Many Thoughts of Many Minds Part 52

We must distinguish between felicity and prosperity; for prosperity leads often to ambition, and ambition to disappointment.--LANDOR.

He that swells in prosperity will be sure to shrink in adversity.

--COLTON.

Prosperity is very liable to bring pride among the other goods with which it endows an individual; it is then that prosperity costs too dear.--HOSEA BALLOU.

Prosperity, in regard of our corrupt inclination to abuse the blessings of Almighty G.o.d, doth prove a thing dangerous to the soul of man.--HOOKER.

It is one of the worst effects of prosperity to make a man a vortex, instead of a fountain; so that, instead of throwing out, he learns only to draw in.--BEECHER.

Prosperity makes some friends and many enemies.--VAUVENARGUES.

They who lie soft and warm in a rich estate seldom come to heat themselves at the altar.--SOUTH.

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

PROVIDENCE.--The Providence of G.o.d is the great protector of our life and usefulness, and under the divine care we are perfectly safe from danger.--SPURGEON.

I know not where His islands lift Their fronded palms in air; I only know I cannot drift Beyond His love and care.

--WHITTIER.

The decrees of Providence are inscrutable. In spite of man's short-sighted endeavors to dispose of events according to his own wishes and his own purposes, there is an Intelligence beyond his reason, which holds the scales of justice, and promotes his well-being, in spite of his puny efforts.--MORIER.

Divine Providence tempers his blessings to secure their better effect.

He keeps our joys and our fears on an even balance, that we may neither presume nor despair. By such compositions G.o.d is pleased to make both our crosses more tolerable and our enjoyments more wholesome and safe.--W. WOGAN.

He who ruleth the raging of the sea, knows also how to check the designs of the unG.o.dly. I submit myself with reverence to His Holy Will. O Abner, I fear my G.o.d, and I fear none but Him.--RACINE.

Duties are ours; events are G.o.d's. This removes an infinite burden from the shoulders of a miserable, tempted, dying creature. On this consideration only can he securely lay down his head and close his eyes.--CECIL.

Yes, thou art ever present, power supreme!

Not circ.u.mscribed by time, nor fixt to s.p.a.ce, Confined to altars, nor to temples bound.

In wealth, in want, in freedom or in chains, In dungeons or on thrones, the faithful find thee!

--HANNAH MORE.

We must follow, not force Providence.--SHAKESPEARE.

Go, mark the matchless working of the power That shuts within the seed the future flower; Bids these in elegance of form excel.

In color these, and those delight the smell; Sends nature forth, the daughter of the skies, To dance on earth, and charm all human eyes.

--COWPER.

A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.

--PROVERBS 16:9.

PRUDENCE.--Men are born with two eyes, but with one tongue, in order that they should see twice as much as they say.--COLTON.

Prudence is that virtue by which we discern what is proper to be done under the various circ.u.mstances of time and place.--MILTON.

When any great design thou dost intend, Think on the means, the manner, and the end.

--SIR J. DENHAM.

The prudence of the best heads is often defeated by the tenderness of the best of hearts.--FIELDING.

Prudence is a necessary ingredient in all the virtues, without which they degenerate into folly and excess.--JEREMY COLLIER.

No other protection is wanting, provided you are under the guidance of prudence.--JUVENAL.

Prudence is not only the first in rank of the virtues political and moral, but she is the director and regulator, the standard of them all.--BURKE.

The rules of prudence, like the laws of the stone tables, are for the most part prohibitive. "Thou shalt not" is their characteristic formula.--COLERIDGE.

PUNCTUALITY.--I give it as my deliberate and solemn conviction that the individual who is habitually tardy in meeting an appointment, will never be respected or successful in life.--REV. W. FISK.

I have always been a quarter of an hour before my time, and it has made a man of me.--LORD NELSON.

Unfaithfulness in the keeping of an appointment is an act of clear dishonesty. You may as well borrow a person's money as his time.

--HORACE MANN.

It is no use running; to set out betimes is the main point.--LA FONTAINE.

I could never think well of a man's intellectual or moral character if he was habitually unfaithful to his appointments.--EMMONS.

PURITY.--Purity in person and in morals is true G.o.dliness.--HOSEA BALLOU.

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see G.o.d.--MATTHEW 5:8.

G.o.d be thanked that there are some in the world to whose hearts the barnacles will not cling.--J.G. HOLLAND.

While our hearts are pure, Our lives are happy and our peace is sure.

--WILLIAM WINTER.

Purity lives and derives its life solely from the Spirit of G.o.d.--COLTON.

I pray thee, O G.o.d, that I may be beautiful within.--SOCRATES.

QUARRELS.--Quarrels would never last long if the fault was only on one side.--LA ROCHEFOUCAULD.

The quarrels of lovers are like summer storms; everything is more beautiful when they have pa.s.sed.--MADAME NECKER.

I will rather suffer a thousand wrongs than offer one. I have always found that to strive with a superior is injurious; with an equal, doubtful; with an inferior, sordid and base; with any, full of unquietness.--BISHOP HALL.

He that blows the coals in quarrels he has nothing to do with has no right to complain if the sparks fly in his face.--FRANKLIN.