TRANSLATIONS. (continued 2)
Reading edition
Meditations. vi. 5.
Do not think that what is hard for thee to master is impossible for man; but if a thing is possible and proper to man, deem it attainable by thee.
Meditations. vi. 19.
[754]
If any man can convince me and bring home to me that I do not think or act aright, gladly will I change; for I search after truth, by which man never yet was harmed. But he is harmed who abideth on still in his deception and ignorance.
Meditations. vi. 21.
Death,—a stopping of impressions through the senses, and of the pulling of the cords of motion, and of the ways of thought, and of service to the flesh.
Meditations. vi. 28.
Suit thyself to the estate in which thy lot is cast.
Meditations. vi. 39.
What is not good for the swarm is not good for the bee.
Meditations. vi. 54.
How many, once lauded in song, are given over to the forgotten; and how many who sung their praises are clean gone long ago!
Meditations. vii. 6.
One Universe made up of all that is; and one God in it all, and one principle of Being, and one Law, the Reason, shared by all thinking creatures, and one Truth.
Meditations. vii. 9.
To a rational being it is the same thing to act according to nature and according to reason.
Meditations. vii. 11.
Let not thy mind run on what thou lackest as much as on what thou hast already.
Meditations. vii. 27.
Just as the sand-dunes, heaped one upon another, hide each the first, so in life the former deeds are quickly hidden by those that follow after.
Meditations. vii. 34.
The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing, in so far as it stands ready against the accidental and the unforeseen, and is not apt to fall.
Meditations. vii. 61.
Remember this,—that very little is needed to make a happy life.
Meditations. vii. 67.
Remember that to change thy mind and to follow him that sets thee right, is to be none the less the free agent that thou wast before.
Meditations. viii. 16.
[755]
Look to the essence of a thing, whether it be a point of doctrine, of practice, or of interpretation.
Meditations. viii. 22.
A man's happiness,—to do the things proper to man.
Meditations. viii. 26.
Be not careless in deeds, nor confused in words, nor rambling in thought.
Meditations. viii. 51.
He that knows not what the world is, knows not where he is himself. He that knows not for what he was made, knows not what he is nor what the world is.
Meditations. viii. 52.
The nature of the universe is the nature of things that are. Now, things that are have kinship with things that are from the beginning. Further, this nature is styled Truth; and it is the first cause of all that is true.
Meditations. ix. 1.
He would be the finer gentleman that should leave the world without having tasted of lying or pretence of any sort, or of wantonness or conceit.
Meditations. ix. 2.
Think not disdainfully of death, but look on it with favour; for even death is one of the things that Nature wills.
Meditations. ix. 3.
A wrong-doer is often a man that has left something undone, not always he that has done something.
Meditations. ix. 5.
Blot out vain pomp; check impulse; quench appetite; keep reason under its own control.
Meditations. ix. 7.
Things that have a common quality ever quickly seek their kind.
Meditations. ix. 9.
All things are the same,—familiar in enterprise, momentary in endurance, coarse in substance. All things now are as they were in the day of those whom we have buried.
Meditations. ix. 14.
The happiness and unhappiness of the rational, social animal depends not on what he feels but on what he does; just as his virtue and vice consist not in feeling but in doing.
Meditations. ix. 16.
[756]
Everything is in a state of metamorphosis. Thou thyself art in everlasting change and in corruption to correspond; so is the whole universe.
Meditations. ix. 19.
Forward, as occasion offers. Never look round to see whether any shall note it. . . . Be satisfied with success in even the smallest matter, and think that even such a result is no trifle.
Meditations. ix. 29.
He that dies in extreme old age will be reduced to the same state with him that is cut down untimely.
Meditations. ix. 33.
Whatever may befall thee, it was preordained for thee from everlasting.
Meditations. x. 5.
"The earth loveth the shower," and "the holy ether knoweth what love is."[756:1] The Universe, too, loves to create whatsoever is destined to be made.
Meditations. x. 21.
Remember that what pulls the strings is the force hidden within; there lies the power to persuade, there the life,—there, if one must speak out, the real man.
Meditations. x. 38.
No form of Nature is inferior to Art; for the arts merely imitate natural forms.
Meditations. xi. 10.
If it is not seemly, do it not; if it is not true, speak it not.
Meditations. xii. 17.
Footnotes
A similar saying falls from his lips at another time: "Let every act and speech and purpose be framed as though this moment thou mightest take thy leave of life."
TERTULLIAN. 160-240 a. d.
See how these Christians love one another.
Apologeticus. c. 39.
Blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.
Apologeticus. c. 50.
It is certain because it is impossible.[756:2]
De Carne Christi. c. 5.
He who flees will fight again.[756:3]
De Fuga in Persecutione. c. 10.
Footnotes
[757]
DIOGENES LAERTIUS. Circa 200 a. d.
(From "The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers." Translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A., with occasional corrections. Bohn's Classical Library.)
Alcæus mentions Aristodemus in these lines:—
'T is money makes the man; and he who 's none Is counted neither good nor honourable. Thales. vii.
Thales said there was no difference between life and death. "Why, then," said some one to him, "do not you die?" "Because," said he, "it does make no difference."
Thales. ix.
When Thales was asked what was difficult, he said, "To know one's self." And what was easy, "To advise another."
Thales. ix.
He said that men ought to remember those friends who were absent as well as those who were present.
Thales. ix.
The apophthegm "Know thyself" is his.[757:1]
Thales. xiii.
Writers differ with respect to the apophthegms of the Seven Sages, attributing the same one to various authors.
Thales. xiv.
Solon used to say that speech was the image of actions; . . . that laws were like cobwebs,—for that if any trifling or powerless thing fell into them, they held it fast; while if it were something weightier, it broke through them and was off.
Solon. x.
Solon gave the following advice: "Consider your honour, as a gentleman, of more weight than an oath. Never tell a lie. Pay attention to matters of importance."
Solon. xii.
As some say, Solon was the author of the apophthegm, "Nothing in excess."[757:2]
Solon. xvi.
[758]
Chilo advised, "not to speak evil of the dead."[758:1]
Chilo. ii.
Pittacus said that half was more than the whole.[758:2]
Pittacus. ii.
Heraclitus says that Pittacus, when he had got Alcæus into his power, released him, saying, "Forgiveness is better than revenge."[758:3]
Pittacus. iii.
One of his sayings was, "Even the gods cannot strive against necessity."[758:4]
Pittacus. iv.
Another was, "Watch your opportunity."
Pittacus. vii.
Bias used to say that men ought to calculate life both as if they were fated to live a long and a short time, and that they ought to love one another as if at a future time they would come to hate one another; for that most men were bad.
Bias. v.
Ignorance plays the chief part among men, and the multitude of words;[758:5] but opportunity will prevail.
Cleobulus. iv.
The saying, "Practice is everything," is Periander's.[758:6]
Periander. vi.
Anarcharsis, on learning that the sides of a ship were four fingers thick, said that "the passengers were just that distance from death."[758:7]
Anarcharsis. v.
He used to say that it was better to have one friend of great value than many friends who were good for nothing.
Anarcharsis. v.
[759]
It was a common saying of Myson that men ought not to investigate things from words, but words from things; for that things are not made for the sake of words, but words for things.
Myson. iii.
Epimenides was sent by his father into the field to look for a sheep, turned out of the road at mid-day and lay down in a certain cave and fell asleep, and slept there fifty-seven years; and after that, when awake, he went on looking for the sheep, thinking that he had been taking a short nap.[759:1]
Epimenides. ii.
There are many marvellous stories told of Pherecydes. For it is said that he was walking along the seashore at Samos, and that seeing a ship sailing by with a fair wind, he said that it would soon sink; and presently it sank before his eyes. At another time he was drinking some water which had been drawn up out of a well, and he foretold that within three days there would be an earthquake; and there was one.
Pherecydes. ii.
Anaximander used to assert that the primary cause of all things was the Infinite,—not defining exactly whether he meant air or water or anything else.
Anaximander. ii.
Anaxagoras said to a man who was grieving because he was dying in a foreign land, "The descent to Hades is the same from every place."
Anaxagoras. vi.
Aristophanes turns Socrates into ridicule in his comedies, as making the worse appear the better reason.[759:2]
Socrates. v.
Often when he was looking on at auctions he would say, "How many things there are which I do not need!"
Socrates. x.
Socrates said, "Those who want fewest things are nearest to the gods."
Socrates. xi.
[760]
He said that there was one only good, namely, knowledge; and one only evil, namely, ignorance.
Socrates. xiv.
He declared that he knew nothing, except the fact of his ignorance.
Socrates. xvi.
Being asked whether it was better to marry or not, he replied, "Whichever you do, you will repent it."
Socrates. xvi.
He used to say that other men lived to eat, but that he ate to live.[760:1]
Socrates. xvi.
Aristippus being asked what were the most necessary things for well-born boys to learn, said, "Those things which they will put in practice when they become men."
Aristippus. iv.
Aristippus said that a wise man's country was the world.[760:2]
Aristippus. xiii.
Like sending owls to Athens, as the proverb goes.
Plato. xxxii.
Plato affirmed that the soul was immortal and clothed in many bodies successively.
Plato. xl.
Time is the image of eternity.
Plato. xli.
That virtue was sufficient of herself for happiness.[760:3]
Plato. xlii.
