"Tis virtue's picture which we find in books. Virtue must be our trade and study, not our chance. Tell me what life you lead, and I will tell you how you shall die. He is in a low form, who never thinks beyond this short life. Vices are learned without a teacher. Wicked men are dead whilst they live. To recover a bad man is a double kindness or virtue. He who eats but of one dish never wants a physician. He hath lived to ill purpose who cannot hope to live after his death. Live as they did of old; speak as men do now. He only is well kept whom God keeps. Tyrant custom makes a slave of reason. Experience is the father, and memory the mother of wisdom. He who doeth every thing he has a mind to do, doth not what he should do. He who says all that he has a mind to say, hears what he hath no mind to hear. That city thrives best where virtue is most esteemed and rewarded. He cannot go wrong whom virtue guides. He who tells all the truth he knows, must lie in the streets. Oil and truth will get uppermost at the last. Nothing is of any great value but God only. He that hath children, all his morsels are not his own. Thought is a nimble footman.. Many know every thing else, but nothing at all of themselves. Six foot of earth make all men of one size. He that is born of a hen must scrape for his living. Afflictions draw men up towards Heaven. That which does us good is never too late. Tell every body your business, and the Devil will do it for you. A man was hanged for saying what was true. Do not all that you can do; spend not all that you have; believe not all that you hear; and tell not all that you know. A man should learn to sail with all winds. He is the man indeed who can govern himself as he ought. He that would live long must sometimes change his course of life. When children are little they make their parents' heads ache; and when they are grown up, they make their hearts ache. To preach well, you must first practise what you teach others. Use or practice of a thing is the best master. A man that hath learning is worth two who have it not. A fool knows his own business better than a wise man doth another's.. He who understands most is other men's master. Have a care of-Had I known this before. Command your servant, and do it yourself, and you will have less trouble. You may know the master by his man. He who serves the public hath but a scurvy master. He that would have good offices done to him, must do them to others. 'Tis the only true liberty to serve our God. The common soldier's blood makes the general a great man. An huge great house is an huge great trouble. Go to the war with as many as you can, and with as few to counsel. 'Tis better keeping out of a quarrel, than to make it up afterward. Great birth is a very poor dish on the table. Sickness is a personal citation before our Judge. Beauty and folly do not often part company. Beauty beats a call upon a drum. A great many pair of shoes are worn out before men do all they say. A great many words will not fill a purse. Speaking evil of one another is the fifth element men are made up of. When a man speaks you fair, look to your purse. Play not with a man till you hurt him, nor jest till you shame him. Eating more than you should at once, makes you eat less afterward. He makes his grief light who thinks it so. He thinks but ill, who doth not think twice of a thing. He who goes about a thing himself, hath a mind to have it done; who sends another, cares not whether it be done or no. There is no discretion in love, nor counsel in anger. Wishes never can fill a sack. The first step a man makes towards being good, is to know he is not so already. He who is bad to his relations is worse to himself. "Tis good to know our friends' failings, but not to publish them. A man may see his own faults in those which others do. "Tis the virtue of saints to be always going on from one kind and degree of virtue to another. A man may talk like a wise man, and yet act like a fool. Every one thinks he hath more than his share of brains. The first chapter (or point) of fools is to think they are wise men. Discretion, or a true judgment of things, îs the parent of all virtue. Chastity is the chief and most charming beauty. Never count four except you have them in your bag. Open your door to a fair day, but make yourself ready for a foul one. A little too late is too late still. A good man is ever at home wherever he chance to be. Building is a word that men pay dear for. If you would be healthful, clothe yourself warm, and eat sparingly. Rich men are slaves condemned to the mines. Many men's estates come in at the door, and go out at the chimney. Wealth is more dear to men than their blood or life is. That great saint, Interest, rules the world alone. Their power and their will are measures princes take of right and wrong. In governing others you must do what you can do, not all you would do. A wise man will stay for a convenient season, and will bend a little, rather than be torn up by the roots. Take not physic when you are well, lest you die to be better. Do not do evil to get good by it, which never yet happened to any. That pleasure's much too dear which is bought with any pain. To live poor that a 'man may die rich, is to be the king of fools, or a fool in grain. Good wine makes a bad head, and a long story. |