A tender heart; a will inflexible.
a. Lohgfkllow—Christus. Pt. III. The
New England Tragedies. John
Endicott. Act III. Sc. 2.
In this world a man must either be anvil or hammer. 6. Longfellow—Hyperion. Bk. IV.
Ch. VI.
Not in the clamor of the crowded street,
Not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng,
But in ourselves, are triumph and defeat,
e. Longfellow—The Poets.
Sensitive, swift to resent, but as swift in atoning for error.
Blandish. Pt. IX. The Wedding
Day.
So mild, so merciful, so strong, so good,
So patient, peaceful, loyal, loving, pure.
e. Longfellow—Christus. Tlte Golden
Legend. Pt. V. L. 319.
Thou hast the patience and the faith of Saints.
/. Longfellow—Christus. Pt. III. The
New England Tragedies. John
Endicott. Act III. Sc. 3.
All that hath been majestical
In life or death, since time began,
Is native in the simple heart of all,
The angel heart of man.
g. Lowell—An Incident in a Railroad
Car. St. 10.
A nature wise
With finding in itself the types of all,—
With watching from the dim verge of the
time
What things to be are visible in the gleams Thrown forward on them from the luminous
past,—
Wise with the history of its own frail heart, With reverence and sorrow, and with love, Broad as the world, for freedom and for man. h. Lowell—Prometheus. L. 216.
Endurance is the crowning quality,
And patience all the passion of great hearts,
t. Lowell—Columbus. L. 237.
For me Fate gave, whate'er she else denied,
A nature sloping to the southern side:
I thank her for it, though when clouds arise
Such natures double-darken gloomy skies.
j. Lowell—An Epistle to George William
Curtis. Postscript 1887. L. 53.
For she was jes' the quiet kind
Whose nature never vary,
Like streams that keep a summer mind
Snowhid in Jenooary.
k. Lowell—TV Courtin. St. 22.
It is by presence of mind in untried emergencies that the native metal of a man is tested.
I. Lowell—My Study Windova.
Abraham Lincoln.
Our Pilgrim stock wnzpethed with hardihood, m. Lowell—Biglow Papers. Second
Series. No. 6. L. 38.
Soft-heartedness, in times like these,
Shows sof'ness in the upper story.
n. Lowell—Biglow Papers. Second
Series. No. 7. L. 119.
To judge human character rightly, a man may sometimes have very small experience, provided he has a very large heart.
o. Bulweb-lytton— What Will He Do
With It t Bk. V. Ch. IV.
And the chief-justice was rich, quiet, and infamous. p. Macaulay—On Warren Hastings. 1841.
We hardly know any instance of the strength and weakness of human nature so striking and so grotesque as the character of this haughty, vigilant, resolute, sagacious blue-stocking, half Mithridates and half Trissotin, bearing up against a world in arms, with an ounce of poison in one pocket and a quire of bad verses in the other.
q. Macaulay—On Frederick the Great.
1842.
Now will I show myself to have more of the serpent than the dove; that is—more knave than fool.
r. Marlowe—The Jew of Malta. Act II.
Sc. 3.
Who knows nothing base,
Fears nothing known,
s. Owen Meredith (Lord Lytton)—
A Great Man. St. 8.
Sae true his heart, sae smooth his speech,
His breath like cauler air, His very foot has music in 't, As he comes up the stair. t. Mickle—There's nae Luck About the House. (Attributed also to Jean Adam.)
Great thoughts, great feelings, came to them, Like instincts, unawares. «. Rich. Monckton Milnes.—The Men of
Old.
Adam the goodliest man of men since born
His sons, the fairest of her daughters, Eve.
v. Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. IV.
L. 323. CHARACTER.
CHARACTER.
For contemplation he and valor formed, For softness she and sweet attractive grace. a. Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. IV.
L. 297.
Her virtue and the conscience of her worth, That would be wooed, and not unsought be won.
0. Milton—Paradise Loit. Bk. VIII.
L. 502.
He that has light within his own clear breast May sit i' the centre, and enjoy bright day: But he that hides a dark soul and foul
thoughts
Benighted walks under the mid-day sun;
Himself is his own dungeon.
c. Milton—Gomus. L. 381.
Ofttimes nothing profits more Than self-esteem, grounded on just and right Well manag'd.
d. Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. VIII.
L. 571.
Quips and Cranks and wanton Wiles,
Nods and Becks and wreathed Smiles.
«. Milton—L' Allegro. L. 27.
Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall. /. Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. III.
L.99.
Unrespited, unpitied, unreprieved.
g. Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. H.
L. 185.
Yet, where an equal poise-of hope and fear
Does arbitrate the event, my nature is
That I incline to hope rather than fear.
