Gold's worth is gold. [ Italian Proverb ]
Hope is worth any money. [ Proverb ]
Advice whispered in the ear
Is not worth a tare. [ Proverb ]
A good heart is worth gold. [ William Shakespeare ]
Heaven is worth the whole world. [ Proverb ]
He is worth gold that carries it. [ Proverb ]
For what is worth in anything,
But so much money as twill bring? [ Butler ]
The game is not worth the candle. [ French Proverb ]
What is aught but as 'tis valued? [ William Shakespeare ]
That is gold which is worth gold. [ English Proverb, collected by George Herbert ]
Taylor's shreds are worth cutting. [ Proverb ]
A bushel of March dust is a thing,
That's worth the ransom of a king. [ Proverb ]
A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore. [ Yogi Berra ]
Every one is worth as much as he has. [ German Proverb ]
Pay what you owe,
And what you are worth you will know. [ Proverb ]
When the fight begins within himself,
A man's worth something. [ Robert Browning ]
His worth is warrant for his welcome. [ William Shakespeare ]
With women worth the being won.
The softest lover ever best succeeds. [ Hill ]
Who more than he is worth does spend,
He makes a rope his life to end. [ Proverb ]
A day, an hour of virtuous liberty,
Is worth a whole eternity in bondage. [ Addison ]
One hour today is worth to two-morrow. [ Proverb ]
To hide true worth from public view,
Is burying diamonds in their mine,
All is not gold that shines, 'tis true;
But all that is gold ought to shine. [ Bishop ]
A piece of a kid is worth two of a cat. [ Proverb ]
A penny-worth of ease is worth a penny. [ Proverb ]
Remember aye, the ocean deeps are mute.
The shallows roar;
Worth is the ocean - fame the bruit
Along the shore. [ Johann C. F. Von Schiller ]
Sound, sound the clarion, fill the fife!
To all the sensual world proclaim,
One crowded hour of glorious life
Is worth an age without a name. [ Scott ]
A day of such serene enjoyment spent.
Were worth an age of splendid discontent. [ James Montgomery ]
To purchase Heaven has gold the power?
Can gold remove the mortal hour?
In life can love be bought with gold?
Are friendship's pleasures to be sold?
No - all that's worth a wish - a thought.
Fair virtue gives unbribed, unbought.
Cease then on trash thy hopes to bind,
Let nobler views engage thy mind. [ Dr. Johnson ]
A friend is worth all hazards we can run. [ Young ]
Of every noble action the intent
Is to give worth reward - vice punishment. [ Beaumont and Fletcher ]
One example is worth a thousand arguments. [ Gladstone ]
Good words are worth much and cost little. [ English Proverb, collected by George Herbert ]
He that bears himself like a gentleman, is
Worth to have been born a gentleman. [ Chapman ]
One day of pleasure is worth two of sorrow. [ Proverb ]
Traverse the desert, and then ye can tell
What treasures exist in the cold deep well,
Sink in despair on the red parch'd earth,
And then ye may reckon what water is worth. [ Miss Eliza Cook ]
An ounce of wisdom is worth a pound of wit. [ Proverb ]
Prosperity knows not the worth of patience. [ Proverb ]
But inborn worth that fortune can control,
New strung and stiffer bent her softer soul.
The heroine assumed the woman's place;
Confirmed her mind, and fortified her face. [ Dryden ]
'Tis life reveals to each his genuine worth. [ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ]
Be silent, or speak something worth hearing. [ Proverb ]
A pilot's part in calms cannot be spy'd,
In dangerous times true worth is only tried. [ Stirling — Doomes-day. The Fifth Houre ]
Thou hast wounded the spirit that loved thee
And cherished thine image for years;
Thou hast taught me at last to forget thee,
In secret, in silence, and tears. [ Mrs. David Porter ]
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. [ Proverb ]
Lose not a hog for a halfpenny-worth of tar. [ Proverb ]
Good words cost nothing, but are worth much. [ Proverb ]
A world in the hand is worth two in the bush. [ Ralph Waldo Emerson ]
Not to understand a treasure's worth,
Till time has stolen away the slightest good,
Is cause of half the poverty we feel,
And makes the world the wilderness it is. [ Cowper ]
One pair of heels is worth two pair of hands. [ Proverb ]
An inch of a horse is worth a span of a colt. [ Proverb ]
Hail, blooming Youth!
May all your virtues with your years improve,
Till in consummate worth you shine the pride,
Of these our days, and succeeding times,
A bright example. [ Wm. Somerville ]
What we admire we praise; and when we praise,
Advance it into notice, that its worth
Acknowledged, others may admire it too. [ Cowper ]
It is poor play that is not worth the candle. [ Proverb ]
Burn and not smoulder, win by worth,
Not rest content with a wealth that's dearth! [ Robert Browning ]
A spur in the head is worth two in the heels. [ Proverb ]
A grain of prudence is worth a pound of craft. [ Proverb ]
An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy. [ Spanish Proverb ]
Good-sense, which only is the gift of Heaven,
And though no science, fairly worth the seven. [ Pope ]
Work must stand or stumble by intrinsic worth. [ Robert Browning ]
He that to ancient wreaths can bring no more
From his own worth, dies bankrupt on the score. [ Cleveland ]
Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow. [ Pope ]
A penny-weight of love is worth a pound of law. [ Proverb ]
Till taught by pain,
Men really know not what good water's worth:
If you had been in Turkey or in Spain,
Or with a famish'd boat's crew had your berth,
Or in the desert heard the camel's bell,
You'd wish yourself where truth is - in a well. [ Byron ]
An ounce of discretion is worth a pound of wit. [ Proverb ]
It is a poor sport that is not worth the candle. [ English Proverb, collected by George Herbert ]
The corpse of friendship is not worth embalming. [ Hazlitt ]
Conceit, more rich in matter than in words,
Brags of his substance, not of ornament:
They are but beggars that can count their worth. [ William Shakespeare ]
What would the rose with all her pride be worth.
Were there no sun to call her brightness forth? [ Moore ]
Vain-glorious man, when fluttering wind does blow
In his light wings, is lifted up to sky;
The scorn of knighthood and true chivalry,
To think, without desert of gentle deed
And noble worth, to be advanced high,
Such praise is shame, but honour, virtue's meed.
Doth bear the fairest flower in honourable seed. [ Spenser ]
One grain of pepper is worth a cart load of hail. [ Proverb ]
Every scrap of a wise man's time is worth saving. [ Proverb ]
An ounce of fortune is worth a pound of forecast. [ Proverb ]
Whoso lacks a stock, his gain is not worth a chip. [ Proverb ]
An ounce o' mother-wit is worth a pound o' clergy. [ Scotch Proverb ]
A dinner warmed up again was never worth anything. [ Boileau ]
One good mother is worth a hundred school masters. [ George Herbert ]
He is not so much worth as his ears full of water. [ Proverb ]
We know the worth of a thing when we have lost it. [ French ]
An ounce of practice is worth a pound of preaching. [ Proverb ]
Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well. [ Earl of Chesterfield ]
I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,
Nor actions, nor utterance, nor the power of speech,
To stir men's blood: I only speak right on. [ William Shakespeare ]
One leg of a lark is worth the whole body of a kite. [ Proverb ]
The worth of a book is a matter of expressed juices. [ Bovee ]
One hour's sleep before midnight is worth two after. [ Proverb ]
If a word be worth one shekel, silence is worth two. [ Rabbi Ben Azai ]
Worth without wealth is a good servant out of place. [ Proverb ]
The smoke of glory is not worth the smoke of a pipe. [ George Sand ]
A sparrow in hand is worth a pheasant that flies by. [ Proverb ]
If a word be worth a shilling, silence is worth two. [ Proverb ]
Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove;
No! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error, and upon me proved;
I never writ, nor no man ever loved. [ William Shakespeare ]
One anecdote of a man is worth a volume of biography. [ Channing ]
The worth of a thing is best known by the want of it. [ Proverb ]
A good friend is worth more than a hundred relations. [ French Proverb ]
It is an ill dog that is not worth the whistling for. [ Proverb ]
A handful of good life is worth a bushel of learning. [ George Herbert ]
To equal a predecessor, one must have twice his worth. [ Gracian ]
One hour's sleep before midnight is worth three after. [ Herbert ]
No worth, known or unknown, can die even on this earth. [ Carlyle ]
We never know the worth of water, till the well is dry. [ Proverb ]
A colt is nothing worth if it does not break its halter. [ French Proverb ]
Whatsoever is worthy of their love is worth their anger. [ Sir J. Denham ]
Liberty is worth whatever the best civilization is worth. [ Henry Giles ]
Virtue is of worth, by itself alone; and so is not birth. [ Proverb ]
No rest is worth anything except the rest that is earned. [ Jean Paul ]
A good word for a bad one is worth much, and costs little. [ Proverb ]
It is a secret worth knowing that lawyers rarely go to law. [ Mosea Crowell ]
Worth begets in base minds envy; in great souls, emulation. [ Fielding ]
An head with a good tongue in it, is worth double the price. [ Proverb ]
Men and cucumbers are worth nothing as soon as they are ripe. [ Jean Paul ]
Beauties that from worth arise are like the grace of deities. [ Sir J. Suckling ]
A bushel of March dust on the leaves, is worth a king ransom. [ Proverb ]
All the reasoning of man is not worth one sentiment of woman. [ Voltaire ]
If principle is good for any thing, it is worth living up to. [ Benjamin Franklin ]
The things of the earth are not worth our attachment to them. [ Nicole ]
The cow knows not what her tail is worth till she has lost it. [ English Proverb, collected by George Herbert ]
Few and precious are the words which the lips of Wisdom utter,
To what shall their rarity be likened?
What price shall count their worth?
Perfect and much to be desired, and giving joy with riches,
No lovely thing on earth can picture all their beauty. [ Tupper ]
A life that is worth writing at all is worth writing minutely. [ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ]
He that will not stoop for a pin shall never be worth a point. [ Proverb ]
Worth begets in base minds envy, but in brave souls emulation. [ Proverb ]
An ounce of a man's own wit is worth a pound of other peoples'. [ Sterne ]
One thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning. [ Lowell ]
I know transplanted human worth will bloom to profit otherwhere. [ Tennyson ]
You may pay for your schooling more than your learning is worth. [ Proverb ]
If I am not worth the wooing, I surely am not worth the winning. [ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ]
What we gain by experience is not worth what we lose in illusion. [ J. Petit-Senn ]
Is it worth the name of freedom to be at liberty to play the fool? [ Locke ]
We'll never know the worth of the water till the well has gone dry. [ Proverb ]
The true worth of a man is to be measured by the objects he pursues. [ Marcus Aurelius ]
Worth hath been under-rated, ever since wealth hath been overvalued. [ Proverb ]
If you make not much of three-pence, you will never be worth a groat. [ Proverb ]
Money will buy money's worth: but the thing men call fame, what is it? [ Carlyle ]
Oh that simplicity and innocence its own unvalued work so seldom knows! [ Shelley ]
She that loses her modesty and honesty, hath nothing else worth losing. [ Proverb ]
His clothes are worth a hundred pounds, but his wit is dear of a groat. [ Proverb ]
Nothing of character is really permanent but virtue and personal worth. [ Daniel Webster ]
An ounce of cheerfulness is worth a pound of sadness to serve God with. [ Fuller ]
O, there is naught on earth worth being known but God and our own souls! [ Bailey ]
Real worth requires no interpreter; Its everyday deeds form its blazonry. [ Chamfort ]
You will find that most books worth reading once are worth reading twice. [ John Morley ]
An original sentence, a step forward, is worth more than all the centuries. [ Ralph Waldo Emerson ]
A thing is worth what it can do for you, not what you choose to pay for it. [ John Ruskin ]
He that was born under a three-halfpenny planet shall never be worth twopence. [ Proverb ]
Human intellect, if you consider it well, is the exact summary of human worth. [ Carlyle ]
Half a word fixed upon, or near, the spot is worth a cartload of recollection. [ Gray to Palgrave ]
In a thousand pound's worth of law there is not a shilling's worth of pleasure. [ Proverb ]
A proverb says: A hearth of one's own and a good wife are worth gold and pearls. [ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ]
This mournful truth is everywhere confessed. Slow rises worth by poverty depressed. [ Dr. Johnson ]
Few men are much worth loving in whom there is not something well worth laughing at. [ Hair ]
A happy jest often gives birth to another; but the child is seldom worth the mother. [ Alfred Bougeart ]
Love, which is the essence of God, is not for levity, but for the total worth of man. [ Ralph Waldo Emerson ]
The most brilliant fortunes are often not worth the littleness required to gain them. [ Rochefoucauld ]
Noble descent and worth, unless united with wealth, are esteemed no more than seaweed. [ Horace ]
True wisdom is to know what is best worth knowing, and to do what is best worth doing. [ Humphreys ]
There is a time of life beyond which we cannot form a tie worth the name of friendship. [ Burns ]
Want of humility or self-denial is simply the want of all religion, of all moral worth. [ Carlyle ]
The difficulty is not so great to die for a friend as to find a friend worth dying for. [ Kames ]
We are valued either too highly or not high enough; we are never taken at our real worth. [ Marie Ebner-Eschenbach ]
The flowers strewed on the grave of merit, are the most grateful incense to living worth. [ W. Mavor ]
We believe that we have a good government, worth fighting for, and, if need be, dying for. [ U. S. Grant ]
Wit, to be well defined, must be defined by wit itself; then it will be worth listening to. [ Zimmermann ]
His worth shines forth the brightest who in hope always confides; the abject soul despairs. [ Euripides ]
A friend that you have to buy won't be worth what you pay for him, no matter what that may be. [ George D. Prentice ]
Everything is worth seeing once, and the more one sees the less one either wonders or admires. [ Chesterfield ]
The upright must suffer hatred and envy. It enhances the worth of a man if hatred pursues him. [ Gottfried von Strassburg ]
Often the world discovers a man's moral worth only when its injustice has nearly destroyed him. [ De Finod ]
Thought in the mind may come forth gold or dross; when coined in words, we know its real worth. [ Young ]
Half the gossip of society would perish if the books that are truly worth reading were but read. [ George Dawson ]
I have learned that to do one's next duty is to take a step toward all that is worth possessing. [ J. G. Holland, Pseudonym: Timothy Titcomb ]
The habit of looking on the best side of every event is worth more than a thousand pounds a year. [ Johnson ]
It is easier to appear worthy of a position one does not bold, than of the office which one fills. [ La Rochefoucauld ]
There are words which are worth as much as the best actions, for they contain the germ of them all. [ Mme. Swetchine ]
It would be a rarity worth seeing could any one show us such a thing as a perfectly reconciled enemy. [ South ]
Gravity is a taught trick to gain credit of the world for more sense and knowledge than a man is worth. [ Sterne ]
Nothing of worth or weight can be achieved with half a mind, with a faint heart, and with a lame endeavor. [ Barrow ]
Science has been seriously retarded by the study of what is not worth knowing and of what is not knowable. [ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ]
In giving, a man receives more than he gives; and the more is in proportion to the worth of the thing given. [ George MacDonald ]
Riches without charity are nothing worth. They are a blessing only to him who makes them a blessing to others. [ Fielding ]
Mysteries which must explain themselves are not worth the loss of time which a conjecture about them takes up. [ Sterne ]
The only freedom worth possessing is that which gives enlargement to a people's energy, intellect and virtues. [ Channing ]
Nature and Heaven command you, at your peril, to discern worth from unworth in everything, and most of all in man. [ John Ruskin ]
The purer the golden vessel the more readily is it bent; the higher worth of women is sooner lost than that of men. [ Jean Paul ]
If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing. [ Benjamin Franklin ]
The purer the golden vessel, the more readily is it bent; the higher worth of woman is sooner lost than that of man. [ Richter ]
All of us who are worth anything spend our manhood in unlearning the follies or expiating the mistakes of our youth. [ Shelley ]
The true worth of a soul is revealed as much by the motive it attributes to the actions of others as by its own deeds. [ J. Petit-Senn ]
What are you worth today? Not in money, but in brains, heart, purpose, character? Tell yourself the truth about yourself. [ George H. Hepworth ]
I see nothing worth living for but the divine virtue which endures and surrenders all things for truth, duty, and mankind. [ Channing ]
We see, though ordered for the best, permitted laurels grace the lawless brow, the unworthy raised, the worthy cast below. [ Dryden ]
There is hardly a person in the House of Commons worth painting, though many of them would be better for a little whitewashing. [ Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Grey ]
Part with it as with money, sparing; pay no moment but in purchase of its worth: and what its worth ask death-beds; they can tell. [ Young ]
There are few persons of greater worth than their reputation; but how many are there whose worth is far short of their reputation! [ Stanislaus ]
There are principles excellent for certain firm and energetic characters, which would be worth nothing for those of an inferior order. [ Chamfort ]
No book is worth anything which is not worth much; nor is it serviceable until it has been read, and re-read, and loved, and loved again. [ John Ruskin ]
The winter's frost must rend the burr of the nut before the fruit is seen. So adversity tempers the human heart, to discover its real worth. [ Balzac ]
Give me but these, - a spirit tempest-tried, a brow unshrinking, and a soul of flame; the joy of conscious worth, its courage and its pride. [ R. T. Conrad ]
People who are arrogant on account of their wealth are about equal to our Laplanders, who measure a man's worth by the number of his reindeer. [ Fredrika Bremer ]
Talents angel-bright, if wanting worth, are shining instruments in false ambition's hand, to finish faults illustrious, and give infamy renown. [ Young ]
When you have got so much true knowledge as is worth fighting for, you are bound to fight or to die for it, but not to debate about it any more. [ John Ruskin ]
Not in nature, but in man is all the beauty and the worth he sees. The world is very empty, and is indebted to this gilding, exalting soul for its pride. [ Ralph Waldo Emerson ]
I never listen to calumnies, because, if they are untrue, I run the risk of being deceived, and if they are true, of hating persons not worth thinking about. [ Montesquieu ]
Grace pays its respects to true intrinsic worth, not to the mere signs and trappings of it, which often only show where it ought to be, not where it really is. [ Thomas à Kempis ]
A true friend is distinguished in the crisis of hazard and necessity; when the gallantry of his aid may show the worth of his soul and the loyalty of his heart. [ Ennius ]
The friendship of some men is like the love of some women; it is variable and capricious, inconstant and uncertain, hard to win, and when won, not worth having. [ Acton ]
His reasons are two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff: you shall seek all day ere you find them; and when you have them, they are not worth the search. [ William Shakespeare ]
There is this value in books, that they enable us to converse with the dead. There is something in this beyond the mere intrinsic worth of what they have left us. [ Brydges ]
There must be work done by the arms, or none of us would live; and work done by the brains, or the life would not be worth having. And the same men cannot do both. [ John Ruskin ]
Coleridge cried, O God, how glorious it is to live!
Renan asks, O God, when will it be worth while to live?
In Nature we echo the poet; in the world we echo the thinker. [ Ouida ]
There is no detraction worse than to overpraise a man, for if his worth proves short of what report doth speak of him, his own actions are ever giving the lie to his honor. [ Feltham ]
We esteem in the world those who do not merit our esteem, and neglect persons of true worth; but the world is like the ocean - the pearl is in its depths, the seaweed swims. [ G. P. Morris ]
In this world there is one godlike thing, the essence of all that ever was or ever will be of godlike in this world, - the veneration done to human worth by the hearts of men. [ Carlyle ]
It is not written, blessed is he that feedeth the poor, but he that considereth the poor. A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money. [ Ruskin ]
Man, it is not thy works, which are mortal, infinitely little, and the greatest no greater than the least, but only the spirit thou workest in, that can have worth or continuance. [ Carlyle ]
I hate anything that occupies more space than it is worth. I hate to see a load of bandboxes go along the street, and I hate to see a parcel of big words without anything in them. [ Hazlitt ]
The fact is, that to do anything in tbia world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can. [ Sydney Smith ]
The great silent man! Looking round on the noisy inanity of the world, - words with little meaning, actions with little worth, - one loves to reflect on the great Empire of Silence. [ Carlyle ]
The fact is, that to do any thing in this world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in, and scramble through as well as we can. [ Sydney Smith ]
True worth is as inevitably discovered by the facial expression, as its opposite is sure to be clearly represented there. The human face is nature's tablet, the truth is certainly written thereon. [ Lavater ]
Good-nature is worth more than knowledge, more than money, more than honor, to the persons who possess it, and certainly to everybody who dwells with them, in so far as mere happiness is concerned. [ Henry Ward Beecher ]
There is nothing of which men are more liberal than their good advice, be their stock of it ever so small; because it seems to carry in it an intimation of their own influence, importance, or worth. [ Young ]
The tongue tells the thought of one man only, whereas the face expresses a thought of nature itself; so that every one is worth attentive observation, even though every one may not be worth talking to. [ Arthur Schopenhauer ]
Make use of time, if you love eternity. Yesterday cannot be recalled. Tomorrow cannot be assured. Today is only yours, and if you procrastinate, you lose, and lose forever. One today is worth two tomorrows. [ Euchiridion ]
Trust to me, judicious mother: do not make of your daughter an honest man, as if to give the lie to Nature; make her an honest woman, and be assured that she will be of more worth both to herself and to us. [ Rousseau ]
It is worth noticing that those who assume an imposing demeanor and seek to pass themselves off for something beyond what they are, are not unfrequently as much underrated by some as they are overrated by others. [ Whately ]
If a young lady has that discretion and modesty without which all knowledge is little worth, she will never make an ostentatious parade of it, because she will rather be intent on acquiring more than on displaying what she has. [ Hannah More ]
Make use of time, if thou lovest eternity; know yesterday cannot be recalled, tomorrow cannot be assured; today is only thine; Which if thou procrastinate, thou losest; which lost, is lost forever. One today is worth two tomorrows. [ Quarles ]
What money creates, money preserves: if thy wealth decays, thy honor dies; it is but a slippery happiness which fortunes can give, and frowns can take: and not worth the owning which a night's fire can melt, or a rough sea can drown. [ Quarles ]
In composing, think much more of your matter than your manner. To be sure, spirit, grace, and dignity of manner are of great importance, both to the speaker and writer; but of infinitely more importance is the weight and worth of matter. [ Wirt ]
Two things, well considered, would prevent many quarrels: first, to have it well ascertained whether we are not disputing about terms rather than things; and, secondly, to examine whether that on which we differ is worth contending about. [ Colton ]
Talent and worth are the only eternal grounds of distinction. To these the Almighty has affixed His everlasting patent of nobility. Knowledge and goodness, - these make degrees in heaven, and they must be the graduating scale of a true democracy. [ Miss Sedgwick ]
Just as a tested and rugged virtue of the moral hero is worth more than the lovely, tender, untried innocence of the child, so is the massive strength of a soul that has conquered truth for itself worth more than the soft peach-bloom faith of a soul that takes truth on trust. [ F. E. Abbot ]
Looking round on the noisy inanity of the world, words with little meaning, actions with little worth, one loves to reflect on the great empire of silence. The noble silent men, scattered here and there each in his department, silently thinking, silently working; whom no morning newspaper makes mention of. [ Carlyle ]
Talk, except as the preparation for work, is worth almost nothing; sometimes it is worth infinitely less than nothing; and becomes, little conscious of playing such a fatal part, the general summary of pretentious nothingnesses, and the chief of all the curses the posterity of Adam are liable to in this sublunary world. [ Carlyle ]
There is no more potent antidote to low sensuality than the adoration of the beautiful. All the higher arts of design are essentially chaste without respect to the object. They purify the thoughts as tragedy purifies the passions. Their accidental effects are not worth consideration, - there are souls to whom even a vestal is not holy. [ Schlegel ]
The very essence of gravity was design, and, consequently, deceit; it was a taught trick to gain credit of the world for more sense and knowledge than a man was worth; and that with all its pretensions it was no better, but often worse, than what a French wit had long ago defined it - a mysterious carriage of the body to cover the defects of the mind. [ Sterne ]
The only difference between a genius and one of common capacity is that the former anticipates and explores what the latter accidentally hits upon. But even the man of genius himself more frequently employs the advantages that chance presents to him. It is the lapidary that gives value to the diamond, which the peasant has dug up without knowing its worth. [ Abbe Raynal ]
Plutarch tells us of an idle and effeminate Etrurian who found fault with the manner in which Themistocles had conducted a recent campaign. What,
said the hero in reply, have you, too, something to say about war, who are like the fish that has a sword, but no heart?
He is always the severest censor on the merits of others who has the least worth of his own. [ E. L. Magoon ]
The beauty of work depends upon the way we meet it, whether we arm ourselves each morning to attack it as an enemy that must be vanquished before night comes, or whether we open our eyes with the sunrise to welcome it as an approaching friend who will keep us delightful company all day, and who will make us feel at evening that the day was well worth its fatigues. [ Lucy Larcom ]
It is particularly worth observation that the more we magnify, by the assistance of glasses, the works of nature, the more regular and beautiful they appear, while it is quite different in respect to those of art, for when they are examined through a microscope we are astonished to find them so rough, so coarse and uneven, although they have been done with all imaginable care, by the best workmen. [ Sterne ]
Courage, by keeping the senses quiet, and the understanding clear, puts us in a condition to receive true intelligence, to make just computations upon danger, and pronounce rightly upon that which threatens us. Innocence of life, consciousness of worth, and great expectations, are the best foundations of courage. These ingredients make a richer cordial than youth can prepare. They warm the heart at eighty, and seldom fail in operation. [ Collier ]
It is good for any man to be alone with nature and himself, or with a friend who knows when silence is more sociable than talk, In the wilderness alone, there where nature worships God.
It is well to be in places where man is little and God is great, where what he sees all around him has the same look as it had a thousand years ago, and will have the same, in all likelihood, when he has been a thousand years in his grave. It abates and rectifies a man, if he is worth the process. [ Sydney Smith ]
True hope is based on energy of character. A strong mind always hopes, and has always cause to hope, because it knows the mutability of human affairs and how slight a circumstance may change the whole course of events. Such a spirit, too, rests upon itself, it is not confined to partial views, or to one particular object. And if at last all should be lost, it has saved itself, its own integrity and worth. Hope awakens courage, while despondency is the last of all evils, it is the abandonment of good, the giving up of the battle of life with dead nothingness. He who can implant courage in the human soul is the best physician. [ Von Knebel (German), Translated by Mrs. Austin ]