Background Image
...
Cowardice Is Not Synonymous With Prudence. It Often Happens That The Better Part Of Discretion Is Valor.
-William Hazlitt
...
Please Wait....
Translating....

Cowardice Is Not Synonymous

William Hazlitt
...
Cowardice Is Not Synonymous With Prudence. It Often Happens That The Better Part Of Discretion Is Valor.

Understanding the Quote: "cowardice is not synonymous with prudence. it often happens that the better..."

This quote by William Hazlitt reflects deeply on the theme of cowardice. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Cowardice, Valor, Prudence, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how William Hazlitt interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About William Hazlitt

William Hazlitt is celebrated for insightful thoughts on cowardice and valor. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

Views: 6
Topic
Cowardice
Valor
Prudence
More From William Hazlitt
The Insolence Of The Vulgar Is In Proportion To Their Ignorance. They Treat Everything With Contempt Which They Do Not Understand.
Ignorance
Insolence
Treats
Rules And Models Destroy Genius And Art.
Art
Freedom
Teaching
We Are Thankful For Good-will Rather Than For Services, For The Motive Than The Quantum Of Favor Received.
Inspirational
Favors
Quantum
Kings Ought Never To Be Seen Upon The Stage. In The Abstract, They Are Very Disagreeable Characters: It Is Only While Living That They Are 'the Best Of Kings'. It Is Their Power, Their Splendour, It Is The Apprehension Of The Personal Consequences Of Their Favour Or Their Hatred That Dazzles The Imagination And Suspends The Judgement Of Their Favourites Or Their Vassals; But Death Cancels The Bond Of Allegiance And Of Interest; And Seen As They Were, Their Power And Their Pretensions Look Monstrous And Ridiculous.
Kings
Character
Imagination
A Full-dressed Ecclesiastic Is A Sort Of Go-cart Of Divinity; An Ethical Automaton. A Clerical Prig Is, In General, A Very Dangerous As Well As Contemptible Character. The Utmost That Those Who Thus Habitually Confound Their Opinions And Sentiments With The Outside Coverings Of Their Bodies Can Aspire To, Is A Negative And Neutral Character, Like Wax-work Figures, Where The Dress Is Done As Much To The Life As The Man, And Where Both Are Respectable Pieces Of Pasteboard, Or Harmless Compositions Of Fleecy Hosiery.
Life
Character
Men
One Of The Pleasantest Things In The World Is Going On A Journey; But I Like To Go By Myself.
Journey
World
The Present Is An Age Of Talkers, And Not Of Doers; And The Reason Is, That The World Is Growing Old. We Are So Far Advanced In The Arts And Sciences, That We Live In Retrospect, And Dote On Past Achievement.
Art
Past
Achievement
When The Imagination Is Continually Led To The Brink Of Vice By A System Of Terror And Denunciations, People Fling Themselves Over The Precipice From The Mere Dread Of Falling.
Fall
People
Imagination
Poetry Is Only The Highest Eloquence Of Passion, The Most Vivid Form Of Expression That Can Be Given To Our Conception Of Anything, Whether Pleasurable Or Painful, Mean Or Dignified, Delightful Or Distressing. It Is The Perfect Coincidence Of The Image And The Words With The Feeling We Have, And Of Which We Cannot Get Rid In Any Other Way, That Gives An Instant "satisfaction To The Thought." This Is Equally The Origin Of Wit And Fancy, Of Comedy And Tragedy, Of The Sublime And Pathetic.
Mean
Passion
Writing
Life Is The Art Of Being Well Deceived; And In Order That The Deception May Succeed It Must Be Habitual And Uninterrupted.
Life
Art
Order
If The World Were Good For Nothing Else, It Is A Fine Subject For Speculation.
World
Fine
Speculation
When One Can Do Better Than Everyone Else In The Same Walk, One Does Not Make Any Very Painful Exertions To Outdo Oneself. The Progress Of Improvement Ceases Nearly At The Point Where Competition Ends.
Competition
Progress
Doe
He Who Expects From A Great Name In Politics, In Philosophy, In Art, Equal Greatness In Other Things, Is Little Versed In Human Nature. Our Strength Lies In Our Weakness. The Learned In Books Are Ignorant Of The World. He Who Is Ignorant Of Books Is Often Well Acquainted With Other Things; For Life Is Of The Same Length In The Learned And Unlearned; The Mind Cannot Be Idle; If It Is Not Taken Up With One Thing, It Attends To Another Through Choice Or Necessity; And The Degree Of Previous Capacity In One Class Or Another Is A Mere Lottery.
Art
Lying
Philosophy
We Are All Of Us, More Or Less, The Slaves Of Opinion.
