Quotations on Confidence

Glass antique! 'twixt thee and Nell
Draw us here a parallel!
She, like thee, was forced to bear
All reflections, foul or fair.


Thou art deep and bright within,

Depths as bright belong'd to Gwynne;

Thou art very frail as well,

Frail as flesh is,—so was Nell. a. L. Blanchabd—Nell Gwynne's

Looking Glasi. St. 1.

It's wiser being good than bad ;

It's safer being meek than fierce: It's fitter being sane than mad.

My own hope is, a sun will pierce The thickest cloud earth ever stretched ;

That, after Last, returns the First, Though a wide compass round be fetched;

That what began best, can't end worst,

Nor what God blessed once, prove accurst.

6. Bobebt Browning—Apparent Failure.

VII.

It has all the contortions of the sibyl without the inspiration.

c. Burke—Prior1! Life of Burke.

There's some are fou o' love divine,
There's some are fou o' brandy.


d. Burns— The Holy flair. St. 30.

To liken them to your auld-warld squad, 1 must needs say comparisons are odd.

e. Burns—Brigs of Ayr. L. 177.

There's but the twinkling of a star Between a man of peace and war. /. Butler—Hudibras. Pt. II. Canto III.

L. 957.

I've read in many a novel, that unless they've

souls that grovel— Folks prefer in fact a hovel to your dreary

marble halls. g. Calverley—In the Gloaming.

Is it possible your pragmatical worship should not know that the comparisons made between wit and wit, courage and courage, beauty and beauty, birth and birth, are always odious and ill taken ?

fc. Cervantes—Don Quixote. Pt. II.

Ch. I.

At whose sight, like the sun,
All others with diminish'd lustre shone.
». Cicebo— Tusculan Dap. Bk. III.


Div. 18. Yonge's trans.

Right is more beautiful than private affection ; and love is compatible with universal wisdom.

j. Emerson—Essays. On Shakespeare.

Expression is action; beauty is repose.
k. J. C. and A. W. Hare— Guesses at


Truth.

Everything is twice as large, measured on a three-year-old's three-foot scale as on a thirty-year-old's six-foot scale.

1. 0. W. Holmes— The Poet at the

Breakfast Table. I.

Too great refinement is false delicacy, and true delicacy is solid refinement. m. La Rochefoucauld—Maxims and

Moral Sentences. No. 131.

The country is lyric,—the town dramatic. When mingled, they make the most perfect musical drama.

». Longfellow—Kavanagh. Ch. XIII.

And but two ways are offered to our will,
Toil with rare triumph, ease with safe disgrace,
The problem still for us and all of human


race.
o. Lowell— Under the Old Elm.


Pt. VII. St. 3.

Comparisons do ofttime great grievance. p. John Lydgate—Bochas. Bk. III.

Ch. VIII.

And in the lowest deep a lower deep
Still threatening to devour me opens wide;
To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven.
q. Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. IV. L. 76.


A man must either imitate the vicious or hate them. r. Montaigne—Of Solitude.

The souls of emperors and cobblers are cast in the same mould. » * The same reason thatmakesus wrangle with a neighbour causes a war betwixt princes.

j. Montaigne—Apology for Raimond d>- Sebond. Bk. II. Ch.XII.

We are nearer neighbours to ourselves than whiteness to snow, or weight to stones. t. Montaigne—.Essays. Bk. II. Ch. XII.

The magnificent and the ridiculous are so near neighbours that they touch each other. «. Edward Lord Oxfobd—Ms. Common

Place Book.

Everye white will have its blacke, And everye sweet its soure. v. Thos. Percy—Reliquet. Sir Curline.

Another yet the same. w. PoTE—The Dunciad. Bk. III. L. 90.

The rose and thorn, the treasure and dragon, joy and sorrow, all mingle into one. x. Saadi— The Gulistan. Ch. VII.

Apologue 21. Ross' trans.

As false

As air, as water, wind, or sandy earth,
As fox to lamb, as wolf to heifer's calf,
Pard to the hind, or stepdame to her son.
y. Troilus and Cressida. Act III. Sc. 2.


L. 198. 102

COMPARISONS.

COMPENSATION.

Crabbed age and youth cannot live together. a. 'Passionate Pilgrim. Pt. XII.

Hyperion to a satyr.
6. Hamlet. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 140.


Nature hath meal and bran, contempt and grace.

c. Cymbeline. Act IV. Sc. 2. L. 27.

No more like my father Than I to Hercules.

d. Samlet. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 152.

O, the more angel she, And you the blacker devil! e. Othello. Act V. Sc. 2. L. 130.

Those that are good manners at the court are as ridiculous in the country as the behaviour of the country is most mockable at the court.

/. As You Like It. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 46.