That the gods superintend all the affairs of men, and that there are such beings as dæmons.
Plato. xlii.
There is a written and an unwritten law. The one by which we regulate our constitutions in our cities is the written law; that which arises from custom is the unwritten law.
Plato. li.
Plato was continually saying to Xenocrates, "Sacrifice to the Graces."[760:4]
Xenocrates. iii.
[761]
Arcesilaus had a peculiar habit while conversing of using the expression, "My opinion is," and "So and so will not agree to this."
Arcesilaus. xii.
Bion used to say that the way to the shades below was easy; he could go there with his eyes shut.
Bion. iii.
Once when Bion was at sea in the company of some wicked men, he fell into the hands of pirates; and when the rest said, "We are undone if we are known,"—"But I," said he, "am undone if we are not known."
Bion. iii.
Of a rich man who was niggardly he said, "That man does not own his estate, but his estate owns him."
Bion. iii.
Bion insisted on the principle that "The property of friends is common."[761:1]
Bion. ix.
Very late in life, when he was studying geometry, some one said to Lacydes, "Is it then a time for you to be learning now?" "If it is not," he replied, "when will it be?"
Lacydes. v.
Aristotle was once asked what those who tell lies gain by it. Said he, "That when they speak truth they are not believed."
Aristotle. xi.
The question was put to him, what hope is; and his answer was, "The dream of a waking man."[761:2]
Aristotle. xi.
He used to say that personal beauty was a better introduction than any letter;[761:3] but others say that it was Diogenes who gave this description of it, while Aristotle called beauty "the gift of God;" that Socrates called it "a short-lived tyranny;" Theophrastus, "a silent deceit;" Theocritus, "an ivory mischief;" Carneades, "a sovereignty which stood in need of no guards."
Aristotle. xi.
[762]
On one occasion Aristotle was asked how much educated men were superior to those uneducated: "As much," said he, "as the living are to the dead."[762:1]
Aristotle. xi.
It was a saying of his that education was an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.
Aristotle. xi.
He was once asked what a friend is, and his answer was, "One soul abiding in two bodies."[762:2]
Aristotle. xi.
Asked what he gained from philosophy, he answered, "To do without being commanded what others do from fear of the laws."
Aristotle. xi.
The question was once put to him, how we ought to behave to our friends; and the answer he gave was, "As we should wish our friends to behave to us."
Aristotle. xi.
He used to define justice as "a virtue of the soul distributing that which each person deserved."
Aristotle. xi.
Another of his sayings was, that education was the best viaticum of old age.
Aristotle. xi.
The chief good he has defined to be the exercise of virtue in a perfect life.
Aristotle. xiii.
He used to teach that God is incorporeal, as Plato also asserted, and that his providence extends over all the heavenly bodies.
Aristotle. xiii.
It was a favourite expression of Theophrastus that time was the most valuable thing that a man could spend.[762:3]
Theophrastus. x.
Antisthenes used to say that envious people were devoured by their own disposition, just as iron is by rust.
Antisthenes. iv.
[763]
When he was praised by some wicked men, he said, "I am sadly afraid that I must have done some wicked thing."[763:1]
Antisthenes. iv.
When asked what learning was the most necessary, he said, "Not to unlearn what you have learned."
Antisthenes. iv.
Diogenes would frequently praise those who were about to marry, and yet did not marry.
Diogenes. iv.
"Bury me on my face," said Diogenes; and when he was asked why, he replied, "Because in a little while everything will be turned upside down."
Diogenes. vi.
One of the sayings of Diogenes was that most men were within a finger's breadth of being mad; for if a man walked with his middle finger pointing out, folks would think him mad, but not so if it were his forefinger.
Diogenes. vi.
All things are in common among friends.[763:2]
Diogenes. vi.
"Be of good cheer," said Diogenes; "I see land."
Diogenes. vi.
Plato having defined man to be a two-legged animal without feathers, Diogenes plucked a cock and brought it into the Academy, and said, "This is Plato's man." On which account this addition was made to the definition,—"With broad flat nails."
Diogenes. vi.
A man once asked Diogenes what was the proper time for supper, and he made answer, "If you are a rich man, whenever you please; and if you are a poor man, whenever you can."[763:3]
Diogenes. vi.
Diogenes lighted a candle in the daytime, and went round saying, "I am looking for a man."[763:4]
Diogenes. vi.
[764]
When asked what he would take to let a man give him a blow on the head, he said, "A helmet."
Diogenes. vi.
Once he saw a youth blushing, and addressed him, "Courage, my boy! that is the complexion of virtue."[764:1]
Diogenes. vi.
When asked what wine he liked to drink, he replied, "That which belongs to another."
Diogenes. vi.
Asked from what country he came, he replied, "I am a citizen of the world."[764:2]
Diogenes. vi.
When a man reproached him for going into unclean places, he said, "The sun too penetrates into privies, but is not polluted by them."[764:3]
Diogenes. vi.
Diogenes said once to a person who was showing him a dial, "It is a very useful thing to save a man from being too late for supper."
Menedemus. iii.
When Zeno was asked what a friend was, he replied, "Another I."[764:4]
Zeno. xix.
They say that the first inclination which an animal has is to protect itself.
Zeno. lii.
One ought to seek out virtue for its own sake, without being influenced by fear or hope, or by any external influence. Moreover, that in that does happiness consist.[764:5]
Zeno. liii.
The Stoics also teach that God is unity, and that he is called Mind and Fate and Jupiter, and by many other names besides.
Zeno. lxviii.
They also say that God is an animal immortal, rational, perfect, and intellectual in his happiness, unsusceptible of any kind of evil, having a foreknowledge of [765]the universe and of all that is in the universe; however, that he has not the figure of a man; and that he is the creator of the universe, and as it were the Father of all things in common, and that a portion of him pervades everything.
Zeno. lxxii.
But Chrysippus, Posidonius, Zeno, and Boëthus say, that all things are produced by fate. And fate is a connected cause of existing things, or the reason according to which the world is regulated.
Zeno. lxxiv.
Apollodorus says, "If any one were to take away from the books of Chrysippus all the passages which he quotes from other authors, his paper would be left empty."
Chrysippus. iii.
One of the sophisms of Chrysippus was, "If you have not lost a thing, you have it."
Chrysippus. xi.
Pythagoras used to say that he had received as a gift from Mercury the perpetual transmigration of his soul, so that it was constantly transmigrating and passing into all sorts of plants or animals.
Pythagoras. iv.
He calls drunkenness an expression identical with ruin.[765:1]
Pythagoras. vi.
Among what he called his precepts were such as these: Do not stir the fire with a sword. Do not sit down on a bushel. Do not devour thy heart.[765:2]
Pythagoras. xvii.
In the time of Pythagoras that proverbial phrase "Ipse dixit"[765:3] was introduced into ordinary life.
Pythagoras. xxv.
Xenophanes was the first person who asserted . . . that the soul is a spirit.
Xenophanes. iii.
It takes a wise man to discover a wise man.
Xenophanes. iii.
Protagoras asserted that there were two sides to every question, exactly opposite to each other.
Protagoras. iii.
[766]
Nothing can be produced out of nothing.[766:1]
Diogenes of Apollonia. ii.
Xenophanes speaks thus:—
And no man knows distinctly anything, And no man ever will. Pyrrho. viii.
Democritus says, "But we know nothing really; for truth lies deep down."
Pyrrho. viii.
Euripides says,—
Who knows but that this life is really death, And whether death is not what men call life? Pyrrho. viii.
The mountains, too, at a distance appear airy masses and smooth, but seen near at hand, they are rough.[766:2]
Pyrrho. ix.
If appearances are deceitful, then they do not deserve any confidence when they assert what appears to them to be true.
Pyrrho. xi.
The chief good is the suspension of the judgment, which tranquillity of mind follows like its shadow.
Pyrrho. xi.
Epicurus laid down the doctrine that pleasure was the chief good.
Epicurus. vi.
He alludes to the appearance of a face in the orb of the moon.
Epicurus. xxv.
Fortune is unstable, while our will is free.
Epicurus. xxvii.
Footnotes
In that [virtue] does happiness consist.—Zeno (page 764).
ATHENÆUS. Circa 200 a. d.
(Translation by C. D. Yonge, B. A.)
It was a saying of Demetrius Phalereus, that "Men having often abandoned what was visible for the sake of what was uncertain, have not got what they expected, and have lost what they had,—being unfortunate by an enigmatical sort of calamity."[766:3]
The Deipnosophists. vi. 23.
[767]
Every investigation which is guided by principles of Nature fixes its ultimate aim entirely on gratifying the stomach.[767:1]
The Deipnosophists. vii. 11.
Dorion, ridiculing the description of a tempest in the "Nautilus" of Timotheus, said that he had seen a more formidable storm in a boiling saucepan.[767:2]
The Deipnosophists. viii. 19.
On one occasion some one put a very little wine into a wine-cooler, and said that it was sixteen years old. "It is very small for its age," said Gnathæna.
The Deipnosophists. xiii. 47.
Goodness does not consist in greatness, but greatness in goodness.[767:3]
The Deipnosophists. xiv. 46.
Footnotes
SAINT AUGUSTINE. 354-430.
When I am here, I do not fast on Saturday; when at Rome, I do fast on Saturday.[767:4]
Epistle 36. To Casulanus.
