The method of the critic is to balance praises with censure, and thus to do justice to the subject and--his own discrimination.
The very cunning conceal their cunning; the indifferently shrewd boast of it.
If one is not virtuous he becomes vicious.
He presents me with what is always an acceptable gift who brings me news of a great thought before unknown. He enriches me without impoverishing himself. The judicious quoter, too, helps on what is much needed in the world, a freer circulation of good thoughts, pure feelings, and pleasant fancies.
Resentments, carried too far, expose us to a fate analogous to that of the fish-hawk, when he strikes his talons too deep into a fish beyond his capacity to lift, and is carried under and drowned by it.
Affliction, like the iron-smith, shapes as it smites.
It is safer to quote what is written than what is spoken. What a man writes it is fair to presume he believes as a matter of general conviction, but it is not so with what he utters in the freedom of conversation. In that he may only express the feeling of the moment, and not his settled judgment, or matured opinion.
The finest compliment that can be paid to a woman of sense is to address her as such.
We take life too seriously: the office of wit is to correct this tendency.
Wit, like poetry, is insusceptible of being constructed upon rules founded merely in reason. Like faith, it exists independent of reason, and sometimes in hostility to it.
A strong will deals with the hard facts of life as a sculptor with his marbles, making them facile and yielding to his purposes, and conquering their stubbornness by a greater stubbornness in himself.
Satire is an abuse of wit. It corrects few evils.
It is curious to what a degree one may become attached to a fine tree, especially when it is placed where trees are rare.
Every war involves a greater or less relapse into barbarism. War, indeed, in its details, is the essence of inhumanity. It dehumanizes. It may save the state, but it destroys the citizen.
However much of time, labor, or other means it takes to establish a reputation, it frequently happens that it requires nearly as much to maintain it. One who has written a good book, is expected on all occasions to "talk like a book." Or, if one has achieved an act of heroism, he is expected to perform acts of heroism for the edification of all who approach him. There are people who can never believe they see a lion unless they hear him roar.
The beauty of a woman transcends all other forms of beauty, as well in the sweetness of its suggestions, as in the fervor of the admiration it awakens. The beauty of a lovely woman is an inspiration, a sweet delirium, a gentle madness. Her looks are love-potions. Heaven itself is never so clearly revealed to us as in the face of a beautiful woman.
It is invidious to distinguish particular men as adventurers: we are all such.
The light in the world comes principally from two sources,-the sun, and the student's lamp.
One must have been, at some time or other, in a situation where a small sum was as necessary almost as life itself, with no more ability to raise it than to raise the dead, before he can fully appreciate the value of money.
Wit is better as a seasoning than as a whole dish by itself.
Ambitious princes value inherited kingdoms not so much as conquered provinces.
Honesty is not only "the first step toward greatness," - it is greatness itself.
In a contest with a weaker party it is more honorable to yield than to force concession. Magnanimity becomes the strong.
Luminous quotations, also, atone, by their interest, for the dulness of an inferior book, and add to the value of a superior work by the variety which they lend to its style and treatment.
Very handsome women have usually far less sensibility to compliments than their less beautiful sisters.
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