Cooperation
Opinion
Slave
We Grow Tired Of Everything But Turning Others Into Ridicule, And Congratulating Ourselves On Their Defects.
Tired
Ridicule
Grows
Perhaps The Best Cure For The Fear Of Death Is To Reflect That Life Has A Beginning As Well As An End. There Was A Time When We Were Not: This Gives Us No Concern. Why, Then, Should It Trouble Us That A Time Will Come When We Shall Cease To Be?
Death
Giving
Trouble
Landscape Painting Is The Obvious Resource Of Misanthropy.
Landscape Painting
Misanthropy
Resources
Love May Turn To Indifference With Possession.
Love
May
Indifference
The Last Pleasure In Life Is The Sense Of Discharging Our Duty.
Lasts
Life Is
Pleasure
The Fear Of Approaching Death, Which In Youth We Imagine Must Cause Inquietude To The Aged, Is Very Seldom The Source Of Much Uneasiness.
Death
Causes
Youth
Gallantry To Women - The Sure Road To Their Favor - Is Nothing But The Appearance Of Extreme Devotion To All Their Wants And Wishes, A Delight In Their Satisfaction, And A Confidence In Yourself As Being Able To Contribute Toward It
Confidence
Courage
Women
In Love We Do Not Think Of Moral Qualities, And Scarcely Of Intellectual Ones. Temperament And Manner Alone, With Beauty, Excite Love.
Thinking
Intellectual
Quality
There Are Some Persons Who Never Succeed From Being Too Indolent To Undertake Anything; And Others Who Regularly Fail, Because The Instant They Find Success In Their Power, They Grow Indifferent, And Give Over The Attempt.
Giving
Succeed
Failing
A Great Chess-player Is Not A Great Man, For He Leaves The World As He Found It. No Act Terminating In Itself Constitutes Greatness. This Will Apply To All Displays Of Power Or Trials Of Skill, Which Are Confined To The Momentary, Individual Effort, And Construct No Permanent Image Or Trophy Of Themselves Without Them
Greatness
Men
Player
So I Have Loitered My Life Away, Reading Books, Looking At Pictures, Going To Plays, Hearing, Thinking, Writing On What Pleased Me Best. I Have Wanted Only One Thing To Make Me Happy, But Wanting That Have Wanted Everything.
Life
Book
Reading
Experience Makes Us Wise.
Wise
Experience
We Imagine That The Admiration Of The Works Of Celebrated Men Has Become Common, Because The Admiration Of Their Names Has Become So.
Men
Names
Common
There Is Not A More Mean, Stupid, Dastardly, Pitiful, Selfish, Spiteful, Envious, Ungrateful Animal Than The Public. It Is The Greatest Of Cowards, For It Is Afraid Of Itself.
Stupid
Selfish
Mean
The Silence Of A Friend Commonly Amounts To Treachery. His Not Daring To Say Anything In Our Behalf Implies A Tacit Censure.
Silence
Say Anything
Daring
Learning Is, In Too Many Cases, But A Foil To Common Sense; A Substitute For True Knowledge. Books Are Less Often Made Use Of As Spectacles To Look At Nature With, Than As Blinds To Keep Out Its Strong Light And Shifting Scenery From Weak Eyes And Indolent Dispositions. The Learned Are Mere Literary Drudges.
Nature
Strong
Book
From The Height From Which The Great Look Down On The World All The Rest Of Mankind Seem Equal.
Looks
World
Height
Those People Who Are Always Improving Never Become Great. Greatness Is An Eminence, The Ascent To Which Is Steep And Lofty, And Which A Man Must Seize On At Once By Natural Boldness And Vigor, And Not By Patient, Wary Steps.
Men
Greatness
People
True Modesty And True Pride Are Much The Same Thing: Both Consist In Setting A Just Value On Ourselves - Neither More Nor Less.
Pride
Modesty
Settings
The Art Of Pleasing Consists In Being Pleased.
Art
Those Who Are At War With Others Are Not At Peace With Themselves.
Peace
War
Humanity
No Young Man Ever Thinks He Shall Die.
Men
Thinking
Young
Nothing Gives Such A Blow To Friendship As The Detecting Another In An Untruth. It Strikes At The Root Of Our Confidence Ever After.
Blow
Roots
Giving
The Idea Of What The Public Will Think Prevents The Public From Ever Thinking At All, And Acts As A Spell On The Exercise Of Private Judgment.
Exercise
Thinking
Ideas
The Love Of Letters Is The Forlorn Hope Of The Man Of Letters. His Ruling Passion Is The Love Of Fame.
Passion
Men
Letters
Love And Joy Are Twins Or Born Of Each Other.
Love
Joy
Twins
Painting Gives The Object Itself; Poetry What It Implies. Painting Embodies What A Thing Contains In Itself; Poetry Suggests What Exists Out Of It, In Any Manner Connected With It.