The spiritual virtue of a sacrament is like light,—although it passes among the impure, it is not polluted.[767:5]
Works. Vol. iii. In Johannis Evangelum, c. tr. 5, Sect. 15.
Footnotes
ALI BEN ABI TALEB.[767:6] —— -660.
Believe me, a thousand friends suffice thee not; In a single enemy thou hast more than enough.[767:7]
Footnotes
Found in Dr. Hermann Tolowiez's "Polyglotte der Orientalischen Poesie."
Translated by James Russell Lowell thus:—
He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, And he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere.
[768]
OMAR KHAYYÁM. —— -1123.
(Translated by Edward Fitzgerald.)
I sometimes think that never blows so red The Rose as where some buried Cæsar bled; That every Hyacinth the Garden wears Dropt in her Lap from some once lovely Head. Rubáiyát. Stanza xix.
A Moment's Halt—a momentary taste Of Being from the Well amid the Waste— And, Lo! the phantom Caravan has reach'd The Nothing it set out from. Oh, make haste! Rubáiyát. Stanza xlviii.
Heav'n but the Vision of fulfill'd Desire, And Hell the Shadow of a Soul on fire. Rubáiyát. Stanza lxvii.
The Moving Finger writes; and having writ, Moves on; nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it. Rubáiyát. Stanza lxxi.
And this I know: whether the one True Light Kindle to Love, or Wrath-consume me quite, One Flash of It within the Tavern caught Better than in the Temple lost outright. Rubáiyát. Stanza lxxvii.
And when like her, O Sáki, you shall pass Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass, And in your blissful errand reach the spot Where I made One—turn down an empty Glass. Rubáiyát. Stanza ci.
ALPHONSO THE WISE. 1221-1284.
Had I been present at the creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe.[768:1]
Footnotes
[769]
DANTE. 1265-1321.
(Cary's Translation.)
All hope abandon, ye who enter here. Hell. Canto iii. Line 9.
The wretched souls of those who lived Without or praise or blame. Hell. Canto iii. Line 34.
No greater grief than to remember days Of joy when misery is at hand.[769:1] Hell. Canto v. Line 121.
Footnotes
FRANÇOIS VILLON. Circa 1430-1484.
Where are the snows of last year?[769:2] Des Dames du Temps jadis. i.
I know everything except myself. Autre Ballade. i.
Good talkers are only found in Paris. Des Femmes de Paris. ii.
Footnotes
MICHELANGELO. 1474-1564.
(Translation by Mrs. Henry Roscoe.)
As when, O lady mine! With chiselled touch The stone unhewn and cold Becomes a living mould. The more the marble wastes, The more the statue grows. Sonnet.
[770]
MARTIN LUTHER. 1483-1546.
A mighty fortress is our God, A bulwark never failing; Our helper He amid the flood Of mortal ills prevailing. Psalm. Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (trans. by Frederic H. Hedge).
Tell your master that if there were as many devils at Worms as tiles on its roofs, I would enter.[770:1]
Here I stand; I can do no otherwise. God help me. Amen!
Speech at the Diet of Worms.
For where God built a church, there the Devil would also build a chapel.[770:2]
Table-Talk. lxvii.
A faithful and good servant is a real godsend; but truly 't is a rare bird in the land.
Table-Talk. clvi.
Footnotes
I will go, though as many devils aim at me as there are tiles on the roofs of the houses.—Ranke: History of the Reformation, vol. i. p. 533 (Mrs. Austin's translation).
FRANCIS RABELAIS. 1495-1553.
I am just going to leap into the dark.[770:3]
Motteux's Life.
Let down the curtain: the farce is done.
Motteux's Life.
He left a paper sealed up, wherein were found three articles as his last will: "I owe much; I have nothing; I give the rest to the poor."
Motteux's Life.
One inch of joy surmounts of grief a span, Because to laugh is proper to the man. To the Reader.
[771]
To return to our wethers.[771:1]
Works. Book i. Chap. i. n. 2.
I drink no more than a sponge.
Works. Book i. Chap. v.
Appetite comes with eating, says Angeston.[771:2]
Works. Book i. Chap. v.
Thought the moon was made of green cheese.
Works. Book i. Chap. xi.
He always looked a given horse in the mouth.[771:3]
Works. Book i. Chap. xi.
By robbing Peter he paid Paul,[771:4] . . . and hoped to catch larks if ever the heavens should fall.[771:5]
Works. Book i. Chap. xi.
He laid him squat as a flounder.
Works. Book i. Chap. xxvii.
Send them home as merry as crickets.
Works. Book i. Chap. xxix.
Corn is the sinews of war.[771:6]
Works. Book i. Chap. xlvi.
How shall I be able to rule over others, that have not full power and command of myself?
Works. Book i. Chap. lii.
Subject to a kind of disease, which at that time they called lack of money.
Works. Book ii. Chap. xvi.
He did not care a button for it.
Works. Book ii. Chap. xvi.
How well I feathered my nest.
Works. Book ii. Chap. xvii.
So much is a man worth as he esteems himself.
Works. Book ii. Chap. xxix.
A good crier of green sauce.
Works. Book ii. Chap. xxxi.
Then I began to think that it is very true which is commonly said, that the one half of the world knoweth not how the other half liveth.
Works. Book ii. Chap. xxxii.
This flea which I have in mine ear.
Works. Book iii. Chap. xxxi.
You have there hit the nail on the head.[771:7]
Works. Book iii. Chap. xxxiv.
Above the pitch, out of tune, and off the hinges.
Works. Book iv. Chap. xix.
[772]
I 'll go his halves.
Works. Book iv. Chap. xxiii.
The Devil was sick,—the Devil a monk would be; The Devil was well,—the devil a monk was he. Works. Book iv. Chap. xxiv.
Do not believe what I tell you here any more than if it were some tale of a tub.
Works. Book iv. Chap. xxxviii.
I would have you call to mind the strength of the ancient giants, that undertook to lay the high mountain Pelion on the top of Ossa, and set among those the shady Olympus.[772:1]
Works. Book iv. Chap. xxxviii.
Which was performed to a T.[772:2]
Works. Book iv. Chap. xli.
He that has patience may compass anything.
Works. Book iv. Chap. xlviii.
We will take the good will for the deed.[772:3]
Works. Book iv. Chap. xlix.
You are Christians of the best edition, all picked and culled.
Works. Book iv. Chap. l.
Would you damn your precious soul?
Works. Book iv. Chap. liv.
Let us fly and save our bacon.
Works. Book iv. Chap. lv.
Needs must when the Devil drives.[772:4]
Works. Book iv. Chap. lvii.
Scampering as if the Devil drove them.
Works. Book iv. Chap. lxii.
He freshly and cheerfully asked him how a man should kill time.
Works. Book iv. Chap. lxii.
The belly has no ears, nor is it to be filled with fair words.[772:5]
Works. Book iv. Chap. lxii.
Whose cockloft is unfurnished.[772:6]
Works. The Author's Prologue to the Fifth Book.
Speak the truth and shame the Devil.[772:7]
Works. The Author's Prologue to the Fifth Book.
Plain as a nose in a man's face.[772:8]
Works. The Author's Prologue to the Fifth Book.
[773]
Like hearts of oak.[773:1]
Works. Prologue to the Fifth Book.
You shall never want rope enough.
Works. Prologue to the Fifth Book.
Looking as like . . . as one pea does like another.[773:2]
Works. Book v. Chapter ii.
Nothing is so dear and precious as time.[773:3]
Works. Book v. Chapter v.
And thereby hangs a tale.[773:4]
Works. Book v. Chapter iv.
It is meat, drink,[773:5] and cloth to us.
Works. Book v. Chapter vii.
And so on to the end of the chapter.
Works. Book v. Chapter x.
What is got over the Devil's back is spent under the belly.[773:6]
Works. Book v. Chapter xi.
We have here other fish to fry.[773:7]
Works. Book v. Chapter xii.
What cannot be cured must be endured.[773:8]
Works. Book v. Chapter xv.
Thought I to myself, we shall never come off scot-free.
Works. Book v. Chapter xv.
It is enough to fright you out of your seven senses.[773:9]
Works. Book v. Chapter xv.
Necessity has no law.[773:10]
Works. Book v. Chapter xv.
Panurge had no sooner heard this, but he was upon the high-rope.
Works. Book v. Chapter xviii.
We saw a knot of others, about a baker's dozen.
Works. Book v. Chapter xxii.
Others made a virtue of necessity.[773:11]
Works. Book v. Chapter xxii.
Spare your breath to cool your porridge.[773:12]
Works. Book v. Chapter xxviii.
I believe he would make three bites of a cherry.
Works. Book v. Chapter xxviii.
Footnotes
[774]
MICHAEL DE MONTAIGNE. 1533-1592.
(Works.[774:1] Cotton's translation, revised by Hazlitt and Wight.)
Man in sooth is a marvellous, vain, fickle, and unstable subject.[774:2]
Book i. Chap. i. That Men by various Ways arrive at the same End.
All passions that suffer themselves to be relished and digested are but moderate.[774:3]
Book i. Chap. ii. Of Sorrow.
It is not without good reason said, that he who has not a good memory should never take upon him the trade of lying.[774:4]
Book i. Chap. ix. Of Liars.
