peccantium est pœna peccasse—The first and greatest punishment of sinners is the conscience of sin. Sen.
Prima facie—At first sight or view of a case.
Primo avulso non deficit alter / aureus—The first 50 being wrenched away, another of gold succeeds. Virg.
Primum mobile—The primary motive power.
Primus in orbe Deos fecit timor—It was fear that first suggested the existence of the gods. Statius.
Primus inter pares—The first among equals.
Primus sapientiæ gradus est falsa intelligere—The first step towards wisdom is to distinguish what is false.
Princes and lords are but the breath of kings, / 55 "An honest man's the noblest work of God." Burns.
Princes and lords may flourish or may fade; / A breath can make them, as a breath has made. Goldsmith.
Principes mortales, rempublicam æternam—Princes are mortal, the republic is eternal. Tac.
Principibus placuisse viris non ultima laus est—To have earned the goodwill of the great is not the least of merits. Hor.
Principiis obsta; sero medicina paratur, / Cum mala per longas convaluere moras—Resist the first beginnings; a cure is attempted too late when through long delay the malady has waxed strong. Ovid.
Principis est virtus maxima nosse suos—It is the greatest merit of a prince to know those his subjects. Mart.
Principle is a passion for truth. (?)
Principle is ever my motto, not expediency. Disraeli.
Prisoners of hope. Bible.
Pristinæ virtutis memores—Mindful of ancient 5 valour. M.
Priusquam incipias consulto, et ubi consulueris mature facto opus est—Before you begin, consider; but having considered, use despatch. Sall.
Private affection bereaves us easily of a right judgment. Thomas à Kempis.
Private credit is wealth; public honour is security. The feather that adorns the royal bird supports its flight; strip him of his plumage, and you fix him to the earth. Junius.
Private judgment with the accent on "private" is self-will; but with the accent on "judgment," it is freedom, free-will. J. Hutchison Stirling.
Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is 10 almost omnipotent. Ward Beecher.
Private reproof is the best grave for private faults. Pr.
Private self-regard must have been wholly subordinated to, if not entirely cast out by, a higher principle of action and a purer affection before a man can become either truly moral or religious. J. C. Sharp.
Privatorum conventio juri publico non derogat—No bargain between individuals derogates from a law. L.
Privatus illis census erat brevis, / Commune magnum—Their private property was small, the public revenue great. Hor.
Privilegium est quasi privata lex—Privilege is 15 as it were private law. L.
Pro aris et focis—For our altars and our hearths.
Pro bono publico—For the public good.
Pro Christo et patria—For Christ and country. M.
Pro confesso—As confessed or admitted.
Pro Deo et rege—For God and king. M. 20
Pro et con.—For and against.
Pro forma—For form's sake.
Pro hac vice—For this turn; on this occasion.
Pro libertate patriæ—For the liberty of my country. M.
Pro patria et rege—For king and country. M. 25
Pro rata (parte)—In proportion, proportionally.
Pro re nata—For circumstances that have arisen.
Pro rege et patria—For king and country. M.
Pro rege, lege, et grege—For king, law, and people. M.