Giving
Poetry
Painting
We Are Fonder Of Visiting Our Friends In Health Than In Sickness. We Judge Less Favorably Of Their Characters When Any Misfortune Happens To Them; And A Lucky Hit, Either In Business Or Reputation, Improves Even Their Personal Appearance In Our Eyes.
Eye
Character
Judging
Want Of Principle Is Power. Truth And Honesty Set A Limit To Our Efforts, Which Impudence And Hypocrisy Easily Overleap.
Honesty
Power
Hypocrisy
Books Let Us Into Their Souls And Lay Open To Us The Secrets Of Our Own.
Happiness
Teacher
Attitude
The Seat Of Knowledge Is In The Head; Of Wisdom, In The Heart. We Are Sure To Judge Wrong, If We Do Not Feel Right.
Wisdom
Heart
Judging
Men Will Die For An Opinion As Soon As For Anything Else.
Men
Opinion
Dies
As We Are Poetical In Our Natures, So We Delight In Fable.
Delight
Fables
Learning Is Its Own Exceeding Great Reward; And At The Period Of Which We Speak, It Bore Other Fruits, Not Unworthy Of It.
Rewards
Fruit
Speak
A Hypocrite Despises Those Whom He Deceives, But Has No Respect For Himself. He Would Make A Dupe Of Himself Too, If He Could.
Respect
Hypocrite
Hype
Shall I Faint, Now That I Have Poured Out The Spirit Of My Mind To The World, And Treated Many Subjects With Truth, With Freedom, With Power, Because I Have Been Followed With One Cry Of Abuse Ever Since For Not Being A Government Tool?
Government
Abuse
Mind
We Talk Little When We Do Not Talk About Ourselves.
Littles
Speakers
It Is Better To Be Able Neither To Read Nor Write Than To Be Able To Do Nothing Else.
Education
Writing
Able
The World Judge Of Men By Their Ability In Their Profession, And We Judge Of Ourselves By The Same Test: For It Is On That On Which Our Success In Life Depends.
Life
Success
Men
An Honest Man Is Respected By All Parties.
Honesty
Party
Men
Defoe Says That There Were A Hundred Thousand Country Fellows In His Time Ready To Fight To The Death Against Popery, Without Knowing Whether Popery Was A Man Or A Horse.
Death
Country
Horse
Without Life There Can Be No Action — No Objects Of Pursuit — No Restless Desires — No Tormenting Passions. Hence It Is That We Fondly Cling To It — That We Dread Its Termination As The Close, Not Of Enjoyment, But Of Hope.
Hope
Expectations
Enjoyment
The Safest Kind Of Praise Is To Foretell That Another Will Become Great In Some Particular Way. It Has The Greatest Show Of Magnanimity And The Least Of It In Reality.
Reality
Greatness
Way
There Cannot Be A Surer Proof Of Low Origin, Or Of An Innate Meanness Of Disposition, Than To Be Always Talking And Thinking Of Being Genteel.
Thinking
Talking
Proof
It Might Be Argued, That To Be A Knave Is The Gift Of Fortune, But To Play The Fool To Advantage It Is Necessary To Be A Learned Man.
Men
Play
Might
The Smallest Pain In Our Little Finger Gives Us More Concern Than The Destruction Of Millions Of Our Fellow Beings.
Pain
Giving
Littles
Words Are The Only Things That Last For Ever.
Book
Learning
Lasts
A Hair In The Head Is Worth Two In The Brush.
Funny
Humor
Hair
To Be Remembered After We Are Dead, Is But Poor Recompense For Being Treated With Contempt While We Are Living.
Memories
Poor
Contempt
There Is A Secret Pride In Every Human Heart That Revolts At Tyranny. You May Order And Drive An Individual, But You Cannot Make Him Respect You.
Respect
Heart
Pride
Pride Goes Before A Fall, They Say, And Yet We Often Find, The Folks Who Throw All Pride Away Most Often Fall Behind.
Fall
Pride
Folks
The Affected Modesty Of Most Women Is A Decoy For The Generous, The Delicate, And Unsuspecting; While The Artful, The Bold, And Unfeeling Either See Or Break Through Its Slender Disguises.
Women
Break Through
Modesty
Good Temper Is An Estate For Life.
Life
Estates
Temper
They [corporations] Feel Neither Shame, Remorse, Gratitude, Nor Goodwill.
Gratitude
Business
Corporations
We Do Not Die Wholly At Our Deaths: We Have Mouldered Away Gradually Long Before. Faculty After Faculty, Interest After Interest, Attachment After Attachment Disappear: We Are Torn From Ourselves While Living.
Attachment
Long
Age
If Mankind Had Wished For What Is Right, They Might Have Had It Long Ago.
