Plans that are wise and prudent in themselves are rendered vain when the execution of them is carried on negligently and with imprudence.
Guicciardini.
328.
Every man stamps his value on himself. The price we challenge for ourselves is given us. Man is made great or little by his own will.
Schiller.
329.
Hath any wronged thee, be bravely revenged. Slight it, and the work's begun; forgive it, and 'tis finished. He is below himself that is not above an injury.
Quarles.
330.
As gold is tried by the furnace, and the baser metal shown, so the hollow-hearted friend is known by adversity.
Metastasio.
331.
The rose does not bloom without thorns. True, but would that the thorns did not outlive the rose.
Richter.
332.
Truth from the mouth of an honest man and severity from a good-natured man have a double effect.
Hazlitt.
333.
Most virgins marry, just as nuns The same thing the same way renounce; Before they've wit to understand The bold attempt, they take in hand; Or, having stayed and lost their tides, Are out of season grown for brides.
Butler.
334.
The fountain of content must spring up in the mind, and he who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts, and multiply the griefs which he purposes to remove.
Johnson.
335.
In all things, to serve from the lowest station upwards is necessary. To restrict yourself to a trade is best. For the narrow mind, whatever he attempts is still a trade; for the higher, an art; and the highest in doing one thing does all, or, to speak less paradoxically, in the one thing which he does rightly he sees the likeness of all that is done rightly.
Goethe.
336.
Misanthropy ariseth from a man trusting another without having sufficient knowledge of his character, and, thinking him to be truthful, sincere, and honourable, finds a little afterwards that he is wicked, faithless, and then he meets with another of the same character. When a man experiences this often, and more particularly from those whom he considered his most dear and best friends, at last, having frequently made a slip, he hates the whole world, and thinks that there is nothing sound at all in any of them.
Plato.
337.
Pleasure, most often delusive, may be born of delusion. Pleasure, herself a sorceress, may pitch her tents on enchanted ground. But happiness (or, to use a more accurate and comprehensive term, solid well-being) can be built on virtue alone, and must of necessity have truth for its foundation.
Coleridge.
338.
Entangled in a hundred worldly snares, Self-seeking men, by ignorance deluded, Strive by unrighteous means to pile up riches. Then, in their self-complacency, they say, "This acquisition I have made to-day, That will I gain to-morrow, so much pelf Is hoarded up already, so much more Remains that I have yet to treasure up. This enemy I have destroyed, him also, And others in their turn, I will despatch. I am a lord; I will enjoy myself; I'm wealthy, noble, strong, successful, happy; I'm absolutely perfect; no one else In all the world can be compared to me. Now will I offer up a sacrifice, Give gifts with lavish hand, and be triumphant." Such men, befooled by endless vain conceits, Caught in the meshes of the world's illusion, Immersed in sensuality, descend Down to the foulest hell of unclean spirits.[16]
Mahábhárata.
[16] Cf. Luke, XII, 17-20; see also 291.
339.
