It is no very good symptom, either of nations or individuals, that they deal much in vaticination. Happy men are full of the present, for its bounty suffices them; and wise men also, for its duties engage them. Our grand business undoubtedly is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what clearly lies at hand.
Carlyle.
463.
Law does not put the least restraint Upon our freedom, but maintain'st; Or, if it does, 'tis for our good, To give us freer latitude: For wholesome laws preserve us free, By stinting of our liberty.
Butler.
464.
It is only necessary to grow old in order to become more indulgent. I see no fault committed that I have not been myself inclined to.
Goethe.
465.
Even a blockhead may respect inspire, So long as he is suitably attired; A fool may gain esteem among the wise, So long as he has sense to hold his tongue.
Hitopadesa.
466.
A wise man should never resolve upon anything, at least, never let the world know his resolution, for if he cannot reach that he is ashamed.[26]
Selden.
[26] See 406.
467.
Men's minds are generally ingenious in palliating guilt in themselves.
Livy.
468.
Prosperity is acquired by exertion, and there is no fruit for him who doth not exert himself: the fawns go not into the mouth of a sleeping lion.
Hitopadesa.
469.
Wickedness, by whomsoever committed, is odious, but most of all in men of learning; for learning is the weapon with which Satan is combated, and when a man is made captive with arms in his hand his shame is more excessive.
Sa'dí.
470.
He that will give himself to all manner of ways to get money may be rich; so he that lets fly all he knows or thinks may by chance be satirically witty. Honesty sometimes keeps a man from growing rich, and civility from being witty.
Selden.
471.
Men are not rich or poor according to what they possess but to what they desire. The only rich man is he that with content enjoys a competence.
R. Chamberlain.
472.
Poverty is not dishonourable in itself, but only when it arises from idleness, intemperance, extravagance, and folly.
Plutarch.
473.
Do nothing rashly; want of circumspection is the chief cause of failure and disaster. Fortune, wise lover of the wise, selects him for her lord who ere he acts reflects.
Bháravi.
474.
First think, and if thy thoughts approve thy will, Then speak, and after, what thou speak'st fulfil.
Randolph.
475.
It cannot but be injurious to the human mind never to be called into effort: the habit of receiving pleasure without any exertion of thought, by the mere excitement of curiosity, and sensibility, may be justly ranked among the worst effects of habitual novel-reading.
Coleridge.
476.
Patience is the chiefest fruit of study; a man that strives to make himself different from other men by much reading gains this chiefest good, that in all fortunes he hath something to entertain and comfort himself withal.
Selden.
477.
Friendship throws a greater lustre on prosperity, while it lightens adversity by sharing in its griefs and troubles.
Cicero.
478.