He who should teach men to die would at the same time teach them to live.[774:5]
Book i. Chap. xviii. That Men are not to judge of our Happiness till after Death.
The laws of conscience, which we pretend to be derived from nature, proceed from custom.
Book i. Chap. xxii. Of Custom.
Accustom him to everything, that he may not be a Sir Paris, a carpet-knight,[774:6] but a sinewy, hardy, and vigorous young man.
Book i. Chap. xxv. Of the Education of Children.
We were halves throughout, and to that degree that methinks by outliving him I defraud him of his part.
Book i. Chap. xxvii. Of Friendship.
There are some defeats more triumphant than victories.[774:7]
Book i. Chap. xxx. Of Cannibals.
[775]
Nothing is so firmly believed as what we least know.
Book i. Chap. xxxi. Of Divine Ordinances.
A wise man never loses anything, if he has himself.
Book i. Chap. xxxviii. Of Solitude.
Even opinion is of force enough to make itself to be espoused at the expense of life.
Book i. Chap. xl. Of Good and Evil.
Plato says, "'T is to no purpose for a sober man to knock at the door of the Muses;" and Aristotle says "that no excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of folly."[775:1]
Book ii. Chap. ii. Of Drunkenness.
For a desperate disease a desperate cure.[775:2]
Book ii. Chap. iii. The Custom of the Isle of Cea.
And not to serve for a table-talk.[775:3]
Book ii. Chap. iii. The Custom of the Isle of Cea.
To which we may add this other Aristotelian consideration, that he who confers a benefit on any one loves him better than he is beloved by him again.[775:4]
Book ii. Chap. viii. Of the Affection of Fathers.
The middle sort of historians (of which the most part are) spoil all; they will chew our meat for us.
Book ii. Chap. x. Of Books.
The only good histories are those that have been written by the persons themselves who commanded in the affairs whereof they write.
Book ii. Chap. x. Of Books.
She [virtue] requires a rough and stormy passage; she will have either outward difficulties to wrestle with,[775:5] . . . or internal difficulties.
Book ii. Chap. xi. Of Cruelty.
There is, nevertheless, a certain respect and a general duty of humanity that ties us, not only to beasts that have life and sense, but even to trees and plants.
Book ii. Chap. xi. Of Cruelty.
[776]
Some impose upon the world that they believe that which they do not; others, more in number, make themselves believe that they believe, not being able to penetrate into what it is to believe.
Book ii. Chap. xii. Apology for Raimond Sebond.
When I play with my cat, who knows whether I do not make her more sport than she makes me?
Book ii. Chap. xii. Apology for Raimond Sebond.
'T is one and the same Nature that rolls on her course, and whoever has sufficiently considered the present state of things might certainly conclude as to both the future and the past.[776:1]
Book ii. Chap. xii. Apology for Raimond Sebond.
The souls of emperors and cobblers are cast in the same mould. . . . The same reason that makes us wrangle with a neighbour causes a war betwixt princes.
Book ii. Chap. xii. Apology for Raimond Sebond.
Man is certainly stark mad; he cannot make a worm, and yet he will be making gods by dozens.
Book ii. Chap. xii. Apology for Raimond Sebond.
Why may not a goose say thus: "All the parts of the universe I have an interest in: the earth serves me to walk upon, the sun to light me; the stars have their influence upon me; I have such an advantage by the winds and such by the waters; there is nothing that yon heavenly roof looks upon so favourably as me. I am the darling of Nature! Is it not man that keeps and serves me?"[776:2]
Book ii. Chap. xii. Apology for Raimond Sebond.
Arts and sciences are not cast in a mould, but are formed and perfected by degrees, by often handling and polishing, as bears leisurely lick their cubs into form.[776:3]
Book ii. Chap. xii. Apology for Raimond Sebond.
He that I am reading seems always to have the most force.
Book ii. Chap. xii. Apology for Raimond Sebond.
[777]
Apollo said that every one's true worship was that which he found in use in the place where he chanced to be.[777:1]
Book ii. Chap. xii. Apology for Raimond Sebond.
How many worthy men have we seen survive their own reputation![777:2]
Book ii. Chap. xvi. Of Glory.
The mariner of old said to Neptune in a great tempest, "O God! thou mayest save me if thou wilt, and if thou wilt thou mayest destroy me; but whether or no, I will steer my rudder true."[777:3]
Book ii. Chap. xvi. Of Glory.
One may be humble out of pride.
Book ii. Chap. xvii. Of Presumption.
I find that the best virtue I have has in it some tincture of vice.
Book ii. Chap. xx. That we taste nothing pure.
Saying is one thing, doing another.
Book ii. Chap. xxxi. Of Anger.
Is it not a noble farce, wherein kings, republics, and emperors have for so many ages played their parts, and to which the whole vast universe serves for a theatre?[777:4]
Book ii. Chap. xxxvi. Of the most Excellent Men.
Nature forms us for ourselves, not for others; to be, not to seem.
Book ii. Chap. xxxvii. Of the Resemblance of Children to their Brothers.
There never was in the world two opinions alike, no more than two hairs or two grains; the most universal quality is diversity.[777:5]
Book ii. Chap. xxxvii. Of the Resemblance of Children to their Fathers.
The public weal requires that men should betray and lie and massacre.
Book iii. Chap. i. Of Profit and Honesty.
Like rowers, who advance backward.[777:6]
Book iii. Chap. i. Of Profit and Honesty.
I speak truth, not so much as I would, but as much as I dare; and I dare a little the more as I grow older.
Book iii. Chap ii. Of Repentance.
[778]
Few men have been admired by their own domestics.[778:1]
Book iii. Chap. ii. Of Repentance.
It happens as with cages: the birds without despair to get in, and those within despair of getting out.[778:2]
Book iii. Chap. v. Upon some Verses of Virgil.
And to bring in a new word by the head and shoulders, they leave out the old one.
Book iii. Chap. v. Upon some Verses of Virgil.
All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
Book iii. Chap. v. Upon some Verses of Virgil.
'T is so much to be a king, that he only is so by being so. The strange lustre that surrounds him conceals and shrouds him from us; our sight is there broken and dissipated, being stopped and filled by the prevailing light.[778:3]
Book iii. Chap. vii. Of the Inconveniences of Greatness.
We are born to inquire after truth; it belongs to a greater power to possess it. It is not, as Democritus said, hid in the bottom of the deeps, but rather elevated to an infinite height in the divine knowledge.[778:4]
Book iii. Chap. viii. Of the Art of Conversation.
I moreover affirm that our wisdom itself, and wisest consultations, for the most part commit themselves to the conduct of chance.[778:5]
Book iii. Chap. viii. Of the Art of Conversation.
What if he has borrowed the matter and spoiled the form, as it oft falls out?[778:6]
Book iii. Chap. viii. Of the Art of Conversation.
The oldest and best known evil was ever more supportable than one that was new and untried.[778:7]
Book iii. Chap. ix. Of Vanity.
[779]
Not because Socrates said so, . . . I look upon all men as my compatriots.
Book iii. Chap. ix. Of Vanity.
My appetite comes to me while eating.[779:1]
Book iii. Chap. ix. Of Vanity.
There is no man so good, who, were he to submit all his thoughts and actions to the laws, would not deserve hanging ten times in his life.
Book iii. Chap. ix. Of Vanity.
Saturninus said, "Comrades, you have lost a good captain to make him an ill general."
Book iii. Chap. ix. Of Vanity.
A little folly is desirable in him that will not be guilty of stupidity.[779:2]
Book iii. Chap. ix. Of Vanity.
Habit is a second nature.[779:3]
Book iii. Chap. x.
We seek and offer ourselves to be gulled.
Book iii. Chap. xi. Of Cripples.
I have never seen a greater monster or miracle in the world than myself.
Book iii. Chap. xi. Of Cripples.
Men are most apt to believe what they least understand.
Book iii. Chap. xi. Of Cripples.
I have here only made a nosegay of culled flowers, and have brought nothing of my own but the thread that ties them together.
Book iii. Chap. xii. Of Physiognomy.
Amongst so many borrowed things, I am glad if I can steal one, disguising and altering it for some new service.[779:4]
Book iii. Chap. xii. Of Physiognomy.
I am further of opinion that it would be better for us to have [no laws] at all than to have them in so prodigious numbers as we have.
Book iii. Chap. xiii. Of Experience.
There is more ado to interpret interpretations than to interpret the things, and more books upon books than upon all other subjects; we do nothing but comment upon one another.
Book iii. Chap. xiii. Of Experience.
[780]
For truth itself has not the privilege to be spoken at all times and in all sorts.
Book iii. Chap. xiii. Of Experience.
The diversity of physical arguments and opinions embraces all sorts of methods.
Book iii. Chap. xiii. Of Experience.
Let us a little permit Nature to take her own way; she better understands her own affairs than we.
Book iii. Chap. xiii. Of Experience.
I have ever loved to repose myself, whether sitting or lying, with my heels as high or higher than my head.
Book iii. Chap. xiii. Of Experience.
I, who have so much and so universally adored this ἄριστον μέτρον, "excellent mediocrity,"[780:1] of ancient times, and who have concluded the most moderate measure the most perfect, shall I pretend to an unreasonable and prodigious old age?
Book iii. Chap. xiii. Of Experience.