Peace
Long Ago
Society
Our Opinions Are Not Our Own, But In The Power Of Sympathy. If A Person Tells Us A Palpable Falsehood, We Not Only Dare Not Contradict Him, But We Dare Hardly Disbelieve Him To His Face. A Lie Boldly Uttered Has The Effect Of Truth For The Instant.
Lying
Faces
Opinion
Those Who Have The Largest Hearts Have The Soundest Understandings; And They Are The Truest Philosophers Who Can Forget Themselves.
Wisdom
Heart
Understanding
The Objects That We Have Known In Better Days Are The Main Props That Sustain The Weight Of Our Affections, And Give Us Strength To Await Our Future Lot.
Giving
Weight
Affection
I Have Known Persons Without A Friend--never Any One Without Some Virtue. The Virtues Of The Former Conspired With Their Vices To Make The Whole World Their Enemies.
Enemy
Vices
World
The Public Is So In Awe Of Its Own Opinion That It Never Dares To Form Any, But Catches Up The First Idle Rumour, Lest It Should Be Behindhand In Its Judgment, And Echoes It Till It Is Deafened With The Sound Of Its Own Voice.
Voice
Echoes
Firsts
It Is Not Fit That Every Man Should Travel; It Makes A Wise Man Better, And A Fool Worse.
Wise
Travel
Stupid
Political Truth Is Libel; Religious Truth, Blasphemy.
Religious
Truth
Political
It Is Essential To The Triumph Of Reform That It Should Never Succeed.
Triumph
Essentials
Reform
Genius, Like Humanity, Rusts For Want Of Use.
Humanity
Intelligence
Genius
It Is A False Principle That Because We Are Entirely Occupied With Ourselves, We Must Equally Occupy The Thoughts Of Others. The Contrary Inference Is The Fair One.
Principles
Inference
Egotism
The Definition Of Genius Is That It Acts Unconsciously, And Those Who Have Produced Immortal Works Have Done So Without Knowing How Or Why.
Power
Knowing
Genius
Within My Heart Is Lurking Suspicion, And Base Fear, And Shame And Hate; But Above All, Tyrannous Love Sits Throned, Crowned With Her Graces, Silent And In Tears.
Love
Hate
Heart
You Shall Yourself Be Judge. Reason, With Most People, Means Their Own Opinion.
Mean
People
Judging
Belief Is With Them Mechanical, Voluntary: They Believe What They Are Paid For - They Swear To That Which Turns To Account. Do You Suppose, That After Years Spent In This Manner, They Have Any Feeling Left Answering To The Difference Between Truth And Falsehood?
Believe
Media
Years
Those Who Can Command Themselves Command Others.
Leadership
Self Control
Command
A Life Of Action And Danger Moderates The Dread Of Death.
Death
Dying
Action
It Has Been The Resolution Of Mankind In All Ages Of The World. No People, No Age, Ever Threw Away The Fruits Of Past Wisdom, Or The Enjoyment Of Present Blessings, For Visionary Schemes Of Ideal Perfection. It Is The Knowledge Of The Past, The Actual Infliction Of The Present, That Has Produced All Changes, All Innovations, And All Improvements - Not (as Is Pretended) The Chimerical Anticipation Of Possible Advantages, But The Intolerable Pressure Of Long-established, Notorious, Aggravated, And Growing Abuses.
Blessing
Past
Long
Believe All The Good You Can Of Everyone. Do Not Measure Others By Yourself. If They Have Advantages Which You Have Not, Let Your Liberality Keep Pace With Their Good Fortune. Envy No One, And You Need Envy No One.
Believe
Envy
Needs
Sincerity Has To Do With The Connexion Between Our Words And Thoughts, And Not Between Our Beliefs And Actions.
Our Words
Belief
Action
The Number Of Objects We See From Living In A Large City Amuses The Mind Like A Perpetual Raree-show, Without Supplying It With Any Ideas.
Cities
Ideas
Numbers
That Which Anyone Has Been Long Learning Unwillingly, He Unlearns With Proportional Eagerness And Haste.
Education
Teaching
Long
Wit Is The Salt Of Conversation, Not The Food.
Food
Talking
Salt
Learning Is Its Own Exceeding Great Reward.
Education
Teaching
Learning
The Way To Procure Insults Is To Submit To Them. A Man Meets With No More Respect Than He Exacts.
Respect
Men
Way
Repose Is As Necessary In Conversation As In A Picture.
Conversation
Repose
Mankind Are A Herd Of Knaves And Fools. It Is Necessary To Join The Crowd, Or Get Out Of Their Way, In Order Not To Be Trampled To Death By Them.
Order
Stupidity
Way
Knowledge Is Pleasure As Well As Power.
