Great Throughts Treasury

"Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way."

"Amid thy desert-walks the lapwing flies, and tires their echoes with unvaried cries."

"Among men long conversant with books we too frequently find those misplaced virtues of which I have now been complaining. We find the studious animated with a strong passion for the great virtues, as they are mistakenly called, and utterly forgetful of the ordinary ones. The declamations of philosophy are generally rather exhausted on those supererogatory duties than on such as are indispensably necessary. A man, therefore, who has taken his ideas of mankind from study alone, generally comes into the world with a heart melting at every fictitious distress. Thus he is induced, by misplaced liberality, to put himself into the indigent circumstances of the person he relieves."

"Among the Italians, Paulo Burghese, almost as good a poet as Tasso, knew fourteen different trades, and yet died because he could get employment in none. Tasso himself, who had the most amiable character of all poets, has often been obliged to borrow a crown from some friend, in order to pay for a month?s subsistence: he has left us a pretty sonnet, addressed to his cat, in which he begs the light of her eyes to write by, being too poor to afford himself a candle. But Bentivoglio, poor Bentivoglio, chiefly demands our pity. His comedies will last with the Italian language: he dissipated a noble fortune in acts of charity and benevolence; but, falling into misery in his old age, was refused to be admitted into a hospital which he himself had erected."

"All his faults are such that one loves him still the better for them."

"An emperor in his night-cap would not meet with half the respect of an emperor with a crown."

"And his best riches, ignorance of wealth."

"And in that town a dog was found, as many dogs there be, Both mongrel, puppy, whelp and hound, And curs of low degree."

"And the weak soul, within itself unbless'd, Leans for all pleasure on another's breast."

"And, e'en while fashion's brightest arts decoy, The heart, distrusting, asks if this be joy."

"And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew, that one small head could carry all he knew."

"And what advantage has any country of Europe obtained from such calamities? Scarcely any. Their dissensions for more than a thousand years have served to make each other unhappy, but have enriched none. All the great nations still nearly preserve their ancient limits; none have been able to subdue the other, and so terminate the dispute. France, in spite of the conquests of Edward the Third and Henry the Fifth, notwithstanding the efforts of Charles the Fifth and Philip the Second, still remains within its ancient limits. Spain, Germany, Great Britain, Poland, the states of the North, are nearly still the same. What effect then has the blood of so many thousands, the destruction of so many cities, produced? Nothing either great or considerable. The Christian princes have lost indeed much from the enemies of Christendom, but they have gained nothing from each other. Their princes, because they preferred ambition to justice, deserve the character of enemies to mankind; and their priests, neglecting morality for opinion, have mistaken the interests of society."

"As boys should be educated with temperance, so the first greatest lesson that should be taught them is to admire frugality. It is by the exercise of this virtue alone they can ever expect to be useful members of society. It is true, lectures continually repeated upon this subject, may make some boys, when they grow up, run into an extreme, and become misers; but it were well had we more misers than we have amongst us."

"As a wit, if not first, in the very first line."

"Aromatic plants bestow No spicy fragrance while they grow; But crush'd or trodden to the ground, Diffuse their balmy sweets around."

"As the reputation of books is raised not by their freedom from defect, but the greatness of their beauties, so should that of men be prized not for their exemption from fault, but the size of those virtues they are possessed of."

"At night returning, every labour sped, He sits him down, the monarch of a shed; Smiles by his cheerful fire, and round surveys His children's looks, that brighten at the blaze; While his lov'd partner, boastful of her hoard, Displays her cleanly platter on the board."

"Be not affronted at a joke. If one throw salt at thee, thou wilt receive no harm, unless thou art raw."

"Blest be those feasts, with simple plenty crowned, where all the ruddy family around laugh at the jests or pranks that never fail or sigh with pity at some mournful tale."

"At church, with meek and unaffected grace, His looks adorn'd the venerable place; Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway, And fools, who came to scoff, remain'd to pray."

"Blame where you must, be candid where you can, And be each critic the Good-natured Man."

"But are there not some works, interrupted I, that from the very manner of their composition must be exempt from criticism; particularly such as profess to disregard its laws?"

"Books, while they teach us to respect the interest of others, often make us unmindful of our own; while they instruct the youthful reader to grasp at social happiness, he grows miserable in detail; and, attentive to universal harmony, often forgets that he himself has a part to sustain in the concert. I dislike, therefore, the philosopher who describes the inconveniences of life in such pleasing colors that the pupil grows enamored of distress, longs to try the charms of poverty, meets it without dread, nor fears its inconveniences till he severely feels them."