Footnotes
Curae leves loquuntur ingentes stupent (Light griefs are loquacious, but the great are dumb).—Seneca: Hippolytus, ii. 3, 607.
Mendacem memorem esse oportere (To be a liar, memory is necessary).—Quintilian: iv. 2, 91.
DU BARTAS. 1544-1590.
(From his "Divine Weekes and Workes," translated by J. Sylvester.)
The world 's a stage[780:2] where God's omnipotence, His justice, knowledge, love, and providence Do act the parts. First Week, First Day.
And reads, though running,[780:3] all these needful motions. First Week, First Day.
Mercy and justice, marching cheek by joule. First Week, First Day.
Not unlike the bear which bringeth forth In the end of thirty dayes a shapeless birth; But after licking, it in shape she drawes, And by degrees she fashions out the pawes, The head, and neck, and finally doth bring To a perfect beast that first deformed thing.[780:4] First Week, First Day.
[781]
What is well done is done soon enough. First Week, First Day.
And swans seem whiter if swart crowes be by. First Week, First Day.
Night's black mantle covers all alike.[781:1] First Week, First Day.
Hot and cold, and moist and dry.[781:2] First Week, Second Day.
Much like the French (or like ourselves, their apes), Who with strange habit do disguise their shapes; Who loving novels, full of affectation, Receive the manners of each other nation.[781:3] First Week, Second Day.
With tooth and nail. First Week, Second Day.
From the foure corners of the worlde doe haste.[781:4] First Week, Second Day.
Oft seen in forehead of the frowning skies.[781:5] First Week, Second Day.
From north to south, from east to west.[781:6] First Week, Second Day.
Bright-flaming, heat-full fire, The source of motion.[781:7] First Week, Second Day.
Not that the earth doth yield In hill or dale, in forest or in field, A rarer plant.[781:8] First Week, Third Day.
'T is what you will,—or will be what you would. First Week, Third Day.
Or savage beasts upon a thousand hils.[781:9] First Week, Third Day.
[782]
To man the earth seems altogether No more a mother, but a step-dame rather.[782:1] First Week, Third Day.
For where 's the state beneath the firmament That doth excel the bees for government?[782:2] First Week, Fifth Day, Part i.
A good turn at need, At first or last, shall be assur'd of meed. First Week, Sixth Day.
There is no theam more plentifull to scan Than is the glorious goodly frame of man.[782:3] First Week, Sixth Day.
These lovely lamps, these windows of the soul.[782:4] First Week, Sixth Day.
Or almost like a spider, who, confin'd In her web's centre, shakt with every winde, Moves in an instant if the buzzing flie Stir but a string of her lawn canapie.[782:5] First Week, Sixth Day.
Even as a surgeon, minding off to cut Some cureless limb,—before in ure he put His violent engins on the vicious member, Bringeth his patient in a senseless slumber, And grief-less then (guided by use and art), To save the whole, sawes off th' infested part. First Week, Sixth Day.
Two souls in one, two hearts into one heart.[782:6] First Week, Sixth Day.
Which serves for cynosure[782:7] To all that sail upon the sea obscure. First Week, Seventh Day.
[783]
Yielding more wholesome food than all the messes That now taste-curious wanton plenty dresses.[783:1] Second Week, First Day, Part i.
Turning our seed-wheat-kennel tares, To burn-grain thistle, and to vaporie darnel, Cockle, wild oats, rough burs, corn-cumbring Tares.[783:2] Second Week, First Day, Part iii.
In every hedge and ditch both day and night We fear our death, of every leafe affright.[783:3] Second Week, First Day, Part iii.
Dog, ounce, bear, and bull, Wolfe, lion, horse.[783:4] Second Week, First Day, Part iii.
Apoplexie and lethargie, As forlorn hope, assault the enemy. Second Week, First Day, Part iii.
Living from hand to mouth. Second Week, First Day, Part iv.
In the jaws of death.[783:5] Second Week, First Day, Part iv.
Did thrust as now in others' corn his sickle.[783:6] Second Week, Second Day, Part ii.
Will change the pebbles of our puddly thought To orient pearls.[783:7] Second Week, Third Day, Part i.
Soft carpet-knights, all scenting musk and amber.[783:8] Second Week, Third Day, Part i.
The will for deed I doe accept.[783:9] Second Week, Third Day, Part ii.
[784]
Only that he may conform To tyrant custom.[784:1] Second Week, Third Day, Part ii.
Sweet grave aspect.[784:2] Second Week, Fourth Day, Book i.
Who breaks his faith, no faith is held with him. Second Week, Fourth Day, Book ii.
Who well lives, long lives; for this age of ours Should not be numbered by years, daies, and hours.[784:3] Second Week, Fourth Day, Book ii.
My lovely living boy, My hope, my hap, my love, my life, my joy.[784:4] Second Week, Fourth Day, Book ii.
Out of the book of Natur's learned brest.[784:5] Second Week, Fourth Day, Book ii.
Flesh of thy flesh, nor yet bone of thy bone. Second Week, Fourth Day, Book ii.
Through thick and thin, both over hill and plain.[784:6] Second Week, Fourth Day, Book iv.
Weakened and wasted to skin and bone.[784:7] Second Week, Fourth Day, Book iv.
I take the world to be but as a stage, Where net-maskt men do play their personage.[784:8] Dialogue, between Heraclitus and Democritus.
Made no more bones. The Maiden Blush.
Footnotes
Orient pearls.—Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream, act iv. sc. 1.
MIGUEL DE CERVANTES. 1547-1616.
Don Quixote. (Lockhart's Translation.)
I was so free with him as not to mince the matter.
Don Quixote. The Author's Preface.
They can expect nothing but their labour for their pains.[784:9]
Don Quixote. The Author's Preface.
[785]
As ill-luck would have it.[785:1]
Don Quixote. Part i. Book i. Chap. ii.
The brave man carves out his fortune, and every man is the son of his own works.[785:2]
Don Quixote. Part i. Book i. Chap. iv.
Which I have earned with the sweat of my brows.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book i. Chap. iv.
Can we ever have too much of a good thing?[785:3]
Don Quixote. Part i. Book i. Chap. vi.
The charging of his enemy was but the work of a moment.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book i. Chap. viii.
And had a face like a blessing.[785:4]
Don Quixote. Part i. Book ii. Chap. iv.
It is a true saying that a man must eat a peck of salt with his friend before he knows him.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. i.
Fortune leaves always some door open to come at a remedy.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. i.
Fair and softly goes far.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. ii.
Plain as the nose on a man's face.[785:5]
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. iv.
Let me leap out of the frying-pan into the fire;[785:6] or, out of God's blessing into the warm sun.[785:7]
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. iv.
You are taking the wrong sow by the ear.[785:8]
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. iv.
Bell, book, and candle.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. iv.
Let the worst come to the worst.[785:9]
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. v.
You are come off now with a whole skin.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. v.
Fear is sharp-sighted, and can see things under ground, and much more in the skies.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. vi.
Ill-luck, you know, seldom comes alone.[785:10]
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. vi.
[786]
Why do you lead me a wild-goose chase?
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. vi.
I find my familiarity with thee has bred contempt.[786:1]
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. vi.
The more thou stir it, the worse it will be.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. vi.
Now had Aurora displayed her mantle over the blushing skies, and dark night withdrawn her sable veil.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. vi.
I tell thee, that is Mambrino's helmet.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. vii.
Give me but that, and let the world rub; there I 'll stick.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. vii.
Sure as a gun.[786:2]
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. vii.
Sing away sorrow, cast away care.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. viii.
Thank you for nothing.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. viii.
After meat comes mustard; or, like money to a starving man at sea, when there are no victuals to be bought with it.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. viii.
Of good natural parts and of a liberal education.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. viii.
Would puzzle a convocation of casuists to resolve their degrees of consanguinity.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. viii.
Let every man mind his own business.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. viii.
Murder will out.[786:3]
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. viii.
Thou art a cat, and a rat, and a coward.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. viii.
It is the part of a wise man to keep himself to-day for to-morrow, and not to venture all his eggs in one basket.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. ix.
I know what 's what, and have always taken care of the main chance.[786:4]
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. ix.
The ease of my burdens, the staff of my life.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. ix.
[787]
I am almost frighted out of my seven senses.[787:1]
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. ix.
Within a stone's throw of it.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. ix.
Let us make hay while the sun shines.[787:2]
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. xi.
I never thrust my nose into other men's porridge. It is no bread and butter of mine; every man for himself, and God for us all.[787:3]
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. xi.
Little said is soonest mended.[787:4]
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. xi.
A close mouth catches no flies.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. xi.
She may guess what I should perform in the wet, if I do so much in the dry.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. xi.
You are a devil at everything, and there is no kind of thing in the 'versal world but what you can turn your hand to.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. xi.
It will grieve me so to the heart, that I shall cry my eyes out.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. xi.
Delay always breeds danger.[787:5]
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. ii.
They must needs go whom the Devil drives.[787:6]
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. iv.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.[787:7]
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. iv.
More knave than fool.[787:8]
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. iv.
I can tell where my own shoe pinches me; and you must not think, sir, to catch old birds with chaff.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. v.
I never saw a more dreadful battle in my born days.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. viii.
Here is the devil-and-all to pay.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. x.
I begin to smell a rat.[787:9]
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. x.
