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Advice is like snow; the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into, the mind. To most men, experience is like the stern lights of a ship, which illumine only the track it has passed. What comes from the heart, goes to the heart. Only the wise possess ideas; the greater part of mankind are possessed by them. As long as there are readers to be delighted with calumny, there will be found reviewers to calumniate. What is an epigram? A dwarfish whole, its body brevity, and wit its soul. So lonely 'twas that God himself scarce seemed there to be. An ear for music is very different from a taste for music. I have no ear whatever; I could not sing an air to save my life; but I have the intensest delight in music, and can detect good from bad. Swans sing before they die - 'twere no bad thing, did certain persons die before they sing. I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry; that is, prose - words in their best order; poetry - the best words in their best order. No man does anything from a single motive. The wise only possess ideas; the greater part of mankind are possessed by them. What is an epigram? A dwarfish whole, Its body brevity, and wit its soul. Language is the armoury of the human mind; and at once contains the trophies of its past, and the weapons of its future conquests. The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions-the little, soon-forgotten charities of a kiss or smile, a kind look, a heart-felt compliment, and the countless infinitesimals of pleasurable and genial feeling. He prayeth well, who loveth well Both man and bird and beast. He prayeth best, who loveth best All things both great and small; For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all. Facts are not truths; they are not conclusions; they are not even premisses, but in the nature and parts of premisses. What begins in fear usually ends in folly. Fear gives sudden instincts of skill. Sympathy constitutes friendship; but in love there is a sort of antipathy, or opposing passion. Each strives to be the other, and both together make up one whole. The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions—the little, soon-forgotten charities of a kiss or smile, a kind look, a heartfelt compliment, and the countless infinitesimals of pleasurable and genial feeling. |