C.N. Douglas, comp. Forty Thousand Quotations: Prose and Poetical. 1917.
Stanislaus
A well-read fool is the most pestilent of blockheads; his learning is a flail which he knows not how to handle, and with which he breaks his neighbor’s shins as well as his own. Keep a fellow of this description at arm’s length, as you value the integrity of your bones.
Affectation discovers sooner what one is than it makes known what one would fain appear to be.
Almost always the most indigent are the most generous.
Conscience warns us as a friend before it punishes us as a judge.
Gaiety is the soul’s health; sadness is its poison.
Genius speaks only to genius.
Good-humor is the health of the soul, sadness its poison.
How many persons fancy they have experience simply because they have grown old!
I believe, indeed, that it is more laudable to suffer great misfortunes than to do great things.
I know no real worth but that tranquil firmness which seeks dangers by duty, and braves them without rashness.
Is it not astonishing that the love of repose keeps us in continual agitation?
It is hardly possible to suspect another without having in one’s self the seeds of baseness the party is accused of.
It is having in some measure a sort of wit, to know how to use the wit of others.
None are rash when they are not seen by anybody.
Nothing but religion is capable of changing pains into pleasures.
Politeness has been defined to be artificial good-nature; but we may affirm, with much greater propriety, that good-nature is natural politeness.
Science when well digested is nothing but good sense and reason.
The earliest desire of succeeding is almost always a prognostic of success.
The instability of our tastes is the occasion of the irregularity of our lives.
The prejudices of youth pass away with it. Those of old age last only because there is no other age to be hoped for.
The Word of God proves the truth of religion; the corruption of man, its necessity; government, its advantages.
There are few defects in our nature so glaring as not to be veiled from observation by politeness and good breeding.
There are few persons of greater worth than their reputation; but how many are there whose worth is far short of their reputation!
Those who ought to be secure from calumny are generally those who avoid it least.
To be vain of one’s rank or place is to disclose that one is below it.
To believe with certainty we must begin to doubt.
To make good use of life, one should have in youth the experience of advanced years, and in old age the vigor of youth.
We rise to fortune by successive steps; we descend by only one.
What is fame? The advantage of being known by people of whom you yourself know nothing, and for whom you care as little.
When the truth offends no one it should come from our lips as naturally as the air we breathe.