Character and Conduct Part 52

"The largest and most comprehensive natures are generally the most cheerful, the most loving, the most hopeful, the most trustful. It is the wise man, of large vision, who is the quickest to discern the moral suns.h.i.+ne gleaming through the darkest cloud."

Contentment

NOVEMBER 14

"Contentment comes neither by culture nor by wis.h.i.+ng; it is reconciliation with our lot, growing out of an inward superiority to our surroundings."

J. K. MCLEAN.

"If you wish to be miserable, think about yourself, about what you want, what you like, what respect people ought to pay you; and then to you nothing will be pure. You will spoil everything you touch, you will make misery for yourself out of everything which G.o.d sends you: you will be as wretched as you choose."

CHARLES KINGSLEY.

"Do not let your head run upon that which is none of your own, but pick out some of the best of your circ.u.mstances, and consider how eagerly you would wish for them, were they not in your possession."

MARCUS AURELIUS.

Contentment

NOVEMBER 15

"Man seeks pleasure and self--great unforeseen results follow. Man seeks G.o.d and others--and there follows pleasure."

ARNOLD TOYNBEE.

"The true felicity of life is to be free from perturbations; to understand our duties towards G.o.d and man; to enjoy the present without any serious dependence upon the future. Not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears, but to rest satisfied with what we have. The great blessings of mankind are within our reach; but we shut our eyes, and, like people in the dark, we fall foul upon the very thing we search for, without finding it. Tranquillity is the state of human perfection, it raises us as high as we can go, and makes every man his own supporter; whereas he that is borne up by anything else may fall. He that judges right and perseveres in it, enjoys a perpetual calm; he takes a true prospect of things; he observes an order, measure, a decorum in all his actions; he has a benevolence in his nature; and squares his life according to reason, and draws to himself love and admiration. Without a certain and unchangeable judgment, all the rest is but fluctuation. Liberty and serenity of mind must necessarily ensue upon the mastering of those things which either allure or affright us, when, instead of those flashy pleasures we shall find ourselves possessed of joys transporting and everlasting."

SENECA.

"Nothing can bring you peace but yourself, nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principle."

EMERSON.

Discontent

NOVEMBER 16

"Discontent is want of self-reliance; it is infirmity of will."

EMERSON.

"To repel one's cross is to make it heavier."

_Amiel's Journal._

"She had that rare sense which discerns what is unalterable; and submits to it without murmuring."

GEORGE ELIOT.

"But for me, What good I see, humbly I seek to do, And live obedient to the Law, in trust That what will come and shall come, must come well."

_The Light of Asia_, E. ARNOLD.

Magnifying Troubles

NOVEMBER 17

"Another weight is the cares of life. We keep so many which we might shake off, that it is more than pitiful. We encourage fears for our life, our future, our wealth, till all our days are hara.s.sed out of peace, till the very notion of trust in G.o.d is an absurdity. We waste life away in petty details, spending infinite trouble on transient things, magnifying the gnats of life into elephants, tormenting ourselves and others over household disturbances, children, servants, little losses, foolish presentiments, our state of health, our finances,--till every one around us is infected with our disease of fret and worry. This is indeed to weight our soul. Our life with G.o.d, our work for man, are dragged to earth."

_The Gospel of Joy_, STOPFORD BROOKE.

"I pack my troubles in as little compa.s.s as I can for myself, and never let them annoy others."

SOUTHEY.

Bearing Trouble

NOVEMBER 18

"Once open the door to trouble, and its visits are three-fold; first, antic.i.p.ation; second, in actual presence; third, in living it over again. Therefore never antic.i.p.ate trouble, make as little of its presence as possible, forget it as soon as past."

"It is better to employ our minds in bearing the ills we have, than in providing against those which may never befall us."

LA ROCHEFOUCAULD.

"Let us be of good cheer, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never come."

LOWELL.

"If you want to be cheerful, jes' set yer mind on it an' do it. Can't none of us help what traits we start out in life with, but we kin help what we end up with. When things first got to goin' wrong with me, I says, 'Oh, Lord, whatever comes, keep me from gettin' sour.'... Since then I've made it a practice to put all my worries down in the bottom of my heart, then set on the lid an' smile."

_Lovey Mary_, ALICE HEGAN RICE.

The Secret of the Joy of Living

NOVEMBER 19