What, is the jay more precious than the lark,
Because his feathers are more beautiful?
Or is the adder better than the eel,
Because his painted skin contents the eye ?
g. Taming of the Shrew. Act IV. Sc. 3.


L. 177. Here and there a cotter's babe is royal—born

by right divine; Here and there my lord is lower than his oxen

or his swine.

h. Tennyson—Locksley Hall. Sixty Tears After. 8k 63.

The little may contrast with the great, in painting, but cannot be said to be contrary to it. Oppositions of colors contrast; but there are also colors contrary to each other, that is, which produce an ill effect because they shock the eye when brought very near it.

». Voltaire—A Philosophical Dictionary. Essay. Contrast.

The happy married man dies in good stile at home, surrounded by his weeping wife and children. The old bachelor don't die at all— he sort of rots away, like a pollywog's tail.

j. Abtemcs Waed—The Draft in

Baldmtmtte.

And homeless near a thousand homes I stood. And near a thousand tables pined and wanted food.

k. Wokdswobth—Quilt and Sorrow.

St. 41. The time for Pen and Sword was when

"My ladye iayre," for pity,
Could tend her wounded knight, and then


Grow tender at his ditty.
Some ladies now make pretty songs,


And some mnke pretty nurses:
Some men are good for righting wrongs,


And some for writing verses.

/. Frederick Lockkr—The Jester's Plea.

COMPENSATION.

I called the New World into existence to redress the balance of the Old. To. Geoboi Canning—The King1!

Message. Dec. 12, 1826.

Honors come by diligence; riches spring from economy. n. John Francis Davis—Chinese Moral

Maxims.

What we gave, we have:
What we spent, we had:
What we left, we lost.
o. Epitaph of Edward, Earl of Devon.


'Tis toil's reward, that sweetens industry,
As love inspires with strength the enraptur'd


thrush.
p. Ebekezer Elliot—Corn Law


Rhymes. No. 7.

As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form. Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the

storm. Though round its breast the rolling clouds are

spread,

Eternal sunshine settles on ita head.
q. Goldsmith— The Deserted Village.


L. 189.

'Tis always morning somewhere in the world. r. Richard Hengbst Horne—Orion.

Bk. III. Canto II.

O weary hearts! O slumbering eyes!

0 drooping souls, whose destinies Are fraught with fear and pain, Ye shall be loved again.

*. Longfellow—Endymion. St. 7.

'Tis always morn somewhere.

t. Longfellow—Tales of a Wayside Inn. Birds of Kittingworth. St. 16.

Earth gets its price for what Earth gives us,

The beggar is taxed for a corner to die in, The priest hath his fee who comes and shrives us,

We bargain for the graves we lie in; At the devil's booth are all things sold, Each ounce of dross costs its ounce of gold ;

For a cap and bells our lives we pay, Bubbles we buy with a whole soul's tasking,

'Tis heaven alone that is given away, 'Tis only God may be had for the asking, No price is set on the lavish summer; June may be had by the poorest coiner.

«. Lowell—The Vision of Sir Launfal.

Prelude to Pt. I.

Merciful Father, I will not complain.

1 know that the sunshine shall follow the rain.

v. Joaquin Miller—For Prince.*,* HfntuJ.

COMPENSATION.

CONFESSION.

108

What though the field be lost?
All is not lost; th' unconquerable will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield,
o. Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. I. L. 105.


Long pains are light ones,
Cruel ones are brief!
6. J. G. S\\ i.—Compensation.


That not a moth with vain desire
Is shrivel'd in a fruitless fire,
Or but subserves another's gain.


c. Tennyson—In Memoriam. Pt. LIV.

And light is mingled with the gloom,

And joy with grief; Divinest compensations come, Through thorns of judgment mercies bloom

In sweet relief.

d. Whittier—Anniversary Poem. St. 15.

COMPLIMENTS.

A compliment is usually accompanied with a bow, as if to beg pardon for paying it. e. J.C.and A. W.habe— Guessesat Truth.

What honour that,

But tedious waste of time, to sit and hear So many hollow compliments and lies. /. Milton—Paradise Regained. Bk. IV.

L. 122.

'Twas never merry world Since lowly feigning was called compliment. g. Twelfth Night. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 109.

A woman » » always feels herself complimented by love, though it may be from a man incapable of winning her heart, or perhaps even her esteem. h. Abel Stevexs—Life of Madame de

Stael. Ch. III.

Current among men.

Like coin, the tinsel clink of compliment, t. Tennyson—The Princess. Pt. II.

L. 40.

CONCEIT.

I've never any pity for conceited people, because I think they carry their comfort about with them.

/. Geokge Eliot—The Mill on the Floss. Bk. V. Ch. IV.

