Influence of Men Great events can be hastened or retarded in Council only by persons of elevated dignity.-Lives of the Poets. Cowardice Milton. Cowardice encroaches fast upon such as spend their lives in the company of persons higher than themselves.-Rambler. Courage Courage is a quality so necessary for maintaining virtue, that it is always respected, even when it is associated with vice.-Life, June 11, 1784. Coyness The eye of a respectful lover loves rather to receive confidence from the withdrawn eye of the fair one, than to find itself obliged to retreat.Rambler, No. 97. Bribing a He that once owes more than he can pay, Creditor is often obliged to bribe his creditor to patience, by increasing his debt. Idler, No. 22. Credit Taking and Giving Credit The motive to credit is the hope of advantage.-Idler, No. 22. We have now learned that rashness and imprudence will not be deterred from taking credit; let us try whether fraud and avarice may be more easily restrained from giving it.-Idler, No. 22. Confined Criminals I do not see that they are punished by this: they must have worked equally, had they never been guilty of stealing. They now only work; so, after all, they have gained; what they stole is clear gain to them; the confinement is nothing. Every man who works is confined: the smith to his shop, the tailor to his garret.-Life. April 10, 1778. Critic The power of invention has been conferred by nature upon few, and the labour of learning is too great to be willingly endured; but every man can exert such judgment as he has, upon the works of others; and he whom nature has made weak, and idleness keeps ignorant, may yet support his vanity, by the name of a critic.-Idler, No. 60. Critics and Never let criticism operate upon your face Authors or your mind; it is very rarely that an author is hurt by his critics.-Letter to Mrs. Thrale, No. 230. False Critics Criticism False critics have been the plague of all ages. Lives of the Poets. Philips. The duty of Criticism is neither to depreciate, nor dignify by partial representations; but to hold out the light of reason, whatever it may discover; and to promulgate the determinations of truth, whatever she shall dictate.-Rambler, No. 93. Croaking No one ought to remind another of misfortunes of which the sufferer does not complain, and which there are no means proposed of alleviating. You have no right to excite thoughts which necessarily give pain whenever they return, and which perhaps might not have revived, but by absurd and unseasonable compassion.-Rambler, No. 75. Tale of Cruelty Crusades Ancient Culture Cunning Scarce anything awakes attention like a tale of cruelty.-Idler, No. 30. The great business of the middle centuries was the holy wars.-Adventurer, No. 99. Greece appears to be the fountain of knowledge; Rome of elegance.--Life. Cunning has effect from the credulity of others, rather than from the abilities of those who are cunning. It requires no extraordinary talents to lie and deceive.-Journal. Cunning Cupidus not ing. -Life. Cunning differs from wisdom as twilight from open day.-Idler, No. 92. Every man is born cupidus,-desirous of getting; but not avarus,-desirous of keep Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, Curiosity the first passion and the last.-Rambler, No. 150. Curiosity Curiosity Curiosity, like all other desires, produces pain as well as pleasure.-Rambler, No. 161. Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.Rambler, No. 103. Ancient Cus Their origin is commonly unknown; for toms the practice often continues when the cause has ceased, and concerning superstitious ceremonies it is in vain to conjecture; for what reason did not dictate reason cannot explain.-Rasselas. Reverence of We profess to reverence the dead, not for their sake, but for our own. the Dead Epitaphs. Essay on Death Death increases our veneration for the good, and extenuates our hatred of the bad. -Rambler, No. 54. Death When a friend is carried to his grave we at once find excuses for every weakness and palliations of every fault.-Rambler, No. 54. 203. Death Death It seems to be the fate of man to seek all his consolations in futurity.-Rambler, No. Death, though cften desired in the field, seldom fails to terrify when it approaches the bed of sickness in its natural horror.-Rambler, No. 202. Death It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time.-Life. October 26, 1769. Nearness of How near we all are to extreme danger! Death We are merry or sad, or busy or idle, and forget that death is hovering over us.-Letter to Mrs. Thrale. No. 204. Ripeness for To neglect at any time preparation for Death death is to sleep on our post at a siege, but to omit it in old age is to sleep at an attack.-Rambler, No. 78. Speech after It was the maxim of Alphonsus of Arragon Death that "dead counsellors are safest." Dead counsellors are most instructive, because they are heard with patience and with reverence.-Rambler, No. 87. Threats of The utmost that we can threaten to one Death another is that death, which, we indeed may precipitate, but cannot retard, and from which, therefore, it cannot become a wise man to buy a reprieve at the expense of virtue.-Rambler, No. 17. National Let the public creditors be ever SO Debt clamorous, the interest of millions must ever prevail over that of thousands.-Life. Collectanea, 1770. Maxweil's Don't tell me of deception; a lie, is a lie, Deception whether it be a lie to the eye or a lie to the ear.-Piozzi's Anecdotes, p. 371. Self Deception It is generally not so much the desire of men, sunk into depravity, to deceive the world as themselves. The sentence most dreaded is that of reason and conscience, which, they would engage on their side at any price.-Rambler, No. 76. |