[788]
I will take my corporal oath on it.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. x.
It is past all controversy that what costs dearest is, and ought to be, most valued.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. xi.
I would have nobody to control me; I would be absolute: and who but I? Now, he that is absolute can do what he likes; he that can do what he likes can take his pleasure; he that can take his pleasure can be content; and he that can be content has no more to desire. So the matter's over; and come what will come, I am satisfied.[788:1]
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. xxiii.
When the head aches, all the members partake of the pain.[788:2]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. ii.
He has done like Orbaneja, the painter of Ubeda, who, being asked what he painted, answered, "As it may hit;" and when he had scrawled out a misshapen cock, was forced to write underneath, in Gothic letters, "This is a cock."[788:3]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. iii.
There are men that will make you books, and turn them loose into the world, with as much dispatch as they would do a dish of fritters.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. iii.
"There is no book so bad," said the bachelor, "but something good may be found in it."[788:4]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. iii.
Every man is as Heaven made him, and sometimes a great deal worse.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. iv.
[789]
Spare your breath to cool your porridge.[789:1]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. v.
A little in one's own pocket is better than much in another man's purse.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. vii.
Remember the old saying, "Faint heart never won fair lady."[789:2]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. x.
There is a remedy for all things but death, which will be sure to lay us out flat some time or other.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. x.
Are we to mark this day with a white or a black stone?
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. x.
Let every man look before he leaps.[789:3]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xiv.
The pen is the tongue of the mind.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xvi.
There were but two families in the world, Have-much and Have-little.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xx.
He has an oar in every man's boat, and a finger in every pie.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxii.
Patience, and shuffle the cards.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxiii.
Comparisons are odious.[789:4]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxiii.
Tell me thy company, and I will tell thee what thou art.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxiii.
The proof of the pudding is the eating.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxiv.
He is as like one, as one egg is like another.[789:5]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxvii.
You can see farther into a millstone than he.[789:6]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxviii.
[790]
Sancho Panza by name, is my own self, if I was not changed in my cradle.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxx.
"Sit there, clod-pate!" cried he; "for let me sit wherever I will, that will still be the upper end, and the place of worship to thee."[790:1]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxi.
Building castles in the air,[790:2] and making yourself a laughing-stock.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxi.
It is good to live and learn.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxii.
He is as mad as a March hare.[790:3]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.
I must follow him through thick and thin.[790:4]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.
There is no love lost between us.[790:5]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.
In the night all cats are gray.[790:6]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.
All is not gold that glisters.[790:7]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.
I can look sharp as well as another, and let me alone to keep the cobwebs out of my eyes.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.
Honesty is the best policy.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.
Time ripens all things. No man is born wise.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.
A good name is better than riches.[790:8]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.
I drink when I have occasion, and sometimes when I have no occasion.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.
An honest man's word is as good as his bond.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.
Heaven's help is better than early rising.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiv.
I have other fish to fry.[790:9]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxv.
[791]
There is a time for some things, and a time for all things; a time for great things, and a time for small things.[791:1]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxv.
But all in good time.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxvi.
Matters will go swimmingly.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxvi.
Many go out for wool, and come home shorn themselves.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxvii.
They had best not stir the rice, though it sticks to the pot.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxvii.
Good wits jump;[791:2] a word to the wise is enough.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxvii.
You may as well expect pears from an elm.[791:3]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xl.
Make it thy business to know thyself, which is the most difficult lesson in the world.[791:4]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xlii.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xliii.
Diligence is the mother of good fortune.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xliii.
What a man has, so much he is sure of.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xliii.
When a man says, "Get out of my house! what would you have with my wife?" there is no answer to be made.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xliii.
The pot calls the kettle black.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xliii.
This peck of troubles.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. liii.
When thou art at Rome, do as they do at Rome.[791:7]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. liv.
Many count their chickens before they are hatched; and where they expect bacon, meet with broken bones.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. lv.
[792]
My thoughts ran a wool-gathering; and I did like the countryman who looked for his ass while he was mounted on his back.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. lvii.
Liberty . . . is one of the most valuable blessings that Heaven has bestowed upon mankind.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. lviii.
As they use to say, spick and span new.[792:1]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. lviii.
I think it a very happy accident.[792:2]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. lviii.
I shall be as secret as the grave.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. lxii.
Now, blessings light on him that first invented this same sleep! It covers a man all over, thoughts and all, like a cloak; it is meat for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, heat for the cold, and cold for the hot. It is the current coin that purchases all the pleasures of the world cheap, and the balance that sets the king and the shepherd, the fool and the wise man, even.[792:3]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. lxviii.
Rome was not built in a day.[792:4]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. lxxi.
The ass will carry his load, but not a double load; ride not a free horse to death.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. lxxi.
Never look for birds of this year in the nests of the last.[792:5]
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. lxxiv.
Don't put too fine a point to your wit for fear it should get blunted.
The Little Gypsy (La Gitanilla).
My heart is wax moulded as she pleases, but enduring as marble to retain.[792:6]
The Little Gypsy (La Gitanilla).
Footnotes
This is generally placed in the mouth of Macgregor: "Where Macgregor sits, there is the head of the table." Emerson quotes it, in his "American Scholar," as the saying of Macdonald, and Theodore Parker as the saying of the Highlander.
[793]
BARTHOLOMEW SCHIDONI. 1560-1616.
I, too, was born in Arcadia.[793:1]
Footnotes
JOHN SIRMOND. 1589(?)-1649.
If on my theme I rightly think, There are five reasons why men drink,— Good wine, a friend, because I 'm dry, Or lest I should be by and by, Or any other reason why.[793:2] Causæ Bibendi.
Footnotes
Si bene commemini, causæ sunt quinque bibendi: Hospitis adventus; præsens sitis atque futura; Et vini bonitas, et quælibet altera causa. Menagiana, vol. i. p. 172.
FRIEDRICH VON LOGAU. 1604-1655.
Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;[793:3] Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all. Retribution. (Sinngedichte.)
Man-like is it to fall into sin, Fiend-like is it to dwell therein; Christ-like is it for sin to grieve, God-like is it all sin to leave. Sin. (Sinngedichte.)
Footnotes
Ὀψὲ θεοῦ μύλοι ἀλέουσι τὸ λεπτὸν ἄλευρον.—Oracula Sibylliana, liber viii. line 14.
Ὀψὲ θεῶν ἀλέουσι μύλοι, ἀλέουσι δὲ λεπτά.—Leutsch and Schneidewin: Corpus Parœmiographorum Græcorum, vol. i. p. 444.
Sextus Empiricus is the first writer who has presented the whole of the adage cited by Plutarch in his treatise "Concerning such whom God is slow to punish."
[794]
ISAAC DE BENSERADE. 1612-1691.
In bed we laugh, in bed we cry; And, born in bed, in bed we die. The near approach a bed may show Of human bliss to human woe.[794:1]
Footnotes
FRANCIS, DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD. 1613-1680.
(Reflections, or Sentences and Moral Maxims.)
Our virtues are most frequently but vices disguised.[794:2]
We have all sufficient strength to endure the misfortunes of others.
Maxim 19.
Philosophy triumphs easily over past evils and future evils; but present evils triumph over it.[794:3]
Maxim 22.
We need greater virtues to sustain good than evil fortune.
Maxim 25.
Neither the sun nor death can be looked at with a steady eye.
Maxim 26.
Interest speaks all sorts of tongues, and plays all sorts of parts, even that of disinterestedness.
Maxim 39.
We are never so happy or so unhappy as we suppose.
Maxim 49.
There are few people who would not be ashamed of being loved when they love no longer.
Maxim 71.
[795]
True love is like ghosts, which everybody talks about and few have seen.
Maxim 76.
The love of justice is simply, in the majority of men, the fear of suffering injustice.
Maxim 78.
Silence is the best resolve for him who distrusts himself.
Maxim 79.
Friendship is only a reciprocal conciliation of interests, and an exchange of good offices; it is a species of commerce out of which self-love always expects to gain something.
Maxim 83.
A man who is ungrateful is often less to blame than his benefactor.
Maxim 96.
The understanding is always the dupe of the heart.
Maxim 102.
Nothing is given so profusely as advice.
Maxim 110.
The true way to be deceived is to think oneself more knowing than others.
Maxim 127.
Usually we praise only to be praised.
Maxim 146.
Our repentance is not so much regret for the ill we have done as fear of the ill that may happen to us in consequence.
Maxim 180.
Most people judge men only by success or by fortune.
Maxim 212.
Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.
Maxim 218.
Too great haste to repay an obligation is a kind of ingratitude.
Maxim 226.
There is great ability in knowing how to conceal one's ability.
Maxim 245.
The pleasure of love is in loving. We are happier in the passion we feel than in that we inspire.[795:1]
Maxim 259.
[796]
We always like those who admire us; we do not always like those whom we admire.
Maxim 294.
The gratitude of most men is but a secret desire of receiving greater benefits.[796:1]
Maxim 298.
Lovers are never tired of each other, though they always speak of themselves.
Maxim 312.
We pardon in the degree that we love.
Maxim 330.
We hardly find any persons of good sense save those who agree with us.[796:2]
Maxim 347.
The greatest fault of a penetrating wit is to go beyond the mark.
Maxim 377.
We may give advice, but we cannot inspire the conduct.
Maxim 378.
