Best Thoughts of Best Men.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 4193, 24 November 1883, Page 10 (Supplement)

Best Thoughts of Best Men.

Momests of triumph are not always momenta of happiness.

Experience is the beat schoolmaster, but the school-fees are somewhat heavy,

In all things have the courage to prefer comfort and prosperity to fashion.

He who is slowest in making a promise is generally the most faithful in the performance of it.

Thoso who come to you to talk about others aro the ones who go to others to talk about you.

It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we aro the more patient and gentle wo become as regards the defects of others.

Men's feelings aro always purest and most glowing in the hour of meeting and of farewell ; like the glaciers, which aro transpa rent and rosy-hued only at sun-rise and sunset, but throughout the day gray and cold.

Straws swim upon the surface, bnt pearls Ho at the bottom. Showy parts strike every common eye, but solid ones are to be discerned only by the most accurate observers of the human head and human heart.

The affliction which ■ shrinks from publicity, seeks to be invisible, and avoids ceremony, is more true and deep Mian that which finds its solace in that outward display which invites ths comment of the world at large.

Death is the wish of some, the relief of many, and the end of all. It sbte the slave at liberty, carries the banished man home, and places all men on the same level, insomuch that life itself would be a punishment without it.

When a man does a heroic action at somo cost|to himself, he knows that though it cost it counts. The highest reaches that any man ever has of joy in this world axe thoso which he has through the ministration of grief and sorrow.

If yo« are a wise man, you will treat the world as the world treats you. Show it only one side of yourself, seldom Bhow too much at a time, and let what you show be calm, cool, and polished. But look at every side of this world.

Good nature is the best feature in the fineet face. Wit may raise admiration, judgment command respect, knowledge attention, beauty inflame the heart with love, but good nature has a more powerful effect—it adds a thousand attractions to the charms of beauty, and gives an air of beneficence to the homeliest faco.

• Habits.—Liko flakes of snow that fall unperceived upon the earth, the seemingly unimportant events of life succeed one another. As the snow gathers together, bo arc our habits formed ; no single flake that is added to the pile produces a sensible change; no single action creates, however it may exhibit, a man's character; but as the tempest hurls the avalanche down the mountain, and overwhelms the inhabitant and his habitation, so passion, a«ting upon the elements of mischief, which pernicious habits have brought together by impercep- | tible accumulation, may overthrow the • cdifioe of truth and virtue.