Pleasure
Wells
Cunning Is The Art Of Concealing Our Own Defects, And Discovering Other People's Weaknesses.
Art
Knowledge
People
Prosperity Is A Great Teacher; Adversity Is A Greater. Possession Pampers The Mind; Privation Trains And Strengthens It.
Motivational
Positive
Teacher
Anyone Who Has Passed Though The Regular Gradations Of A Classical Education, And Is Not Made A Fool By It, May Consider Himself As Having Had A Very Narrow Escape.
Education
Learning
May
Our Contempt For Others Proves Nothing But The Illiberality And Narrowness Of Our Own Views.
Views
Disrespect
Prove
To Great Evils We Submit, We Resent Little Provocations.
Evil
Wickedness
Littles
There Are Names Written In Her Immortal Scroll At Which Fame Blushes!
Names
Fame
Immortal
Even In The Common Affairs Of Life, In Love, Friendship, And Marriage, How Little Security Have We When We Trust Our Happiness In The Hands Of Others!
Love
Life
Hands
The Imagination Is Of So Delicate A Texture That Even Words Wound It.
Imagination
Texture
Delicate
When I Take Up A Book I Have Read Before, I Know What To Expect; The Satisfaction Is Not Lessened By Being Anticipated. I Shake Hands With, And Look Our Old Tried And Valued Friend In The Face,--compare Notes And Chat The Hour Away.
Book
Reading
Hands
It Is Better To Desire Than To Enjoy, To Love Than To Be Loved.
Heart
Desire
Break
By Despising All That Has Preceded Us, We Teach Others To Despise Ourselves.
Hate
Self Hate
Despise
Success In Business Is Seldom Owing To Uncommon Talents Or Original Power Which Is Untractable And Self-willed, But To The Greatest Degree Of Commonplace Capacity.
Business
Self
Owing
There Is Nothing More To Be Esteemed Than A Manly Firmness And Decision Of Character.
Character
Decision
Firmness
We Can Scarcely Hate Anyone That We Know.
Hate
Community
Hatred
While We Desire, We Do Not Enjoy; And With Enjoyment Desire Ceases.
Desire
Enjoy
Enjoyment
Learning Is, In Too Many Cases, But A Foil To Common Sense; A Substitute For True Knowledge.
Common Sense
Substitutes
Cases
People Addicted To Secrecy Are So Without Knowing Why; They Are Not So For Cause, But For Secrecy's Sake.
Knowing
People
Sake
The Pleasure Of Hating, Like A Poisonous Mineral, Eats Into The Heart Of Religion, And Turns It To Ranking Spleen And Bigotry; It Makes Patriotism An Excuse For Carrying Fire, Pestilence, And Famine Into Other Lands: It Leaves To Virtue Nothing But The Spirit Of Censoriousness.
Hate
Heart
Land
The Best Part Of Our Lives We Pass In Counting On What Is To Come.
Inspirational
Hope
Expectations
Love At First Sight Is Only Realizing An Imagination That Has Always Haunted Us; Or Meeting With A Face, A Figure, Or Cast Of Expression In Perfection That We Have Seen And Admired In A Less Degree Or In Less Favorable Circumstances A Hundred Times Before.
Sight
Expression
Imagination
The Fear Of Punishment May Be Necessary To The Suppression Of Vice; But It Also Suspends The Finer Motives Of Virtue.
Punishment
Vices
May
If I Have Not Read A Book Before, It Is, For All Intents And Purposes, New To Me Whether It Was Printed Yesterday Or Three Hundred Years Ago.
Book
Reading
Years
Time,--the Most Independent Of All Things.
Time
Independent
All Things
Every Man Depends On The Quantity Of Sense, Wit, Or Good Manners He Brings Into Society For The Reception He Meets With In It.
Men
Good Man
Society
Zeal Will Do More Than Knowledge.
Passion
Knowledge
Champion
Avarice Is The Miser's Dream, As Fame Is The Poet's.
Dream
Fame
Poet
The Public Have Neither Shame Or Gratitude.
Gratitude
Shame
A Nickname Is The Heaviest Stone That The Devil Can Throw At A Man. It Is A Bugbear To The Imagination, And, Though We Do Not Believe In It, It Still Haunts Our Apprehensions.
Believe
Men
Imagination
There Are Few Things In Which We Deceive Ourselves More Than In The Esteem We Profess To Entertain For Our Firends. It Is Little Better Than A Piece Of Quackery. The Truth Is, We Think Of Them As We Please, That Is, As They Please Or Displease Us.
Thinking
Hype
Pieces
By Retaliating Our Sufferings On The Heads Of Those We Love, We Get Rid Of A Present Uneasiness And Incur Lasting Remorse. With The Accomplishment Of Our Revenge Our Fondness Returns; So That We Feel The Injury We Have Done Them, Even More Than They Do.