And gladly banish squint suspicion.
A. Milton—Comus. L. 410.
Good at a fight, but better at a play;
Godlike in giving, but the devil to pay.
1. Moore—On a Cast of Sheridan t Hand.
To those who know thee not, no words can
paint; And those who know thee. know all words are
faint!
j. Hannah Mohe—Sensibility.
I see the right, and I approve it too,
Condemn the wrong, and yet the wrong
pursue,
t. Ovid—Metamorphoses. VII.
Every man has at times in his mind the ideal of what he should be, but is not. This ideal may be high and complete, or it may be quite low and insufficient; yet in all men that really seek to improve, it is better than the actual character. * * Man never falls so low that he can see nothing higher than himself.
1. Theodore Parker—Critical and
Miscellaneous Writings. Essay I. A
Lesson for the Day.
Yet, if he would, man cannot live all to this world. If not religious, he will be superstitious. If he worship not the true God, he will have his idols. m. Theodore Parker—Critical and
Miscellaneous Writings. Essay L A
Lesson for the Day.
Studious of ease, and fond of humble things.
H. Ambrose Philips—From Holland to
a Friend in England.
Grand, gloomy and peculiar, he sat upon the throne, a sceptred hermit, wrapped in the solitude of his awful originality.
o. Charles Phillips—Character of
Napoleon I. Historical.
Beauty that shocks you, parts that none will
trust, Wit that can creep, and pride that licks tke
dust. p. Pope—Prologue to Satires. L. 332.
Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul. q. Popb— Rape of the Lock. Canto V.
L. 34.
Fine by defect and delicately weak.
r. Pope—Moral Essays. Ep. II. L. 43.
From loveless youth to unrespected age,
No passion gratified, except her rage,
So much the fury still outran the wit,
That pleasure miss'd her, and the scandal hit.
s. Pope—Moral Essays. Ep. II. L. 126.
Good-humor only teaches charms to last.
Still makes new conquests and maintains the
past.
t. Pope— Epistle to Mrs. Slount. With the Works of Voiture.
Heav'n forming each on other to depend,
A master, or a servant, or a friend.
Bids each on other for assistance call,
Till one man's weakness grows the strength of
all. u. Pope—Essay on Man. Ep. II. L. 250.
In men we various ruling passions find;
In women two almost divide the kind;
Those only fixed, they first or last obey,
The love of pleasure, and the love ot sway.
v. Pope—Moral Essays. Ep. II. L. 207.
'Tis from high Life high Characters are
drawn;
A Saint in Crape is twice a Saint in Lawn:
A Judge is just, a Chanc'llor juster still;
A Gownman learn'd; a Bishop what you
will;
Wise if a minister; but if a King,
More wise, more learn'd, more just, more
ev'rythinp. w. Pope— Moral Essays. Ep. I. Pt. II. CHARACTER.
CHARACTER.
What then remains, but well our power to
use,
And keep good-humor still whatc'er we lose? And trust me, dear, good-humor can prevail, When airs, and flights, and screams, and
scolding fail. a. f Of s—Rape of the Lock. Canto V.
L. 29.
Who ne'er knew joy but friendship might
divide,
Or gave his father grief but when he died. 6. Pope—Epitaph on the Hon. S. Harcourt.
With too much Quickness ever to be taught; With too much Thinking to have common Thought.
c. Pope—Moral Essays. Ep. II. L. 97.
No man's defects sought they to know;
So never made themselves a foe.
No man's good deeds did they commend ;
80 never rais'd themselves a friend.
d. I'rioe—An Epitaph.
So much his courage and his mercy strive, He wounds to cure, and conquers to forgive. «. Pbiob—Ode in Imitation of Horace.
Bk. III. Ode II.
He that sweareth
Till no man trust him,
He that lieth
Till no man believe him;
He that borroweth
Till no man will lend him;
Let him go where
No man knoweth him.
/. Hugh Rhodes—Cautions.
The Good are better made by 111,
As odours crushed are sweeter still 1
g. Sam'l Rogers—Jacqueline. St. 3.
Was never eie did see that face,
Was never care did heare that tong,
Was never minde did rninde his grace,
That ever thought the travell long,
But eies and eares and ev'ry thought
Were with his sweete perfections caught. h. Mathew Royden—An Elegie. On the Death of Sir Philip Sidney.
It is of the utmost importance that a nation should have a correct standard by which to weigh the character of its rulers.
t. Lord John Russell—Introduction to
the 3rd Vol. of the Correspondence of the Duke of Bedford.
Be tliou familiar, but by no means vulgar. j. Hamlet. Act I. So. 3. L. 61.
But I have that within which passeth show ; These, but the trappings and the suits of woe. k. Hamlet. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 84.
