dots-menu
×

Home  »  Familiar Quotations  »  Page 407

John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.

Page 407

 
 
Thomas Percy. (1729–1811) (continued)
 
4392
    But in vayne shee did conjure him
  To depart her presence soe;
Having a thousand tongues to allure him,
  And but one to bid him goe.
          Dulcina.
 
Edmund Burke. (1729–1797)
 
4393
    The writers against religion, whilst they oppose every system, are wisely careful never to set up any of their own.
          A Vindication of Natural Society. 1 Preface, vol. i, p. 7.
4394
    “War,” says Machiavel, “ought to be the only study of a prince;” and by a prince he means every sort of state, however constituted. “He ought,” says this great political doctor, “to consider peace only as a breathing-time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes ability to execute military plans.” A meditation on the conduct of political societies made old Hobbes imagine that war was the state of nature.
          A Vindication of Natural Society. Vol. i. p. 15.
4395
    I am convinced that we have a degree of delight, and that no small one, in the real misfortunes and pains of others. 2
          On the Sublime and Beautiful. Sect. xiv. vol. i. p. 118.
4396
    Custom reconciles us to everything.
          On the Sublime and Beautiful. Sect. xviii. vol. i. p. 231.
4397
    There is, however, a limit at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue.
          Observations on Late Publication on the Present State of the Nation. Vol. i. p. 273.
4398
    The wisdom of our ancestors. 3
          Ibid. p. 516. Also in the Discussion on the Traitorous Correspondence Bill, 1793.
 
Note 1.
Boston edition. 1865–1867. [back]
Note 2.
In the adversity of our best friends we always find something which is not wholly displeasing to us.—Francis, Duc de La Rochefoucauld: Reflections, xv. [back]
Note 3.
Lord Brougham says of Bacon, “He it was who first employed the well-known phrase of ‘the wisdom of our ancestor.’”

Sydney Smith: Plymley’s Letters, letter v. Lord Eldon: On Sir Samuel Romilly’s Bill, 1815. Cicero: De Legibus, ii. 2, 3. [back]