"But in all those governments where laws derive their sanction from the people alone, transgressions cannot be overlooked without bringing the constitution into danger."

"But in his duty prompt at every call, He watch'd and wept, he pray'd and felt for all."

"By every remove I only drag a greater length of chain."

"But not only the ladies of every shape and complexion, but of every age too, are possessed of this unaccountable passion for levelling all distinction in dress. The lady of no quality travels first behind the lady of some quality; and a woman of sixty is as gaudy as her grand-daughter."

"But the sufferings of the poet in other countries is nothing when compared to his distresses here; the names of Spenser and Otway, Butler and Dryden, are every day mentioned as a national reproach: some of them lived in a state of precarious indigence, and others literally died of hunger."

"But winter lingering chills the lap of May."

"By sports like these are all their cares beguil'd, The sports of children satisfy the child."

"By expectation every day beguiled; dupe of tomorrow even from a child."

"Careless their merits or their faults to scan, His pity gave ere charity began."

"By struggling with misfortunes, we are sure to receive some wounds in the conflict; but a sure method to come off victorious is by running away."

"Cheerful at morn he wakes from short repose, Breathes the keen air, and carols as he goes."

"Could a man live by it, it were not unpleasant employment to be a poet."

"Compliments which we think are deserved, we accept only as debts, with indifference; but those which conscience informs us we do not merit, we receive with the same gratitude that we do favors given away."

"Ceremonies differ in every country; they are only artificial helps which ignorance assumes to imitate politeness, which is the result of good sense and good-nature."

"Ceremony resembles that base coin which circulates through a country by royal mandate; it serves every purposs of real money at home, but is entirely useless if carried abroad. - A person who should attempt to circulate his native trash in another country would be thought either ridiculous or culpable."

"Disappointed love makes the misery of youth; disappointed ambition that of manhood; and successful avarice that of age. These three attack us through life; and it is our duty to stand upon our guard. To love we ought to oppose dissipation, and endeavor to change the object of the affections; to ambition, the happiness of indolence and obscurity; and to avarice, the fear of soon dying. These are the shields with which we should arm ourselves; and thus make every scene of life, if not pleasing, at least supportable."

"European compacts for peace are drawn up with the utmost precision, and ratified with the greatest solemnity: to these each party promises a sincere and inviolable obedience, and all wear the appearance of open friendship and unreserved reconciliation. Yet, notwithstanding these treaties, the people of Europe are almost continually at war. There is nothing more easy than to break a treaty ratified in all the usual forms, and yet neither party be the aggressor. One side, for instance, breaks a trifling article by mistake; the opposite party, upon this, makes a small but premeditated reprisal; this brings on a return of greater from the other; both sides complain of injuries and infractions; war is declared; they beat; are beaten; some two or three hundred thousand men are killed; they grow tired; leave off just where they began; and so sit coolly down to make new treaties."

"Every absurdity has a champion to defend it, for error is always talkative."

"Every mind seems capable of entertaining a certain quantity of happiness which no institutions can increase, no circumstances alter, and entirely independent of fortune. Let any man compare his present fortune with the past, and he will probably find himself, upon the whole, neither better nor worse than formerly."

"Every pang that rends the heart."

"Fear guides more than gratitude."

"Fortune is like the market, where many times if you can stay a little the price will fall; and, again it is sometimes like Sibyl's offer, which at first offereth the commodity at full, then consumeth part and part, and still holdeth up the price."

"Fear guides more to duty than gratitude. - For one man who is virtuous from the love of virtue, or from the obligation he thinks he lies under to the giver of all, there are thousands who are good only from their apprehension of punishment."

"For he that fights and runs away, may live to fight another day, but he, who is in battle slain, can never rise and fight again."

"Fortune is ever seen accompanying industry, and is as often trundling in a wheelbarrow as lolling in a coach and six."

"Friendship is like a debt of honor: the moment it is talked of it loses its real name, and assumes the more ungrateful form of obligation. From hence we find that those who regularly undertake to cultivate friendship find ingratitude generally repays their endeavors. That circle of beings which dependence gathers around us is almost ever unfriendly: they secretly wish the terms of their connections more nearly equal; and, where they even have the most virtue, are prepared to reserve all their affections for their patron only in the hour of his decline. Increasing the obligations which are laid upon such minds, only increases their burden: they feel themselves unable to repay the immensity of their debt, and their bankrupt hearts are taught a latent resentment at the hand that is stretched out with offers of service and relief."

"Full well they laughed, with counterfeited glee, At all his jokes, for many a joke had he: Full well the busy whisper, circling round, Convey'd the dismal tidings when he frown'd."