Good name in man and woman, dear my
lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls:
Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis some-
thing, nothing.
I. Othello. Act HI. Sc. 3. L. 156.
* * * * *
He hath a daily beauty in his life
. That makes me ugly.
m. Othello. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 19.
He is deformed, crooked, old, and sere,
Ill-faced, worse-bodied, shapeless everywhere;
Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind,
Stigmatical in making, worse in mind.
n. Comedy of Errors. Act IV. Sc. 2.
L. 19.
He wants wit that wants resolved will.
o. Two Gentlemen of Verona. Act II.
Sc. 6. L. 12.
His words are bonds, his oaths are oracles ;
His love sincere, his thoughts immaculate;
****** His heart as far from fraud as heaven from
earth. p. Two Gentlemen of Verona. Act II.
Sc. 7. L. 75.
How this grace Speaks his own standing! what a mental
power
This eye shoots forth! How big imagination Moves in this lip 1 to'the dumbness of the gesture
One might interpret. q. Timon of Athens. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 30.
I am no proud Jack, like Palstaff; but a Corinthian, a lad of mettle, a good boy. r. Henry IV. Pt. I. Act II. Sc. 4.
L. 12.
I do profess to be no less than I seem ; to serve him truly that will put me in trust; to love him that is honest; to converse with him that is wise, and says little; to fear judgment; to fight when I cannot choose; and to eat no fish.
s. King Lear. Act I. Sc. 4. L. 14.
I grant him bloody, Luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful, Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin That has a name.
t. Macbeth. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 57.
I know him a notorious liar, Think him a great way fool, solely a coward ; Yet these fix'd evils sit so fit in him, That they take place, when virtue's steely
bones
Look bleak i' the cold wind,
u. All's Well That Ends Well. Act I.
Sc. 1. L. Ill
84
CHARACTER.
CHARACTER.
Long is it since I saw him,
But time bath nothing blur'd those lines of
favour
Which then he wore. a. Cymbeline. Act IV. Sc. 2. L. 104.
Look, as I blow this feather from my face, And as the air blows it to me again, Obeying with my wind when I do blow, And yielding to another when it blows, Commanded always by the greater gust; Such is the lightness of you common men. 6. Henry VI. Pt. III. Act III. Sc. 1.
L. 85.
Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues We write in water.
c. Henry VIII. Act IV. Sc. 2. L. 46.
Nature hath fram'd strange fellows in her
time: Some that will evermore peep through their
eyes,
And laugh, like parrots, at a bagpiper:
And other of such vinegar aspect
That they'll not show their teeth in way of
smile,
Though Nestor swear the jest be laughable.
d. Merchant of Venice. Act 1. Sc. 1.
L. 51.
Now do I play the touch,
To try if thou be current gold indeed.
e. Richard III. Act IV. Sc. 2. L. 9.
O do not slander him, for he is kind ;
Right
As snow in harvest.
/. Richard III. Act 1. Sc. 4. L. 247.
O, he sits high in all the people's hearts: And that which would appear offence in us. His countenance, like richest alchemy, " Will change to virtue and to worthiness. g. Julius Csssar. Act 1. Sc. 3. L. 157.
There is a kind of character in thy life,
That to the observer doth thy history
Fully unfold.
ft. Measure for Measure. Act I. Sc. 1.
L. 28.
There's neither honesty, manhood, nor good fellowship in thee.
t. Henry IV. Pt, I. Act I. Sc.2. L. 154.
The trick of singularity. j. Twelfth Night. Act II. Sc. 5. L. 164.
Thou art most rich, being poor; Most choice, forsaken; and most lov'd, de-
spis'd I
Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon :
*. King Lear. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 252.
Though I am not splenitive and rash,
Yet have I something in me dangerous.
1. Ilamltt. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 285.
What a frosty-spirited rogue is this!
m. Henry IV. Pt. I. Act II. Sc. 3.
L.a.
What thou wouldst highly, That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play
false,
And yet wouldst wrongly win.
n. Macbeth. Act 1. Sc. 5. L. 21.
When he is best, he is a little worse than a man, and when he is worst, he is little better than a beast.
0. Merchant of Venice. Act I. Sc. 2.
L. 94.
Why, now I see there's mettle in thee, and even from this instant do build on thee a 1 H-i- ter opinion than ever before.
p. Othello. Act IV. Sc. 2. L. 205.
You are thought here to be the most senseless and fit man for the constable of the watch; therefore bear you the lantern.
q. Much Ado About Nothing. Act HI.
Sc. 3. L. 20.
I'm called away by particular business. But I leave my character behind me. r. Sheridan—School for Scandal. Act II.
8c.2.
Lax in their gaiters, laxer in their gait.
