Authority Lawful and settled authority is very seldom resisted when it is well employed. Avarice is the last passion of those Avarice lives of which the first part has been squandered in pleasure, and the second devoted to ambition.-Rambler, No. 151. Avarice Avarice Avarice is always poor, but poor by her own fault.-Idler, No. 73. Whoever lays up his penny rather than part with it for a cake, at least is not the slave of gross appetite; and shows besides a preference, always to be esteemed, of the future to the present moment.Piozzi's Anecdotes, p. 153. Avarice You despise a man for avarice; but you do not hate him.-Rambler. A Baby One can scarcely help wishing, while one fondles a baby, that it may never live to become a man; for it is so probable that when it becomes a man, he should be sure to end in a scoundrel.Piozzi's Anecdotes, p. 273. Old Bachelors They that have grown old in a single state are morose, fretful, and captious; tenacious of their own practices and maxims; soon offended by contradiction or negligence; and impatient of any association, but with those that will watch their nod, and submit themselves to unlimited authority.-Rambler, No. 112. A Bargain Bashfulness A bargain is a wager of skill between man and man. No cause more frequently produces bashfulness than too high an opinion of our own importance.—Rambler, No. 159. Bashfulness Bashfulness may sometimes exclude pleasure, but seldom opens any avenue to sorrow or remorse.-Rambler, No. 159. Keeping to 137. Beauty Divide and conquer, is a principle equally just in science as in policy.-Rambler, No. Beauty a quality to which solicitude can add nothing; and from which, detraction can take nothing away.-Rasselas, ch. xxv. Beauty Supreme Beauty without kindness dies unenjoyed and undelighting. are suffered. Supreme beauty is seldom found in cottages or workshops, even where no real hardships. To expand the human face to its full perfection it seems necessary that the mind should co-operate by placidness of content or consciousness of superiority. Journey to the Western Islands, p. 72. Lying Awake in Bed The happiest part of a man's life is what he passes lying awake in bed in the morning. -Journal. October 24. Beggars in the A beggar in the street will more readily ask Street alms from a man, though there should be no marks of wealth in his appearance, than from even a well-dressed woman.-Life. Collectanea by Langton, 1780. A Fallible Few have all kinds of merit belonging Being to their character. We must not examine matters too deeply. A fallible being will fail somewhere. -Life. Maxwell's Collectanea, 1770. Benevolence for finite beings. To act from pure benevolence is not possible Human benevolence is mingled with vanity, interest, or some other motive.— Life. If a man were to feel no incentives to Benevolence kindness more than his general tendency to congenial nature, Babylon or London, with all their multitudes, would have to hit the desolation of a wilderness.-Rambler, No. 99. and Benevolence The laws of social benevolence require Experience that every man should endeavour to assist others by his experience.-Rambler, No. 174. Biography is, of the various kinds of Biography narrative writing, that which is most eagerly read, and most easily applied to the purposes of life, Births at all times bear the same proportion Births to the same number of people. October 26, 1769. Imagined Life. Of many imagined blessings it may be doubted, whether he that wants or possesses them had more reason to be satisfied with his lot.-The Adventurer, No. 3. Among all the satires to which folly and Bond wickedness have given occasion, none is equally severe, with a bond or a settlement.-Rambler, No. 131. Best Book for If you are to have but one book with you a Journey upon a journey, let it be a book of science. When you have read through a book of entertainment, you know it, and it can do no more for you; but a book of science is inexhaustible.-Journal. August 31. Book Worms The most studious are not always the most learned. It likewise happens that the most recluse are not the most vigorous prosecutors of study.— Rambler, No. 89. Books Books Books teach but the art of living.-Piozzi's Anecdotes, p. 267. Books without the knowledge of life are useless.-Piozzi's Anecdotes, p 267. No man should think so highly of himself Books as to think he can receive but little light from books, nor so meanly as to believe he can discover nothing but what is to be learned from them. Books The continued multiplication of books not only distracts choice, but disappoints inquiry. To him that hath moderately stored his mind with images, few writers afford any novelty.-Journey to the Western Islands. Portable Books Books that you may carry to the fire, and hold readily in your hand, are the most useful after all; such books form the mass of general and easy reading.—Anecdotes of Johnson by Hawkins. Test of That book is good in vain which the Books reader throws away.-Lives of the Poets. Dryden. Reading of People seldom read a book which is given Books to them. The way to spread a work is to sell it at a low price.-Life. April 27, 1773. Books of Books of travels will be good in proportion Travels as to what a man has previously in his mind; his knowing what to observe; his power of contrasting one mode of life with another. As the Spanish proverb says, "He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies must carry the wealth of the Indies with him." So it is in travelling: a man must carry knowledge with him, if he would bring home knowledge.-Life. April 17, 1778. |