Revenge
Accomplishment
Suffering
A Gentle Word, A Kind Look, A Good-natured Smile Can Work Wonders And Accomplish Miracles.
Motivational
Happiness
Smile
The Amiable Is The Voluptuous In Expression Or Manner. The Sense Of Pleasure In Ourselves Is That Which Excites It In Others; Or, The Art Of Pleasing Is To Seem Pleased.
Art
Expression
Pleasure
We Trifle With, Make Sport Of, And Despise Those Who Are Attached To Us, And Follow Those That Fly From Us.
Sports
Hate
Despise
The Greatest Offence Against Virtue Is To Speak Ill Of It.
Speak
Virtue
Ill
The Severest Critics Are Always Those Who Have Either Never Attempted, Or Who Have Failed In Original Composition.
Critics
Composition
Originals
Those Only Deserve A Monument Who Do Not Need One; That Is, Who Have Raised Themselves A Monument In The Minds And Memories Of Men.
Memories
Men
Mind
A Man Who Is Determined Never To Move Out Of The Beaten Road Cannot Lose His Way.
Moving
Men
Way
The Difference Between The Vanity Of A Frenchman And An Englishman Seems To Be This: The One Thinks Everything Right That Is French, The Other Thinks Everything Wrong That Is Not English.
Thinking
Vanity
Differences
The Book-worm Wraps Himself Up In His Web Of Verbal Generalities, And Sees Only The Glimmering Shadows Of Things Reflected From The Minds Of Others.
Book
Reading
Mind
To Be Happy, We Must Be True To Nature And Carry Our Age Along With Us.
Birthday
Time
Age
To Give A Reason For Anything Is To Breed A Doubt Of It.
Failure
Giving
Doubt
The Diffusion Of Taste Is Not The Same Thing As The Improvement Of Taste.
Taste
Improvement
Diffusion
He Who Would See Old Hoghton Right Must View It By The Pale Moonlight.
Moon
Views
Moonlight
The Measure Of Any Man's Virtue Is What He Would Do, If He Had Neither The Laws Nor Public Opinion, Nor Even His Own Prejudices, To Control Him.
Men
Law
Public Opinion
Envy Is The Most Universal Passion. We Only Pride Ourselves On The Qualities We Possess, Or Think We Possess; But We Envy The Pretensions We Have, And Those Which We Have Not, And Do Not Even Wish For. We Envy The Greatest Qualities And Every Trifling Advantage. We Envy The Most Ridiculous Appearance Or Affectation Of Superiority. We Envy Folly And Conceit; Nay, We Go So Far As To Envy Whatever Confers Distinction Of Notoriety, Even Vice And Infamy.
Passion
Pride
Thinking
Habitual Liars Invent Falsehoods Not To Gain Any End Or Even To Deceive Their Hearers, But To Amuse Themselves. It Is Partly Practice And Partly Habit. It Requires An Effort In Them To Speak Truth.
Liars
Practice
Effort
We Do Not Like Our Friends The Worse Because They Sometimes Give Us An Opportunity To Rail At Them Heartily. Their Faults Reconcile Us To Their Virtues.
Opportunity
Giving
Faults
Painting For A Whole Morning Gives One As Excellent An Appetite For One's Dinner, As Old Abraham Tucker Acquired For His By Riding Over Banstead Downs.
Morning
Health
Giving
One Said He Wondered That Leather Was Not Dearer Than Any Other Thing. Being Demanded A Reason: Because, Saith He, It Is More Stood Upon Than Any Other Thing In The World.
World
Reason
Leather
Every Man, In Judging Of Himself, Is His Own Contemporary. He May Feel The Gale Of Popularity, But He Cannot Tell How Long It Will Last. His Opinion Of Himself Wants Distance, Wants Time, Wants Numbers, To Set It Off And Confirm It.
Distance
Men
Numbers
The Soil Of Friendship Is Worn Out With Constant Use. Habit May Still Attach Us To Each Other, But We Feel Ourselves Fettered By It. Old Friends Might Be Compared To Old Married People Without The Tie Of Children.
Friendship
Children
Ties
Comedy Naturally Wears Itself Out - Destroys The Very Food On Which It Lives; And By Constantly And Successfully Exposing The Follies And Weaknesses Of Mankind To Ridicule, In The End Leaves Itself Nothing Worth Laughing At.
Laughing
Weakness
Comedy
A Great Chessplayer Is Not A Great Man, For He Leaves The World As He Found It.
Men
World
Great Men
Our Energy Is In Proportion To The Resistance It Meets.
Inspirational
Energy
Resistance
Poverty, When It Is Voluntary, Is Never Despicable, But Takes An Heroical Aspect.