1. James Smith— The Theatre.
Daniel Webster struck me much like a steam engine in trousers.
t. Sydney Smith—Lady Holland's
Memoir. Vol. I. P. 267.
A bold bad man!
u. Spenseb—Faerie Queene. Bk. I.
Canto I. St. 37.
Worth, courage, honor, these indeed
Your sustenance and birthright are.
v. E. C. Stedman—Beyond the Portals.
Pt. 10.
Yet though her mien carries much more invitation than command, to behold her is an immediate check to loose behaviour; and to love her is a liberal education.
w. Stekle— Taller. No. 49.
High characters (cries one), and he would see Things that ne'er were, nor are, nor e'er will
be. x. Sib John Suckling—The Goblin's
Epilogue.
The true greatness of nations is in those qualities which constitute the greatness of the individual.
y. . Charles Summer—Oration on the True Grandeur of Nations
CHARACTER.
CHARACTER.
85
With every man there are good spirits and evil spirits ; by good spirits, man has conjunction with heaven, and by evil spirits with hell.
a. Swedenbohu—Heaven and Hell.
Par. 292.
His own character is the arbiter of every one's
fortune. 6. Publics Stbus—Maxims. 286.
Fame is what you have taken,
Character's what you give; When to this truth you waken,
Then you begin to live.
c. Bayakd Taylob—Improvisations.
St. XI.
The hearts that dare are quick to feel;
The hands that wound are soft to heal.
d. Batabd Taylok—Soldiers of Peace.
Such souls,
Whose sudden visitations daze the world, Vanish like lightning, but they leave behind A voice that in the distance far away Wakens the slumbering ages.
e. Henby Taylob—Philip Van Artevelde.
Ft. I. Act I. Sc. 7.
He makes no friend who never made a foe. /. Tennyson—Idylls of the King.
Launcelot and Elaine. L. 1109.
His honor rooted in dishonor stood,
And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.
g. Tennyson—Idylls of the King.
Launcelot and Elaine. L. 885.
She with all the charm of woman,
She with all the breadth of man.
A. Tennyson—Locksley Hall Sixty
Years After. L. 48.
None but himself can be his parallel. «. Lewis Theobald—Tlie Double
Falsehood.
Whoe'er amidst the sons Of reason, valor, liberty and virtue, Displays distinguished merit, is a noble Of Nature's own creating. j. Thomson—Cnriolamu. Act III. Sc. 3.
Just men, by whom impartial laws were given, And saints, who taught and led the way to
heaven!
k. Tickell—On the Death of Mr. Addison.
L. 41.
Nor e'er was to the bowers of bliss conveyed A fairer spirit, or more welcome shade.
I. Tickell—On the Death of Mr. Addison.
L. 45.
Though lone the way as that already trod, Cling to thine own integrity and God I m. H. T. Tcckebman—Sonnet. To One
Deceived.
I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an " Honest Man."
n. Geoboe Washington—Moral Maxims.
Lord of the golden tongue and smiting eyes ;
Great out of season and untimely wise:
A man whose virtue, genius, grandeur, worth,
Wrought deadlier ill than ages can undo,
o. Wm. Watson—The Political Luminary.
Charity and personal force are the only investments worth anything. p. Walt Whitman—Leaves of Grass.
Manhattan's Streets I Sauntered,
Pondering. St. 6.
Formed on the good old plan,
A true and brave and downright honest man!
He blew no trumpet in the market-place,
Nor in the church with hypocritic face
Supplied with cant the lack of Christian
grace;
Loathing pretence, he did with cheerful will What others talked of while their hands were
still. g. Whittier—Daniel Neall. II.
And through the heat of conflict keeps the law
In calmness made, and sees what he foresaw.
T. Wobdsworth—Character of a Happy
Warrior. L. 53.
But who, if he be called upon to face
Some awful moment to which Heaven has
joined
Great issues, good or bad for humankind,
Is happy as a lover.
s. Wobdswobth—Character of a Happy Warrior. L. 48.
One that would peep and botanize
Upon his mother's grave.
t. Wordsworth—A Poet's Epitaph. St. 5.
The reason firm, the temperate will, Endurance, foresight, strength and skill. u. Wordsworth—She was a Phantom of
Delight.
Whom neither shape of danger can dismay,
Nor thought of tender happiness betray.
v. Wordsworth—Character of a Happy
Warrior. L. 72.
The man that makes a character, makes foes. w. Young—Epistles to Mr. Pope. Ep. 1.
L. 28.
The man who consecrates his hours By vig'rous effort and an honest aim, At once he draws the sting of life and death ; He walks with nature and her paths are peace. x. Youno—Night Thoughts. Night II.
L. 187.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment