Things Thoughtful

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 25 October 1941, Page 8

Things Thoughtful

A SOFT ANSWER A soft answer turneth away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger.— Proverbs. Y A- Y Y THE ONLY FAILURE The only failure in life is to cease to make new beginnings.—Anon. -Y- A- Y Y MAN’S DESIRE FOR Jy NOW LEDGE Man wants to know; and when he no longer wants to know, In* will no longer be Man.— Nansen. * Y * •¥• THE REMEDY OF BOOKS All the glory of the world would be buried in oblivion if God had not provided mortals with the remedy of books.—“Philobiblon.” TO -DA YVS 01 I PORTUNITIES Let your vision be ever forward, but do not overlook to-day’s opportunities.- -Anon. SILENT WISDOM* The half truth is ever voluble, but wisdom sits silent. —Stanton. Y Y Y Y DELIGHT IN NATURE Nature is silent to the unobservant; man; and that rieh spring of enjoyment escapes him, which has power to delight and cheer us even when suf-; fering from the severest blows ol' fate. —Meyen. Y Y Y Y ETERNITY For love of the infinite a finite life will not suffice. For that we need eternity.—Rev. J. C. Hardwick. Y Y Y Y WORK FOR COURAGE A man has no right to sit back and sigh lor courage, he ought to get up and acquire it.—Callisthenes. THE FRUIT OF THE MOUTH A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth. —Proverbs. KEEPING STEP If a man does not keep step with his companions it may be because he hears a different drummer.— Thoreau. FOOLISH ARGUMENTS Fools for arguments use wagers. .i* *^ WORDLESS PRAYERS In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart. —John Bunyan. LEARNING TO BE CHARMING It takes quite as many years to be charming as it does to be learned.— Rev. Sydney Smith. Y Y Y Y PRUDENCE, NOT TIMIDITY Prudence is an excellent virtue—but don’t confuse it with timidity.— Anon. SACRIFICIAL WORK The most sacrificial work is often more restful than sitting down.— Anon PROFOUNDEST TRUTHS The profoundest truths are often capable of great simplicity of expression.—Canon Bolton. Y Y Y Y KNOWLEDGE Knowledge is a treasure, but practice is the key to it.—Anon. Y Y Y Y AUTUMN The squirrel gloats on his accomplish’d hoard, The ants have brimm’d their garners with ripe grain, And honey bees have stor’d The sweet of summer in their luscious cells; The swallows all have wing’d across the main; But here the Autumn melancholy dwells, And sighs her tearful spells. Amongst the sunless shadows of the plain.—Thomas Hood. FATAL INFLUENCE OF PRIDE I have been more and more convinced, the more I think of it, that, in general, pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes. All the other passions do occasional good; but whenever pride puts in its word, everything goes wrong; and what it might really be desirable to do, quickly and innocently, it is mortally dangerous to do proudly.—Ruskin. Y Y Y Y PROFIT AND PLEASURE The two common shrines to which most men offer up the application of their thoughts and their lives, are profit and pleasure; and by their devotion to either of these, they arc vulgarly distinguished into two sects, and are called busy or idle men; whethere these words differ in meaning, or only in sound, I know very well may be disputed, and with appearance enough; since the covetous man takes as much pleasure in his gains as the voluptuous in his luxury, and would not pursue his business unless he were pleased with it, upon the last account of what he most wishes and desires; nor would care for the increase of his fortunes, unless he thereby proposed that of his pleasures too, in one kind or other; si/ that pleasure may be said to be his end, whether he will allow to find it in his pursuits or no.— Sir W. Temple. BENEFITS OF READING Reading serves for delight, for ornament, and for ability; it perfects nature, and is perfected by experience. The crafty condemn it; the simple admire it; and the wise use it. Reading makes a full man, conference ■ a ready man, and writing an exact ; man. He that writes little, needs a great memory: he that confers little, a present wit; and he that reads little.: needs much cunning to make him; seem to know that which he does not.; —Lord Bacon. Y Y Y Y MORAL RESPONSIBILITY To be morally responsible, a man must be a free, rational, moral agent. First, he must be in present possession of his reason, to distinguish truth from falsehood. Secondly, he must also have in exercise a moral sense to distinguish right from wrong. Thirdly, his will, in its volitions or executive acts, must be self-decided, that is—determined by its own spoil-: taneous affections and desires. If any of these are wanting, the man is insane, and neither free nor responsible. Professor Hodge. Y Y Y SELF-LOVE Self-love is the love of self, and of everything for the sake of self. When fortune gives the means, self-love makes men idolise themselves, and tyrannise over others. It never rests or fixes anywhere from home. If it settles on external things, it is only as the bee dotli on flowers, to extract what may be serviceable. Nothing is so impetuous as its desires; nothing so secret as its designs; nothing so artful as its conduct. Its suppleness is inexpressible: its metamorphoses surpass those of Ovid, and its refine- J ments those of chemistry. We can | neither fathom the depth, nor penetrate the obscurity of its abyss. . The sea is its representative; in the flux and reflux of whose waves it may find a lively expression of the turbulent succession of its thoughts, and of its eternal motion.—La Roche-