Many Thoughts of Many Minds Part 64

Although a soldier by profession, I have never felt any fondness for war, and I have never advocated it except as a means of peace.

--U.S. GRANT.

I prefer the hardest terms of peace to the most just war.--C.J. FOX.

Take my word for it, if you had seen but one day of war, you would pray to Almighty G.o.d that you might never see such a thing again.

--WELLINGTON.

War, even in the best state of an army, with all the alleviations of courtesy and honor, with all the correctives of morality and religion, is nevertheless so great an evil, that to engage in it without a clear necessity is a crime of the blackest dye. When the necessity is clear, it then becomes a crime to shrink from it.--SOUTHEY.

WASTE.--Waste cannot be accurately told, though we are sensible how destructive it is. Economy, on the one hand, by which a certain income is made to maintain a man genteelly; and waste, on the other, by which on the same income another man lives shabbily, cannot be defined. It is a very nice thing; as one man wears his coat out much sooner than another, we cannot tell how.--DR. JOHNSON.

WEALTH.--Wealth, after all, is a relative thing, since he that has little, and wants less, is richer than he that has much, but wants more.--COLTON.

Riches are gotten with pain, kept with care, and lost with grief. The cares of riches lie heavier upon a good man than the inconveniences of an honest poverty.--L'ESTRANGE.

Seek not proud wealth; but such as thou mayest get justly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully, and leave contentedly.--BACON.

Conscience and wealth are not always neighbors.--Ma.s.sINGER.

He that will not permit his wealth to do any good to others while he is living, prevents it from doing any good to himself when he is dead; and by an egotism that is suicidal, and has a double edge, cuts himself off from the truest pleasure here, and the highest happiness hereafter.--COLTON.

It is far more easy to acquire a fortune like a knave than to expend it like a gentleman.--COLTON.

The pulpit and the press have many commonplaces denouncing the thirst for wealth, but if men should take these moralists at their word, and leave off aiming to be rich, the moralists would rush to rekindle at all hazards this love of power in the people, lest civilization should be undone.--EMERSON.

Wealth is not acquired, as many persons suppose, by fortunate speculations and splendid enterprises, but by the daily practice of industry, frugality, and economy. He who relies upon these means will rarely be found dest.i.tute, and he who relies upon any other will generally become bankrupt.--WAYLAND.

There is a burden of care in getting riches, fear in keeping them, temptation in using them, guilt in abusing them, sorrow in losing them, and a burden of account at last to be given up concerning them.--MATTHEW HENRY.

What does competency in the long run mean? It means, to all reasonable beings, cleanliness of person, decency of dress, courtesy of manners, opportunities for education, the delights of leisure, and the bliss of giving.--WHIPPLE.

The way to wealth is as plain as the road to market. It depends chiefly on two words,--industry and frugality.--FRANKLIN.

Wealth brings n.o.ble opportunities, and competence is a proper object of pursuit; but wealth, and even competence, may be bought at too high a price. Wealth itself has no moral attribute. It is not money, but the love of money, which is the root of all evil. It is the relation between wealth and the mind and the character of its possessor which is the essential thing.--HILLARD.

Let us not envy some men their acc.u.mulated riches; their burden would be too heavy for us; we could not sacrifice, as they do, health, quiet, honor, and conscience, to obtain them: it is to pay so dear for them, that the bargain is a loss.--LA BRUYeRE.

It is only when the rich are sick, that they fully feel the impotence of wealth.--COLTON.

To purchase Heaven has gold the power?

Can gold remove the mortal hour?

In life can love be bought with gold?

Are friends.h.i.+p's pleasures to be sold?

No--all that's worth a wish--a thought, Fair virtue gives unbribed, unbought.

Cease then on trash thy hopes to bind, Let n.o.bler views engage thy mind.

--DR. JOHNSON.

WIFE.--The good wife is none of our dainty dames, who love to appear in a variety of suits every day new; as if a good gown, like a stratagem in war, were to be used but once. But our good wife sets up a sail according to the keel of her husband's estate; and if of high parentage, she doth not so remember what she was by birth, that she forgets what she is by match.--FULLER.

All other goods by fortune's hand are given, A wife is the peculiar gift of heaven.

--POPE.

A good wife is heaven's last, best gift to man,--his gem of many virtues, his casket of jewels; her voice is sweet music, her smiles his brightest day, her kiss the guardian of his innocence, her arms the pale of his safety, her industry his surest wealth, her economy his safest steward, her lips his faithful counselors, her bosom the softest pillow of his care.--JEREMY TAYLOR.

She is not made to be the admiration of everybody, but the happiness of one.--BURKE.

Nothing can be more touching than to behold a soft and tender female, who had been all weakness and dependence, and alive to every trivial roughness while treading the prosperous paths of life, suddenly rising in mental force to be the comforter and supporter of her husband under misfortune, and abiding with unshrinking firmness the bitterest blast of adversity.--WAs.h.i.+NGTON IRVING.

Thy wife is a constellation of virtues, she's the moon, and thou art the man in the moon.--CONGREVE.

For nothing lovelier can be found In woman, than to study household good, And good works in her husband to promote.

--MILTON.

What is there in the vale of life Half so delightful as a wife; When friends.h.i.+p, love and peace combine To stamp the marriage-bond divine?

--COWPER.

O woman! thou knowest the hour when the goodman of the house will return, when the heat and burden of the day are past; do not let him at such time, when he is weary with toil and jaded with discouragement, find upon his coming to his habitation that the foot which should hasten to meet him is wandering at a distance, that the soft hand which should wipe the sweat from his brow is knocking at the door of other houses.--WAs.h.i.+NGTON IRVING.

WISDOM.--It is more easy to be wise for others than for ourselves.

--LA ROCHEFOUCAULD.

The clouds may drop down t.i.tles and estates, both may seek us; but wisdom must be sought.--YOUNG.

True wisdom is to know what is best worth knowing, and to do what is best worth doing.--HUMPHREYS.

Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding: for the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her; and happy is every one that retaineth her.--PROV. 3:13-18.

The fool is willing to pay for anything but wisdom. No man buys that of which he supposes himself to have an abundance already.--SIMMS.

Where the eye of pity weep, And the sway of pa.s.sion sleeps, Where the lamp of faith is burning, And the ray of hope returning, Where the "still small voice" within Whispers not of wrath or sin, Resting with the righteous dead-- Beaming o'er the drooping head-- Comforting the lowly mind, Wisdom dwelleth--seek and find.

The first point of wisdom is to discern that which is false; the second, to know that which is true.--LACTANTIUS.

Seek wisdom where it may be found. Seek it in the knowledge of G.o.d, the holy, the just and the merciful G.o.d, as revealed to us in the gospel; of Him who is just, and yet the justifier of them that believe in Jesus.--ARCHDEACON RAIKES.

Wisdom is ofttimes nearer when we stoop Than when we soar.

--WORDSWORTH.

He who learns the rules of wisdom, without conforming to them in his life, is like a man who labored in his fields, but did not sow.--SAADI.

Wisdom is to the mind what health is to the body.--LA ROCHEFOUCAULD.

As whole caravans may light their lamps from one candle without exhausting it, so myriads of tribes may gain wisdom from the great Book without impoveris.h.i.+ng it.--RABBI BEN-AZAI.

Wisdom is the only thing which can relieve us from the sway of the pa.s.sions and the fear of danger, and which can teach us to bear the injuries of fortune itself with moderation, and which shows us all the ways which lead to tranquillity and peace.--CICERO.