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To Go To Law Is For Two Persons To Kindle A Fire, At Their Own Cost, To Warm Others And Singe Themselves To Cinders; And Because They Cannot Agree As To What Is Truth And Equity, They Will Both Agree To Unplume Themselves That Others May Be Decorated With Their Feathers.

-Owen Feltham

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To Go To Law

Owen Feltham

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To Go To Law Is For Two Persons To Kindle A Fire, At Their Own Cost, To Warm Others And Singe Themselves To Cinders; And Because They Cannot Agree As To What Is Truth And Equity, They Will Both Agree To Unplume Themselves That Others May Be Decorated With Their Feathers.

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When I But Hear Her Sing, I Fare Like One That Raised, Holds His Ear To Some Bright Star In The Supremest Round; Through Which, Besides The Light That's Seen There May Be Heard, From Heaven Within, The Rests Of Anthems, That The Angels Sound.

There Is No Belittling Worse Than To Over Praise A Man.

Fear, If It Be Not Immoderate, Puts A Guard About Us That Does Watch And Defend Us; But Credulity Keeps Us Naked, And Lays Us Open To All The Sly Assaults Of Ill-intending Men: It Was A Virtue When Man Was In His Innocence; But Since His Fall, It Abuses Those That Own It.

A Combed Writing Will Cost Both Sweat And The Rubbing Of The Brain. And Combed I Wish It, Not Frizzled Or Curled.

It Is Rare To See A Rich Man Religious; For Religion Preaches Restraint, And Riches Prompt To Unlicensed Freedom.

The Greatest Results In Life Are Usually Attained By Simple Means And The Exercise Of Ordinary Qualities. These May For The Most Part Be Summed Up In These Two - Common Sense And Perseverance.

Truth And Fidelity Are The Pillars Of The Temple Of The World; When These Are Broken, The Fabric Falls, And Crushes All To Pieces.

Any Man Shall Speak The Better When He Knows What Others Have Said, And Sometimes The Consciousness Of His Inward Knowledge Gives A Confidence To His Outward Behavior, Which Of All Other Is The Best Thing To Grace A Man In His Carriage.

It Is A Most Unhappy State To Be At A Distance With God: Man Needs No Greater Infelicity Than To Be Left To Himself.

To Be Gentle Is The Test Of A Lady.

The Boundary Of Man Is Moderation. When Once We Pass That Pale Our Guardian Angel Quits His Charge Of Us.

Virtue Is The Truest Liberty.

When Two Friends Part They Should Lock Up One Another's Secrets, And Interchange Their Keys.

There Is No Man But For His Own Interest Hath An Obligation To Be Honest. There May Be Sometimes Temptations To Be Otherwise; But, All Cards Cast Up, He Shall Find It The Greatest Ease, The Highest Profit, The Best Pleasure, The Most Safety, And The Noblest Fame, To Hold The Horns Of This Altar, Which, In All Assays, Can In Himself Protect Him.

For Converse Among Men, Beautiful Persons Have Less Need Of The Mind's Commending Qualities. Beauty In Itself Is Such A Silent Orator, That It Is Ever Pleading For Respect And Liking, And By The Eyes Of Others Is Ever Sending, To Their Hearts For Love.

Knowledge Is The Treasure Of The Mind, But Discretion Is The Key To It, Without Which It Is Useless. The Practical Part Of Wisdom Is The Best.

Riches, Though They May Reward Virtues, Yet They Cannot Cause Them; He Is Much More Noble Who Deserves A Benefit Than He Who Bestows One.

Irresolution Is A Worse Vice Than Rashness. He That Shoots Best May Sometimes Miss The Mark; But He That Shoots Not At All Can Never Hit It. Irresolution Loosens All The Joints Of A State; Like An Ague, It Shakes Not This Nor That Limb, But All The Body Is At Once In A Fit. The Irresolute Man Is Lifted From One Place To Another; So Hatcheth Nothing, But Addles All His Actions.

He That, When He Should Not, Spends Too Much, Shall, When He Would Not, Have Too Little To Spend.

There Is No Detraction Worse Than To Overpraise A Man, For If His Worth Proves Short Of What Report Doth Speak Of Him, His Own Actions Are Ever Giving The Lie To His Honor.

Discontents Are Sometimes The Better Part Of Our Life. I Know Not Well Which Is The Most Useful; Joy I May Choose For Pleasure, But Adversities Are The Best For Profit; And Sometimes Those Do So Far Help Me, As I Should, Without Them, Want Much Of The Joy I Have.

By Gaming We Lose Both Our Time And Treasure - Two Things Most Precious To The Life Of Man.

The Noblest Part Of A Friend Is An Honest Boldness In The Notifying Of Errors. He That Tells Me Of A Fault, Aiming At My Good, I Must Think Him Wise And Faithful--wise In Spying That Which I See Not; Faithful In A Plain Admonishment, Not Tainted With Flattery.

That Man Is But Of The Lower Part Of The World That Is Not Brought Up To Business And Affairs.

Praise Has Different Effects, According To The Mind It Meets With; It Makes A Wise Man Modest, But A Fool More Arrogant, Turning His Weak Brain Giddy.

Meditation Is The Soul's Perspective Glass, Whereby, In Her Long Remove, She Discerneth God, As If He Were Nearer At Hand.

In Business, Three Things Are Necessary: Knowledge, Temper, And Time.

Perfection Is Immutable. But For Things Imperfect Change Is The Way To Perfect Them. It Gets The Name Of Wilfulness When It Will Not Admit Of A Lawful Change To The Better. Therefore Constancy Without Knowledge Cannot Be Always Good. In Things Ill It Is Not Virtue, But An Absolute Vice.

He That Always Waits Upon God Is Ready Whenever He Calls. Neglect Not To Set Your Accounts Even; He Is A Happy Man Who To Lives As That Death At All Times May Find Him At Leisure To Die.

Contemplation Is Necessary To Generate An Object, But Action Must Propagate It.

Negligence Is The Rust Of The Soul That Corrodes Through All Her Best Resolves.

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To Go To Law Is For Two Persons To Kindle A Fire, At Their Own Cost, To Warm Others And Singe Themselves To Cinders; And Because They Cannot Agree As To What Is Truth And Equity, They Will Both Agree To Unplume Themselves That Others May Be Decorated With Their Feathers.

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Show Me The Man Who Would Go To Heaven Alone If He Could, And In That Man I Will Show You One Who Will Never Be Admitted Into Heaven.

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There Is No One Subsists By Himself Alone.

Environmental Stewardship

The Irresolute Man Flecks From One Egg To Another, So Hatches Nothing.

Of All Trees, I Observe God Hath Chosen The Vine, A Low Plant That Creeps Upon The Helpful Wall; Of All Beasts, The Soft And Patient Lamb; Of All Fowls, The Mild And Guileless Dove. Christ Is The Rose Of The Field, And The Lily Of The Valley. When God Appeared To Moses, It Was Not In The Lofty Cedar Nor The Sturdy Oak Nor The Spreading Palm; But In A Bush, A Humble, Slender, Abject Shrub; As If He Would, By These Elections, Check The Conceited Arrogance Of Man.

Time Is Like A Ship Which Never Anchors; While I Am On Board, I Had Better Do Those Things That May Profit Me At My Landing, Than Practice Such As Shall Cause My Commitment When I Come Ashore.

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