For what are they all in their high conceit, When man in the bush with God may meet? k. Emerson—Good-Bye. St. 4.

The world knows only two, that's Rome and I. 1. Ben Johson—Sejanus. Act V. Sc. 1.

In men this blunder still you find,
All think their little set mankind.
m. Hannah Mobe—Florio. Pt. I.


We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow;
Our wiser sons, no doubt, will think us so.
n. Pope—Essay on Criticism. Pt. II.


L.438.

If she undervalue me,
What care I how fair she be?


0. Sir Walter Raleigh—Bayley's Lifeoj

Raleigh.

Conceit may puff a man up, but never prop him up.

p. Ruskin—True and Beautiful. Morals and Reliifion. Function of the Artist.

Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works. q. Hamlet. Act III. Sc. 4. L. 114.

Conceit, more rich in matter than in words, Brags of his substance, not of ornament: They are but beggars that can count theii

worth. r. Romeo and Juliet. Act II. Sc. 6.

L. 29.

I am not in the roll of common men.

1. Henry IV. Pt. I. Act III. Sc. 1.

L. 43.

Whoe'er imagines prudence all his own,

Or deems that he hath powers to speak and

judge Such as none other hath, when they are

known.

They are found shallow.
t. Sophocles—Antig. 707.


Faith, that's as well said as if I had said it myself. u. Swift—Polite Conversation.

Dialogue II.


CONFESSION.

Confess thee freely of thy sin ;
For to deny each article with oath
Cannot remove nor choke the strong concep-
tion


That I do groan withal.
v. Othello. Act V. Sc. 2. L. 54.


Confess yourself to heaven ; Repent what's past; avoid what is to come. w. Hamlet. Act III. Sc. 4. L. 149.

Nor do we find him forward to be sounded
But, with a crafty madness, keeps aloof.
When we would bring him on to some con-
fession


Of his true state.
x. Hamlet. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 7.


I own the soft impeachment.
y. Sheridan—The Rivals. Act V. Sc. 3.


104

CONFIDENCE.

CONQUEST.

CONFIDENCE.

He who does not respect confidence, will never find happiness in his path. The belief in virtue vanishes from his heart, the source uf nobler actions becomes extinct in him.

a. AUFFENBDRO.

He who has lost confidence can lose nothing more. 6. Boiste.

Confidence is that feeling by which the mind embarks in great and honourable courses with a sure hope and trust in itself.

c. Cicero—Rhetorical Invention.

I see before me the statue of a celebrated minister, who said that confidence was a plant of slow growth. But I believe, however gradual may be the growth of confidence, that of credit requires still more time to arrive at maturity.

d. Benj. Disraeli—Speech. Nov. 9, 1867.

Self-trust is the essence of heroism. <". Emerson—Essay. Heroism.

The hearing ear is always found close to the speaking tongue; and no genius can long or often utter anything which is not invited and gladly entertained by men around him.

/. Emeeson—Race.

He knows little who will tell his wife all he knows". g. Thomas Fuller—Holy aiul Profane

State. Maxim VII. The Good
Husband.


Though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps

At wisdom's gate, and to simplicity

Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no

ill

Where no ill seems,
.ft. Miltok—Paradise Lost. Bk. III.


L. 686.

He that wold not when he might,
He shall not when he wold-a.
i, Thos. Percy—Reliques. The Baffled
Knight. St. 14.


Confidence is a plant of slow growth in an aged bosom. j. William Pitt (Earl of Chatham)—

Speech. Jan. 14, 1766.

Be as just and gracious unto me, As I am confident and kind to thee. *. Titus Andronicia. Act I. 8c. 1. L. 60.

I renounce all confidence.

1. Henry VI. Pt I. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 97.

I would have some confidence with you that decerns you nearly. m. Much Ado About Nothing. Act III.

Sc. 5. L. 3.

Trust not him that hath once broken faith. 7.. Henry VI. Pt. III. Act IV. Sc. 4.

L. 30

Your wisdom is consum'd in confidence. Uo not go forth to-day. o. Julius Caesar. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 49.

Confidence is conqueror of men; victorious

both over them and in them ; The iron will of one stout heart shall make a

thousand quail: A feeble dwarf, dauntlessly resolved, will turn

the tide of battle, And rally to a nobler strife the giants that

had fled. p. Tupper—Proverbial Phihfophv.

Of Faith. L. 11.

CONQUEST.

Great things thro' greatest hazards are

achiev'd,

And then they shine.
q. Beaumont And Fletcher—Loyal


Subject. Act I. 8c. 5.

He who surpasses or subdues mankind, Must look down on the hate of those below, r. Byron— Childe Harold. Canto III.

St. 45.

Then fly betimes, for only they Conquer love that run away. s. Thomas Carew—Song. Conquest by

Flight.