The veracity which increases with old age is not far from folly.
Maxim 416.
In their first passion women love their lovers, in all the others they love love.[796:3]
Maxim 471.
Quarrels would not last long if the fault was only on one side.
Maxim 496.
In the adversity of our best friends we often find something that is not exactly displeasing.[796:4]
Footnotes
In all distresses of our friends We first consult our private ends; While Nature, kindly bent to ease us, Points out some circumstance to please us. Dean Swift: A Paraphrase of Rochefoucauld's Maxim.
[797]
J. DE LA FONTAINE. 1621-1695.
The opinion of the strongest is always the best.
The Wolf and the Lamb. Book i. Fable 10.
By the work one knows the workman.
The Hornets and the Bees. Fable 21.
It is a double pleasure to deceive the deceiver.
The Cock and the Fox. Book ii. Fable 15.
It is impossible to please all the world and one's father.
Book iii. Fable 1.
In everything one must consider the end.[797:1]
The Fox and the Gnat. Fable 5.
"They are too green," he said, "and only good for fools."[797:2]
The Fox and the Grapes. Fable 11.
Help thyself, and God will help thee.[797:3]
Book vi. Fable 18.
The fly of the coach.
Book vii. Fable 9.
The sign brings customers.
The Fortune-Tellers. Fable 15.
Let ignorance talk as it will, learning has its value.
The Use of Knowledge. Book viii. Fable 19.
No path of flowers leads to glory.
Book x. Fable 14.
Footnotes
JEAN BAPTISTE MOLIÈRE. 1622-1673.
The world, dear Agnes, is a strange affair.
L'École des Femmes. Act ii. Sc. 6.
There are fagots and fagots.
Le Médecin malgré lui. Act i. Sc. 6.
We have changed all that.
Le Médecin malgré lui. Act ii. Sc. 6.
Although I am a pious man, I am not the less a man.
Le Tartuffe. Act iii. Sc. 3.
[798]
The real Amphitryon is the Amphitryon who gives dinners.[798:1]
Amphitryon. Act iii. Sc. 5.
Ah that I— You would have it so, you would have it so; George Dandin, you would have it so! This suits you very nicely, and you are served right; you have precisely what you deserve.
George Dandin. Act i. Sc. 19.
Tell me to whom you are addressing yourself when you say that.
I am addressing myself—I am addressing myself to my cap.
L'Avare. Act i. Sc. 3.
The beautiful eyes of my cash-box.
L'Avare. Act v. Sc. 3.
You are speaking before a man to whom all Naples is known.
L'Avare. Act v. Sc. 5.
My fair one, let us swear an eternal friendship.[798:2]
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. Act iv. Sc. 1.
I will maintain it before the whole world.
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. Act iv. Sc. 5.
What the devil did he want in that galley?[798:3]
Les Fourberies de Scapin. Act ii. Sc. 11.
Grammar, which knows how to control even kings.[798:4]
Les Femmes savantes. Act ii. Sc. 6.
Ah, there are no longer any children!
Le Malade Imaginaire. Act ii. Sc. 11.
Footnotes
BLAISE PASCAL. 1623-1662.
(Translated by O. W. Wight.)
Man is but a reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a thinking reed.
Thoughts. Chap. ii. 10.
It is not permitted to the most equitable of men to be a judge in his own cause.
Thoughts. Chap. iv. 1.
[799]
Montaigne[799:1] is wrong in declaring that custom ought to be followed simply because it is custom, and not because it is reasonable or just.
Thoughts. Chap. iv. 6.
Thus we never live, but we hope to live; and always disposing ourselves to be happy, it is inevitable that we never become so.[799:2]
Thoughts. Chap. v. 2.
If the nose of Cleopatra had been shorter, the whole face of the earth would have been changed.
Thoughts. Chap. viii. 29.
The last thing that we find in making a book is to know what we must put first.
Thoughts. Chap. ix. 30.
Rivers are highways that move on, and bear us whither we wish to go.
Thoughts. Chap. ix. 38.
What a chimera, then, is man! what a novelty, what a monster, what a chaos, what a subject of contradiction, what a prodigy! A judge of all things, feeble worm of the earth, depositary of the truth, cloaca of uncertainty and error, the glory and the shame of the universe![799:3]
Thoughts. Chap. x. 1.
We know the truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart.
Thoughts. Chap. x. 1.
For as old age is that period of life most remote from infancy, who does not see that old age in this universal man ought not to be sought in the times nearest his birth, but in those most remote from it?[799:4]
Preface to the Treatise on Vacuum.
Footnotes
NICHOLAS BOILEAU-DESPREAUX. 1636-1711.
Happy who in his verse can gently steer From grave to light, from pleasant to severe.[799:5] The Art of Poetry. Canto i. Line 75.
[800]
Every age has its pleasures, its style of wit, and its own ways.
The Art of Poetry. Canto iii. Line 374.
He [Molière] pleases all the world, but cannot please himself.
Satire 2.
"There, take," says Justice, "take ye each a shell; We thrive at Westminster on fools like you. 'T was a fat oyster! live in peace,—adieu."[800:1] Epître ii.
Footnotes
ALAIN RENÉ LE SAGE. 1668-1747.
It may be said that his wit shines at the expense of his memory.[800:2]
Gil Blas. Book iii. Chap. xi.
I wish you all sorts of prosperity with a little more taste.
Gil Blas. Book vii. Chap. iv.
Isocrates was in the right to insinuate, in his elegant Greek expression, that what is got over the Devil's back is spent under his belly.[800:3]
Gil Blas. Book viii. Chap. ix.
Facts are stubborn things.[800:4] Gil Blas. Book x. Chap. i.
Plain as a pike-staff.[800:5] Gil Blas. Book xii. Chap. viii.
Footnotes
FRANCIS M. VOLTAIRE. 1694-1778.
If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent him.[800:6]
Epître à l'Auteur du Livre des Trois Imposteurs. cxi.
The king [Frederic] has sent me some of his dirty linen to wash; I will wash yours another time.[800:7]
Reply to General Manstein.
Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts.[800:8]
Dialogue xiv. Le Chapon et la Poularde (1763).
[801]
History is little else than a picture of human crimes and misfortunes.[801:1]
L'Ingénu. Chap. x. (1767.)
The first who was king was a fortunate soldier: Who serves his country well has no need of ancestors.[801:2] Merope. Act i. Sc. 3.
In the best of possible worlds the château of monseigneur the baron was the most beautiful of châteaux, and madame the best of possible baronesses.
Candide. Chap. i.
In this country [England] it is well to kill from time to time an admiral to encourage the others.
Candide. Chap. xxiii.
The superfluous, a very necessary thing. Le Mondain. Line 21.
Crush the infamous thing. Letter to d'Alembert, June 23, 1760.
There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times.
Letter to Cardinal de Bernis, April 23, 1761.
The proper mean.[801:3] Letter to Count d'Argental, Nov. 28, 1765.
It is said that God is always on the side of the heaviest battalions.[801:4]
Letter to M. le Riche, Feb. 6, 1770.
Love truth, but pardon error. Discours sur l'Homme. Discours 3.
Footnotes
Borrowed from Lefranc de Pompignan's "Didon."
Bussy Rabutin: Lettres, iv. 91. Sévigné: Lettre à sa Fille, p. 202. Tacitus: Historia, iv. 17. Terence: Phormio, i. 4. 26.
MADAME DU DEFFAND. 1697-1784.
He [Voltaire] has invented history.[801:5]
It is only the first step which costs.[801:6]
In reply to the Cardinal de Polignac.
Footnotes
[802]
JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU. 1712-1778.
Days of absence, sad and dreary, Clothed in sorrow's dark array,— Days of absence, I am weary: She I love is far away. Days of Absence.
GESTA ROMANORUM.[802:1]
We read of a certain Roman emperor who built a magnificent palace. In digging the foundation, the workmen discovered a golden sarcophagus ornamented with three circlets, on which were inscribed, "I have expended; I have given; I have kept; I have possessed; I do possess; I have lost; I am punished. What I formerly expended, I have; what I gave away, I have."[802:2]
Tale xvi.
See how the world rewards its votaries.[802:3]
Tale xxxvi.
If the end be well, all is well.[802:4]
Tale lxvii.
Whatever you do, do wisely, and think of the consequences.
Tale ciii.
Footnotes
Howe: Howe: who is heare: I, Robin of Doncaster, and Margaret my feare. That I spent, that I had; That I gave, that I have; That I left, that I lost. A. D. 1579.
The following is the epitaph of Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire, according to Cleaveland's "Genealogical History of the Family of Courtenay," p. 142:—
What we gave, we have; What we spent, we had; What we left, we lost.
[803]
VAUVENARGUES (Marquis of). 1715-1747.
Great thoughts come from the heart.[803:1]
Maxim cxxvii.
Footnotes
MICHEL JEAN SEDAINE. 1717-1797.
O Richard! O my king! The universe forsakes thee! Sung at the Dinner given to the French Soldiers in the Opera Salon at Versailles, Oct. 1, 1789.
PRINCE DE LIGNE. 1735-1814.
The congress of Vienna does not walk, but it dances.[803:2]
Footnotes
GOETHE. 1749-1832.
Who never ate his bread in sorrow, Who never spent the darksome hours Weeping, and watching for the morrow,— He knows ye not, ye gloomy Powers. Wilhelm Meister. Book ii. Chap. xiii.