Poverty
Aspect
Despicable
Common Sense, To Most People, Is Nothing More Than Their Own Opinions.
People
Common Sense
Community
Our Energy Is In Proportion To The Resistance It Meets. We Attempt Nothing Great But From A Sense Of The Difficulties We Have To Encounter, We Persevere In Nothing Great But From A Pride In Overcoming Them.
Perseverance
Passion
Ambition
Tears May Be Considered As The Natural And Involuntary Resource Of The Mind Overcome By Some Sudden And Violent Emotion, Before Ithas Had Time To Reconcile Its Feelings To The Change In Circumstances: While Laughter May Be Defined To Be The Same Sort Of Convulsive And Involuntary Movement, Occasioned By Mere Sur Prise Or Contrast (in The Absence Of Any More Serious Emotion), Before It Has Time To Reconcile Its Belief To Contradictory Appearances.
Laughter
Feelings
Mind
In Art, In Taste, In Life, In Speech, You Decide From Feeling, And Not From Reason. If We Were Obliged To Enter Into A Theoretical Deliberation On Every Occasion Before We Act, Life Would Be At A Stand, And Art Would Be Impracticable.
Art
Feelings
Would Be
To The Proud The Slightest Repulse Or Disappointment Is The Last Indignity.
Disappointment
Proud
Lasts
It Is Only Necessary To Raise A Bugbear Before The English Imagination In Order To Govern It At Will. Whatever They Hate Or Fear, They Implicitly Believe In, Merely From The Scope It Gives To These Passions.
Hate
Believe
Passion
Danger Is A Good Teacher, And Makes Apt Scholars. So Are Disgrace, Defeat, Exposure To Immediate Scorn And Laughter. There Is No Opportunity In Such Cases For Self-delusion, No Idling Time Away, No Being Off Your Guard (or You Must Take The Consequences) - Neither Is There Any Room For Humour Or Caprice Or Prejudice.
Teacher
Laughter
Opportunity
Though Familiarity May Not Breed Contempt, It Takes Off The Edge Of Admiration.
Idols
May
Admiration
To Speak Highly Of One With Whom We Are Intimate Is A Species Of Egotism. Our Modesty As Well As Our Jealousy Teaches Us Caution On This Subject.
Modesty
Speak
Intimate
Walk Groundly, Talk Profoundly, Drink Roundly, Sleep Soundly.
Sleep
Drink
Walks
Wit Is, In Fact, The Eloquence Of Indifference.
Facts
Indifference
Wit
Our Friends Are Generally Ready To Do Everything For Us, Except The Very Thing We Wish Them To Do.
Kindness
Wish
Favors
No Man Can Thoroughly Master More Than One Art Or Science.
Art
Science
Men
Men Of The Greatest Genius Are Not Always The Most Prodigal Of Their Encomiums. But Then It Is When Their Range Of Power Is Confined, And They Have In Fact Little Perception, Except Of Their Own Particular Kind Of Excellence.
Men
Perception
Excellence
Reflection Brakes Men Cowards. There Is No Object That Can Be Put In Competition With Life, Unless It Is Viewed Through The Medium Of Passion, And We Are Hurried Away By The Impulse Of The Moment.
Passion
Reflection
Men
The Most Learned Are Often The Most Narrow Minded.
Prejudice
Narrow-minded
Open Mindedness
There Is Evil Poured Upon The Earth From The Overflowings Of Corruption-- Sickness, And Poverty, And Pain, And Guilt, And Madness, And Sorrow; But, As The Water From A Fountain Riseth And Sinketh To Its Level, Ceaselessly Toileth Justice To Equalize The Lots Of Men.
Pain
Men
Justice
The Greatest Reverses Of Fortune Are The Most Easily Borne From A Sort Of Dignity Belonging To Them.
Dignity
Fortune
Reverse
We Uniformly Applaud What Is Right And Condemn What Is Wrong, When It Costs Us Nothing But The Sentiment.
Money
Cost
Wealth
Of All Virtues, Magnanimity Is The Rarest. There Are A Hundred Persons Of Merit For One Who Willingly Acknowledges It In Another.
Character
Personality
Merit
One Shining Quality Lends A Lustre To Another, Or Hides Some Glaring Defect.
Shining
Excellence
Quality
Charity, Like Nature, Abhors A Vacuum. Next To Putting It In A Bank, Men Like To Squander Their Superfluous Wealth On Those To Whom It Is Sure To Be Doing The Least Possible Good.
Money
Men
Vacuums
The Princess Borghese, Bonaparte's Sister, Who Was No Saint, Sat To Canova As A Reclining Venus, And Being Asked If She Did Not Feel A Little Uncomfortable, Replied, "no. There Was A Fire In The Room."