And though mine arm should conquer twenty

worlds,

There's a lean fellow beats all conquerors. t. Thos. Dekker— The Comedic of Old

FkrtunatHS. Act T. So. 1.

Like Douglas conquer, or like Douglas die. u. John Home—Douglas. Act V. Sc. 1.

L. 100.

Self conquest is the greatest of victories.
v. Plato.


Brave conquerors ! for so you are
That war against your own affections,
And the huge army of the world's desires.
w. Love's Labour's Lost. Act I. Sc. 1.


L. 8.

Shall they hoist me up, And show me to the shouting varletry Of censuring Rome? Rathera ditch in Egypt Be gentle grave unto me, rather on Nilus'

mud

Lay me stark naked, and let the water-flies Blow me into abhorring! x. Antony and Cleopatra. Act V. Sc. '2.

L. Si.

CONSCIENCE.

CONSCIENCE.

105

CONSCIENCE.

< >h! think what anxious moments pass between
The birth of plots, and their last fatal periods,
Oh! 'tis a dreadful interval of time,
Filled up with horror all, and big with deatli!


a. Addison—Cato. Act I. Sc. 3.

They have cheveril consciences that will stretch.

b. Bdhton—Anatomy of Melancholy,

Pt. III. Sec. IV. Memh. 2.
Subsect. 3.


Why should not Conscience have vacation
As well as other Courts o' th' nation ?
Have equal power to adjourn,
Appoint appearance and retxirn ?


c. Bctleb—Hudibras. Pt. II. Canto II.

L. 317.

A quiet conscience makes one so serene!

Christians have burnt each other, quite persuaded

That all the Apostles would have done as they did.

d. Bybon—Don Juan. Canto I. St. 83.

But at sixteen the conscience rarely gnaws
So much, as when we call our old debts in
At sixty years, and draw the accounts of evil,
And find a deuced balance with the devil.


e. Bybon—Don Juan. Canto I. St. 1G7.

But quiet to quick bosoms is a hell,
And there hath been thy bane.


/. Bybon—Childe Harold. Canto III.

St. 42.

Nor ear can hear nor tongue can tell
The tortures of that inward hell!


g. Byron— The Giaour. L. 748.

There is no future pang Can deal that justice on the self condcmn'd He deals on his own soul. h. Bybon—Manfred. Act III. Sc. 1.

Yet still there whispers the small voice within, Heard through Gain's silence, and o'er Glory's

din;

Whatever creed be taught or land be trod, Man's conscience is the oracle of God. i. Bybon— The Inland. Canto I. St. 6.

The great theatre for virtue is conscience.

}. ClCKBO.

The Past lives o'er again In its effects, and to the guilty spirit The ever-frowning Present is its image, t. Coleridge—Remorse. Act I. 8c. 2.

When Conscience wakens who can with her

strive?

Terrors and troubles from a sick soul drive ?
Naught so unpitying as the ire of sin.
The inappeas'ble Nemesis within.
/. Abraham Coles—The Light of the


World. P. 314.

The still small voice is wanted. /(i. Cowper— The Task. Bk. V. L. 687.

Oh, Conscience! Conscience! man's most

faithful friend,

Him canst thou comfort, ease, relieve, defend ;
But if he will thy friendly checks forego,
Thou art, oh ! woe for me, his deadliest foe !
n. Ceabbe—Struggles of Conscience. Last


Lines.

Conscience is harder than our enemies, Knows more, accuses with more nicety. o. Geoege Eliot—Spanish Gypsy. Bk. I.

Conscience is a coward, and those faults it has not strength to prevent, it seldom has justice enough to accuse.

p. Goldsmith—Vicar of Wakefield.

Ch. XIII.

Man, wretched man, whene'er he stoops to

sin,

Feels, with the act, a strong remorse within. q. Juvenal—Satires. Satire XIII. L. 1. Wm. Gifford's trans.

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.
r. Milton—Comas. L. 381.


Let his tormentor conscience find him out.
s. Milton—Paradise Regained. Bk. IV.


L. 130.

Now conscience wakes despair That slumber'd, wakes the bitter memory Of what he was, what is, and what must be Worse; of worse deeds worse sufferings must

ensue! t. Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. IV.

L. 23.

0 Conscience, into what abyss of fears

And horrors hast thou driven me, out of which

1 find no way, from deep todeeper plunged. u. Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. X.

L. 842.

Whom conscience, ne'er asleep, Wounds with incessant strokes, not loud, but

deep.

v. Montaigne—Essays. Bk. II. Ch. V. Of Conscience.

As the mind of each man is conscious of good or evil, so does he conceive within his breast hope or fear, according to his actions.

10. Ovid—Fatti. Bk. I. 476-601.

Riley's trans.