Know'st thou the land where the lemon-trees bloom, Where the gold orange glows in the deep thicket's gloom, Where a wind ever soft from the blue heaven blows, And the groves of laurel and myrtle and rose?[803:3] Wilhelm Meister. Book iii. Chap. i.
Art is long, life short;[803:4] judgment difficult, opportunity transient.
Wilhelm Meister. Book vii. Chap. ix.
The sagacious reader who is capable of reading between these lines what does not stand written in them, but is nevertheless implied, will be able to form some conception.
Autobiography. Book xviii. Truth and Beauty.
Footnotes
[804]
MADAME ROLAND. 1754-1793.
O Liberty! Liberty! how many crimes are committed in thy name![804:1]
Footnotes
BERTRAND BARÈRE. 1755-1841.
The tree of liberty only grows when watered by the blood of tyrants.
Speech in the Convention Nationale, 1792.
It is only the dead who do not return.
Speech, 1794.
SCHILLER. 1759-1805.
Against stupidity the very gods Themselves contend in vain. The Maid of Orleans. Act iii. Sc. 6.
The richest monarch in the Christian world; The sun in my own dominions never sets.[804:2] Don Carlos. Act i. Sc. 6.
Footnotes
JOSEPH ROUGET DE L'ISLE. 1760- ——.
Ye sons of France, awake to glory! Hark! hark! what myriads bid you rise! Your children, wives, and grandsires hoary, Behold their tears and hear their cries! The Marseilles Hymn.
To arms! to arms! ye brave! The avenging sword unsheathe! March on! march on! all hearts resolved On victory or death! The Marseilles Hymn.
[805]
A. F. F. VON KOTZEBUE. 1761-1819.
There is another and a better world.[805:1]
The Stranger. Act i. Sc. 1.
Footnotes
J. G. VON SALIS. 1762-1834.
Into the silent land! Ah, who shall lead us thither? The Silent Land.
Who in life's battle firm doth stand Shall bear hope's tender blossoms Into the silent land! The Silent Land.
JOSEPH FOUCHÉ. 1763-1820.
"It is more than a crime; it is a political fault,"[805:2]—words which I record, because they have been repeated and attributed to others.
Memoirs of Fouché.
Death is an eternal sleep.
Inscription placed by his orders on the Gates of the Cemeteries in 1794.
Footnotes
J. M. USTERI. 1763-1827.
Life let us cherish, while yet the taper glows, And the fresh flow'ret pluck ere it close; Why are we fond of toil and care? Why choose the rankling thorn to wear? Life let us cherish.
[806]
H. B. CONSTANT. 1767-1830.
I am not the rose, but I have lived near the rose.[806:1]
Footnotes
JUNOT, DUC D'ABRANTES. 1771-1813.
I know nothing about it; I am my own ancestor.[806:2]
(When asked as to his ancestry.)
Footnotes
Curtius Rufus seems to me to be descended from himself. (A saying of Tiberius).—Tacitus: Annals, book xi. c. xxi. 16.
JOHANN L. UHLAND. 1787-1862.
Take, O boatman, thrice thy fee,— Take, I give it willingly; For, invisible to thee, Spirits twain have crossed with me. The Passage. Edinburgh Review, October, 1832.
VON MÜNCH BELLINGHAUSEN. 1806-1871.
Two souls with but a single thought, Two hearts that beat as one.[806:3] Ingomar the Barbarian.[806:4] Act ii.
Footnotes
Zwei Seelen und ein Gedanke, Zwei Herzen und ein Schlag.
[807]
MISCELLANEOUS TRANSLATIONS.
Absolutism tempered by assassination.[807:1]
A Cadmean victory.[807:2]
After us the deluge.[807:3]
All is lost save honour.[807:4]
Appeal from Philip drunk to Philip sober.[807:5]
Architecture is frozen music.[807:6]
[808]
Beginning of the end.[808:1]
Boldness, again boldness, and ever boldness.[808:2]
Dead on the field of honour.[808:3]
Defend me from my friends; I can defend myself from my enemies.[808:4]
Extremes meet.[808:5]
Hell is full of good intentions.[808:6]
History repeats itself.[808:7]
I am here: I shall remain here.[808:8]
I am the state.[808:9]
It is magnificent, but it is not war.[808:10]
[809]
Leave no stone unturned.[809:1]
Let it be. Let it pass.[809:2]
Medicine for the soul.[809:3]
Nothing is changed in France; there is only one Frenchman more.[809:4]
Order reigns in Warsaw.[809:5]
Ossa on Pelion.[809:6]
[810]
Scylla and Charybdis.[810:1]
Sinews of war.[810:2]
Talk of nothing but business, and despatch that business quickly.[810:3]
The empire is peace.[810:4]
The guard dies, but never surrenders.[810:5]
The king reigns, but does not govern.[810:6]
[811]
The style is the man himself.[811:1]
"There is no other royal path which leads to geometry," said Euclid to Ptolemy I.[811:2]
There is nothing new except what is forgotten.[811:3]
They have learned nothing and forgotten nothing.[811:4]
We are dancing on a volcano.[811:5]
Who does not love wine, women, and song Remains a fool his whole life long.[811:6]
God is on the side of the strongest battalions.[811:7]
Terrible he rode alone, With his Yemen sword for aid; Ornament it carried none But the notches on the blade. The Death Feud. An Arab War-song.[811:8]
Footnotes
Συμμισγόντων δὲ τῇ ναυμαχίῃ, Καδμείη τις νίκη τοῖσι Φωκαιεῦσι ἐγένετο.—Herodotus: i. 166.
Where two discourse, if the one's anger rise, The man who lets the contest fall is wise. Euripides: Fragment 656. Protesilaus.
The true expression is, "Madame, pour vous faire savoir comme se porte le reste de mon infortune, de toutes choses ne m'est demeuré que l'honneur et la vie qui est sauvé."—Martin: Histoire de France, tome viii.
The correction of this expression was first made by Sismondi, vol. xvi. pp. 241, 242. The letter itself is printed entire in Dulaure's "Histoire de Paris": "Pour vous avertir comment se porte le ressort de mon infortune, de toutes choses ne m'est demeuré que l'honneur et la vie,—qui est sauvé."
La vue d'un tel monument est comme une musique continuelle et fixée.—Madame de Staël: Corinne, livre iv. chap. 3.
See Shakespeare, page 59.
See Spenser, page 28.
This may be traced to a response of the Delphic oracle given to Polycrates, as the best means of finding a treasure buried by Xerxes' general, Mardonius, on the field of Platæa. The oracle replied, Πάντα λίθον κίνει, "Turn every stone."—Leutsch and Schneidewin: Corpus Paræmiographorum Græcorum, vol. i. p. 146.
They were setting on Ossa upon Olympus, and upon Steep Ossa leavy Pelius. Chapman: Homer's Odyssey, book xi. 426.
Heav'd on Olympus tott'ring Ossa stood; On Ossa Pelion nods with all his wood. Pope: Odyssey, book xi. 387.
Ossa on Olympus heave, on Ossa roll Pelion with all his woods; so scale the starry pole. Sotheby: Odyssey, book xi. 315.
To the Olympian summit they essay'd To heave up Ossa, and to Ossa's crown Branch-waving Pelion. Cowper: Odyssey, book xi. 379.
They on Olympus Ossa fain would roll; On Ossa Pelion's leaf-quivering hill. Worsley: Odyssey, book xi. 414.
To fling Ossa upon Olympus, and to pile Pelion with all its growth of leafy woods On Ossa. Bryant: Odyssey, book xi. 390.
Ossa they pressed down with Pelion's weight, And on them both impos'd Olympus' hill. Fitz-Geffrey: The Life and Death of Sir Francis Drake, stanza 99 (1596).
Ter sunt conati imponere Pelio Ossam.—Virgil: Georgics, i. 281.
Æschines (Adv. Ctesiphon, c. 53) ascribes to Demosthenes the expression ὑποτέτμηται τὰ νεῦρα τῶν πραγμάτων, "The sinews of affairs are cut." Diogenes Laertius, in his Life of Bion (lib. iv. c. 7, sect. 3), represents that philosopher as saying, τὸν πλοῦτον εἶναι νεῦρα πραγμάτων,—"Riches were the sinews of business," or, as the phrase may mean, "of the state." Referring perhaps to this maxim of Bion, Plutarch says in his Life of Cleomenes (c. 27), "He who first called money the sinews of the state seems to have said this with special reference to war." Accordingly we find money called expressly τὰ νεῦρα τοῦ πολέμου, "the sinews of war," in Libanius, Orat. xlvi. (vol. ii. p. 477, ed. Reiske), and by the scholiast on Pindar, Olymp. i. 4 (compare Photius, Lex. s. v. Μεγάνορος πλούτον). So Cicero, Philipp. v. 2, "nervos belli, infinitam pecuniam."
This phrase, attributed to Cambronne, who was made prisoner at Waterloo, was vehemently denied by him. It was invented by Rougemont, a prolific author of mots, two days after the battle, in the "Indépendant."—Fournier: L' Esprit dans l' Histoire.
"There is nothing new except that which has become antiquated,"—motto of the "Revue Rétrospective."
Napoleon said, "Providence is always on the side of the last reserve."
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