Part 93

In the present day our literary masonry is well done, but our architecture is poor.--Joubert.

Perhaps that is nearly the perfection of good writing which is original, but whose truth alone prevents the reader from suspecting that it is so; and which effects that for knowledge which the lense effects for the sunbeam, when it condenses its brightness in order to increase its force.--Colton.

A temperate style is alone classical.--Joubert.

Obscurity and affectation are the two great faults of style. Obscurity of expression generally springs from confusion of ideas; and the same wish to dazzle, at any cost, which produces affectation in the manner of a writer, is likely to produce sophistry in his reasoning.--Macaulay.

Style is the gossamer on which the seeds of truth float through the world.--Bancroft.

The lively phraseology of Montesquieu was the result of long meditation. His words, as light as wings, bear on them grave reflections.--Joubert.

~Subordination.~--The usual way that men adopt to appease the wrath of those whom they have offended, when they are at their mercy, is humble submission; whereas a bold front, a firm and resolute bearing,--means the very opposite,--have been at times equally successful.--Montaigne.

Reverences stand in awe of yourself.--Sydney Smith.

He who reigns within himself, and rules passions, desires, and fears, is more than a king.--Milton.

~Success.~--It is a mistake to suppose that men succeed through success; they much oftener succeed through failure.--Samuel Smiles.

From mere success nothing can be concluded in favor of any nation upon whom it is bestowed.--Atterbury.

He that would relish success to purpose should keep his passion cool, and his expectation low.--Jeremy Collier.

The road to success is not to be run upon by seven-leagued boots. Step by step, little by little, bit by bit,--that is the way to wealth, that is the way to wisdom, that is the way to glory. Pounds are the sons, not of pounds, but of pence.--Charles Buxton.

The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well; and doing well whatever you do, without a thought of fame.--Longfellow.

Nothing can seem foul to those that win.--Shakespeare.

All the proud virtue of this vaunting world fawns on success and power, however acquired.--Thomson.

A successful career has been full of blunders.--Charles Buxton.

The man who succeeds above his fellows is the one who, early in life, clearly discerns his object, and towards that object habitually directs his powers. Thus, indeed, even genius itself is but fine observation strengthened by fixity of purpose. Every man who observes vigilantly and resolves steadfastly grows unconsciously into genius.--Bulwer-Lytton.

Success soon palls. The joyous time is when the breeze first strikes your sails, and the waters rustle under your bows.--Charles Buxton.

Success at first doth many times undo men at last.--Venning.

~Suicide.~--Suicide itself, that fearful abuse of the dominion of the soul over the body, is a strong proof of the distinction of their destinies. Can the power that kills be the same that is killed? Must it not necessarily be something superior and surviving? The act of the soul, which in that fatal instant is in one sense so great an act of power, can it at the same time be the act of its own annihilation? The will kills the body, but who kills the will?--Auguste Nicolas.

Those men who destroy a healthful constitution of body by intemperance as manifestly kill themselves as those who hang, or poison, or drown themselves.--Sherlock.

He who, superior to the checks of nature, dares make his life the victim of his reason, does in some sort that reason deify, and takes a flight at heaven.--Young.

~Summer.~--Child of the sun, refulgent Summer comes.--Thomson.

Beneath the Winter's snow lie germs of summer flowers.--Whittier.

~Sun.~--The glorious sun stays in his course, and plays the alchemist, turning with the splendor of his precious eyes the meagre, cloddy earth to glittering gold.--Shakespeare.

The downward sun looks out effulgent from amid the flash of broken clouds.--Thomson.

~Sunday.~--If the Sunday had not been observed as a day of rest during the last three centuries, I have not the slightest doubt that we should have been at this moment a poorer people and less civilized.--Macaulay.