What nature wants, commodious gold bestows;
'Tis thus we cut the bread another sows. [ Pope ]
What avails it that indulgent Heaven
From mortal eyes has wrapt the woes to come,
If we, ingenious to torment ourselves.
Grow pale at hideous fictions of our own?
Enjoy the present; nor with needless cares
Of what may spring from blind misfortune's womb,
Appal the surest hour that life bestows.
Serene, and master of yourself, prepare
For what may come; and leave the rest to Heaven. [ Armstrong ]
He that bestows but a bone on you would not have you die. [ Proverb ]
He that gives to a worthy person bestows a benefit upon himself. [ Proverb ]
Great men are among the best gifts which God bestows upon a people. [ G. S. Hillard ]
He that praises bestows a favour, he that detracts commits a robbery. [ Proverb ]
He on whom Heaven bestows a sceptre knows not the weight of it till he bears it. [ Corneille ]
Riches, though they may reward virtues, yet they cannot cause them; he is much more noble who deserves a benefit than he who bestows one. [ Feltham ]
Every day is a gift I receive from heaven; let us enjoy today that which it bestows on me. It belongs not more to the young than to me, and tomorrow belongs to no one. [ Mancroix ]
Art does not imitate nature, but it founds itself on the study of nature, - takes from nature the selections which best accord with its own intention, and then bestows on them that which nature does not possess, viz. the mind and the soul of man. [ Bulwer-Lytton ]
Why doth Fate, that often bestows thousands of souls on a conqueror or tyrant, to be the sport of his passions, so often deny to the tenderest and most feeling hearts one kindred one on which to lavish their affections? Why is it that Love must so often sigh in vain for an object, and Hate never? [ Richter ]
We are not fond of praising, and never praise any one except from interested motives. Praise is a clever, concealed, and delicate flattery, which gratifies in different ways the giver and the receiver. The one takes it as a recompense of his merit, and the other bestows it to display his equity and discernment. [ Rochefoucauld ]