Princess
Fire
Saint
We Judge Of Others For The Most Part By Their Good Opinion Of Themselves; Yet Nothing Gives Such Offense Or Creates So Many Enemies, As That Extreme Self-complacency Or Superciliousness Of Manner, Which Appears To Set The Opinion Of Every One Else At Defiance.
Self
Giving
Judging
Those Who Make Their Dress A Principal Part Of Themselves, Will, In General, Become Of No More Value Than Their Dress.
Fashion
Clothes
Dresses
Poverty, Labor, And Calamity Are Not Without Their Luxuries, Which The Rich, The Indolent, And The Fortunate In Vain Seek For.
Luxury
Poverty
Rich
The Youth Is Better Than The Old Age Of Friendship.
Friendship
Age
Youth
When A Thing Ceases To Be A Subject Of Controversy, It Ceases To Be A Subject Of Interest.
Political
Internet
Free Speech
He Who Is As Faithful To His Principles As He Is To Himself Is The True Partisan.
Faithful
Principles
Partisanship
I Like A Person Who Knows His Own Mind And Sticks To It; Who Sees At Once What Is To Be Done In Given Circumstances And Does It. He Does Not Beat About The Bush For Difficulties Or Excuses, But Goes The Shortest And Most Effectual Way To Work To Attain His Own Ends, Or To Accomplish A Useful Object.
Mind
Doe
Done
I'm Not Smart, But I Like To Observe. Millions Saw The Apple Fall, But Newton Was The One Who Asked Why.
Inspirational
Smart
Fall
To Get Others To Come Into Our Ways Of Thinking, We Must Go Over To Theirs; And It Is Necessary To Follow, In Order To Lead.
Thinking
Order
Way
No Wise Man Can Have A Contempt For The Prejudices Of Others; And He Should Even Stand In A Certain Awe Of His Own, As If They Were Aged Parents And Monitors. They May In The End Prove Wiser Than He.
Wise
Men
Parent
There Is Nothing More Likely To Drive A Man Mad, Than The Being Unable To Get Rid Of The Idea Of The Distinction Between Right And Wrong, And An Obstinate, Constitutional Preference Of The True To The Agreeable.
Integrity
Men
Ideas
One Of The Pleasantest Things In The World Is Going On A Journey; I Can Enjoy Society In A Room; But Out Of Doors, Nature Is Company Enough For Me. I Am Then Never Less Alone Than When Alone.
Journey
Doors
World
The Essence Of Poetry Is Will And Passion.
Passion
Essence
Poetry Is
Good Temper Is One Of The Great Preservers Of The Features.
Temper
Features
We Never Do Anything Well Till We Cease To Think About The Manner Of Doing It. This Is The Reason Why It Is So Difficult For Any But Natives To Speak A Language Correctly Or Idiomatically.
Thinking
Reason Why
Language
Reflection Makes Men Cowards.
Reflection
Men
Coward
An Honest Man Speaks The Truth, Though It May Give Offence; A Vain Man, In Order That It May.
Truth
Men
Order
Grace In Women Has More Effect Than Beauty. We Sometimes See A Certain Fine Self-possession, An Habitual Voluptuousness Of Character, Which Reposes On Its Own Sensations And Derives Pleasure From All Around It, That Is More Irresistible Than Any Other Attraction. There Is An Air Of Languid Enjoyment In Such Persons, "in Their Eyes, In Their Arms, And Their Hands, And Their Face," Which Robs Us Of Ourselves, And Draws Us By A Secret Sympathy Towards Them.
Character
Eye
Air
Painters... Are The Most Lively Observers Of What Passes In The World About Them, And The Closest Observers Of What Passes In Their Own Minds.
Mind
World
Painting
Tyrants Forego All Respect For Humanity In Proportion As They Are Sunk Beneath It. Taught To Believe Themselves Of A Different Species, They Really Become So, Lose Their Participation With Their Kind, And In Mimicking The God Dwindle Into The Brute.
Believe
Tyrants
Humanity
Popularity Is Neither Fame Nor Greatness.
Greatness
Popularity
Fame
I Have A Much Greater Ambition To Be The Best Racket Player Than The Best Prose Writer.
Ambition
Player
Being The Best
The Art Of Conversation Is The Art Of Hearing As Well As Of Being Heard.
Art
Attention
Hearing
Death Cancels Everything But Truth; And Strips A Man Of Everything But Genius And Virtue. It Is A Sort Of Natural Canonization.
Men
Genius
Virtue
Dandyism Is A Variety Of Genius.
Genius
Dandyism
Variety
Trending Author
Frederick Buechner
Jack Lemmon
Joe Eszterhas
Constantin Brancusi
Donna Brazile
Nicola Formichetti
Category
Information