Many Thoughts of Many Minds Part 11

Content with poverty my soul I arm; And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm.

--DRYDEN.

Unless we find repose within ourselves, it is vain to seek it elsewhere.--HOSEA BALLOU.

The n.o.blest mind the best contentment has.--SPENSER.

I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

--PHILIPPIANS 4:11.

CONVERSATION.--The pith of conversation does not consist in exhibiting your own superior knowledge on matters of small consequence, but in enlarging, improving and correcting the information you possess by the authority of others.--SIR WALTER SCOTT.

There are three things in speech that ought to be considered before some things are spoken--the manner, the place and the time.--SOUTHEY.

The secret of tiring is to say everything that can be said on the subject.--VOLTAIRE.

Speak little and well if you wish to be considered as possessing merit.--FROM THE FRENCH.

The less men think, the more they talk.--MONTESQUIEU.

He who sedulously attends, pointedly asks, calmly speaks, coolly answers, and ceases when he has no more to say, is in possession of some of the best requisites of man.--LAVATER.

Amongst such as out of cunning hear all and talk little, be sure to talk less; or if you must talk, say little.--LA BRUYeRE.

Not only to say the right thing in the right place, but, far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.--G.A. SALA.

When we are in the company of sensible men, we ought to be doubly cautious of talking too much, lest we lose two good things, their good opinion and our own improvement; for what we have to say we know, but what they have to say we know not.--COLTON.

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

There is speaking well, speaking easily, speaking justly and speaking seasonably: It is offending against the last, to speak of entertainments before the indigent; of sound limbs and health before the infirm; of houses and lands before one who has not so much as a dwelling; in a word, to speak of your prosperity before the miserable; this conversation is cruel, and the comparison which naturally arises in them betwixt their condition and yours is excruciating.

--LA BRUYeRE.

Egotists cannot converse, they talk to themselves only.--A. BRONSON ALCOTT.

The extreme pleasure we take in talking of ourselves should make us fear that we give very little to those who listen to us.

--LA ROCHEFOUCAULD.

Many can argue, not many converse.--A. BRONSON ALCOTT.

One thing which makes us find so few people who appear reasonable and agreeable in conversation is, that there is scarcely any one who does not think more of what he is about to say than of answering precisely what is said to him.--LA ROCHEFOUCAULD.

The first ingredient in conversation is truth, the next good sense, the third good humor, and the fourth wit.

It is a secret known but to few, yet of no small use in the conduct of life, that when you fall into a man's conversation, the first thing you should consider is, whether he has a greater inclination to hear you, or that you should hear him.--STEELE.

In my whole life I have only known ten or twelve persons with whom it was pleasant to speak--_i.e._, who keep to the subject, do not repeat themselves, and do not talk of themselves; men who do not listen to their own voice, who are cultivated enough not to lose themselves in commonplaces, and, lastly, who possess tact and good taste enough not to elevate their own persons above their subjects.--METTERNICH.

COUNSEL.--I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching.--SHAKESPEARE.

The best receipt--best to work and best to take--is the admonition of a friend.--BACON.

Consult your friend on all things, especially on those which respect yourself. His counsel may then be useful, where your own self-love might impair your judgment.--SENECA.

Let no man value at little price a virtuous woman's counsel.--GEORGE CHAPMAN.

COURAGE.--The conscience of every man recognizes courage as the foundation of manliness, and manliness as the perfection of human character.--THOMAS HUGHES.

To struggle when hope is banished!

To live when life's salt is gone!

To dwell in a dream that's vanished!

To endure, and go calmly on!

The brave man is not he who feels no fear, For that were stupid and irrational; But he, whose n.o.ble soul its fear subdues, And bravely dares the danger nature shrinks from.

--JOANNA BAILLIE.

A valiant man Ought not to undergo or tempt a danger, But worthily, and by selected ways; He undertakes by reason, not by chance.

--BEN JONSON.

True courage is cool and calm. The bravest of men have the least of a brutal bullying insolence, and in the very time of danger are found the most serene and free. Rage, we know, can make a coward forget himself and fight. But what is done in fury or anger can never be placed to the account of courage.--SHAFTESBURY.

Much danger makes great hearts most resolute.--MARSTON.

Courage consists not in blindly overlooking danger, but in seeing it and conquering it.--RICHTER.

The truest courage is always mixed with circ.u.mspection; this being the quality which distinguishes the courage of the wise from the hardiness of the rash and foolish.--JONES OF NAYLAND.

Physical courage, which despises all danger, will make a man brave in one way; and moral courage, which despises all opinion, will make a man brave in another. The former would seem most necessary for the camp, the latter for council; but to const.i.tute a great man, both are necessary.--COLTON.

He who loses wealth loses much; he who loses a friend loses more; but he that loses his courage loses all.--CERVANTES.

COURTs.h.i.+P.--Every man ought to be in love a few times in his life, and to have a smart attack of the fever. You are better for it when it is over: the better for your misfortune, if you endure it with a manly heart; how much the better for success, if you win it and a good wife into the bargain!--THACKERAY.

Men dream in courts.h.i.+p, but in wedlock wake!--POPE.

With women worth the being won, The softest lover ever best succeeds.

--HILL.

The pleasantest part of a man's life is generally that which pa.s.ses in courts.h.i.+p, provided his pa.s.sion be sincere, and the party beloved kind with discretion. Love, desire, hope, all the pleasing emotions of the soul, rise in the pursuit.--ADDISON.

How would that excellent mystery, wedded life, irradiate the world with its blessed influences, were the generous impulses and sentiments of courts.h.i.+p but perpetuated in all their exuberant fullness during the sequel of marriage!--FREDERIC SAUNDERS.

Rejected lovers need never despair! There are four-and-twenty hours in a day, and not a moment in the twenty-four in which a woman may not change her mind.--DE FINOD.

Courts.h.i.+p consists in a number of quiet attentions, not so pointed as to alarm, nor so vague as not to be understood.--STERNE.