Saturday, May 16, 2009

Quotations on Contemplation

Let Joy or Ease, let Affluence or Content,
And the gay Conscience of a life well spent,
Calm ev'ry thought, inspirit ev'ry grace,
Glow in thy heart, and smile upon thy face.
a. Pope— To Mrs. M. B., on her Birthday.


One self-approving hour whole years outweighs

Of stupid starers and of loud huzzas. 6. Pope—Essay on Man. Ep. IV.

L. 255.

Some scruple rose, but thus he eas'd his

thought,

" I'll now give sixpence where I gave a groat; Where once I went to church, I'll now go

twice— And am so clear too of all other vice."

c. Pots—Moral Essays. Ep. III. L. 365.

True, conscious Honour is to feel no sin,
He's arm'd without that's innocent within ;
Be this thy screen, and this thy wall of Brass.


d. Pope—First Book of Horace.

Ep. I. L. 93.

What Conscience dictates to be done,

Or warns me not to do ;
This teach me more than Hell to shun,


That more than Heav'n pursue.

e. Pope—Universal Prayer.

But there is a higher law than the Constitution. /. Wm. H. Sewakd—Speech. March 11,

1850.

Ah, what a sign it is of evil life,
Where death's approach is seen so terrible!
g. Henry VI. Pt. II. Act III. Sc. 3.


L. 5.

Better be with the dead. Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to

peace,

Than on the torture of the mind to lie
In restless ecstacy.
h. Macbeth. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 19.


Conscience is but a word that cowards use,
Devised at first to keep the strong in awe.


f. Richard III. ActV. Sc. 3. L. 309.

I hate the murderer, love him murdered.
The guilt of conscience take thou for thy


labour, But neither my good word nor princely

favour:

With Cain go wander through shades of night,
And never show thy head by day nor light.
j. Richard II. ActV. Sc. 6. L. 40.


I know myself now ; and I feel within me
A peace above all earthly dignities;
A still and quiet conscience.
4. Henry VIII. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 377.


I know thou art religious, And hast a thing within thee called conscience,

With twenty popish tricks and ceremonies,

Which I have seen thee careful to observe.

1. Titus Andronictu. Act V. Sc. 1.

L. 75.

My conscience hath a thousand several

tongues.

A nd every tongue brings in a several tale, And every tale condemns me for a villain, m. Richard III. Act V. Sc. 3. L. 193.

Now, if you can blush and cry " guilty," cardinal,

You'll show a little honesty. n. Henry VIII. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 306.

Soft, I did but dream.

0 coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!

0. Richard III. Act V. Sc. 3. L. 179.

The worm of conscience still begnaw thy

soul! Thy friends suspect for traitors while thou

liv'st,

And take deep traitors for thy dearest friends ! p. Richard III. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 222.

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought.
q. Hamlet. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 83.


'Tis a blushing shamefast spirit that mutinies in a man's bosom; it fills one full of obstacles.

r. Richard III. Act I. Sc. 4. L. 141.

Unnatural deeds

Do breed unnatural troubles : infected mi mis To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets.

1. Macbeth. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 79.

Trust that man in nothing who has not a Conscience in everything.

t. Sterne— Tristram Shandy. Bk. II.

Ch. XVII.

Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called Conscience. «. George Washington—Moral Maxims. Virtue and Vice. Conscience.

Men who can hear the Decalogue and feel
No self-reproach,
ti. Wordsworth— The Old Cumberland


Beggar. L. 136. CONSIDERATION.

CONSPIRACY.

107

CONSIDERATION.

A stirring dwarf we do allowance give Before a sleeping giant, a. Truilus and Crestida. Act II. Sc. 3.

L. 146.

Consideration, like an angel came
And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him,
Leaving his body as a paradise,
To envelope and contain celestial spirits.
6. Henry V. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 28.


Fathers that wear rags

Do make their children blind; But fathers that bear bags

Shall see their children kind.

e. King Lear. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 48.

Let me have audience for a word or two.

d. As You Lite It. ActV. Sc.4. L.157.

The lustre in your eye, heaven in your cheek, Pleads your fair usage.

e. Troilui and Crasida. Act IV. Sc. 4.

L. 120.

What you have said I will consider; what you have to say I will with patience hear, and find a time Both meet to hear and answer such high

things. /. Julius Cxiar. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 168.

CONSISTENCY.

Of right and wrong he taught Truths as refin'd as ever Athens heard ; And (strange to tell) he practis'd what he

preach'd. g. John Armstrong—Art of Preserving

Health. Bk. IV. L. 302.

Tush! tush! my lassie, such thoughts resigne.
Comparisons are cruele:
Fine pictures suit in frames as fine,
Consistencie's a Jewell.
For thee and me coarse cloathes are best,
Rude folks in homelye raiment drest,
Wife Joan and goodman Robin.
A. Jolly Robyn-Roughhead. Author


unknown.

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.

i. Emerson—Essays. Self-Reliance.

With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. * Speak what you think to-day in words as hard as cannon balls, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict everything you said to-day.

j. Emerson'—Essays. Self-Reliance.

Gineral C. is a dreffle smart man:
He's been on all sides that give places or


pelf;

But consistency still wuz a part of his plan;
He's been true to one party, and that is, him-
self;—
So John P.
Robinson, he


Sez he shall vote for Gineral C.
k. Lowell—The Biglow Papert.


Series I. No. 3.

CONSOLATION.

Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes, and Adversity is not without comforts and hopes.

I. Bacon—Of Adversity.

All are not taken! there are left behind
Living Beloveds, tender looks to bring,
And make the daylight still a happy thing,
And tender voices, to make soft the wind.
m. E. B. Browning—Consolation.


The drying up a single tear has more
Of honest fame, than shedding seas of gore.
n. Bybon—Don Juan. Canto VIII. St. 3.


God has commanded time to console the af-
flicted.
o. Joseph Joubert—Thoughts. Ch. V.


Sprinkled along the waste of years
Full many a soft green isle appears:
Pause where we may upon the desert road,
Some shelter is in sight, some sacred safe


abode.

p. Kmis—Tht Christian Year. The First Sunday in Advent. St. 8.

And empty heads console with empty sound. q. Ports—The Dunciad. Bk. IV. L. 542.

For grief is crowned with consolation; r. Antony and Cleopatra. Act I. Sc. 2.

L. 173.

I will be gone:

That pitiful rumour may report my flight, To consolate thine ear. s. AlFs Well That Ends Well. Act III.

Sc. 2. L. 129.

For all things are less dreadful than they

seem.

t. Wordsworth—Ecclesiastical Sonnets.

Recovery.

CONSPIRACY,

Conspiracies no sooner should be formed
Than executed.
u. Addison—Cato. Act I. Sc. 2.


108

CONSPIRACY.

CONTEMPLATION.

I had forgot that foul conspiracy
Of the beast Caliban, and his confederates
Against my life,
a. Tempest. Act IV. Sc. 1. L. 139.


O conspiracy, Sham'st thou to show thy dang'runs brow by

night,

When evils are most free?
6. Julius Caaar. Act n. Sc. 1. L. 76.


Open-eye conspiracy
His time doth take.


c. Tempest. Act II. Be. 1. Song.

L. 301.

Take no care Who chafes, who frets; and where conspirers

are: Macbeth shall never vanquished be.

d. Macbeth. Act IV. Sc. 1. L. 89.

Thou dost conspire against thy friend, lago,
If thou but think'st him wrong'd and mak'st


his ear
A stranger to thy thoughts.


e. Othello. Act III. Sc. 3. L. 142.

CONSTANCY.

Through perils both of wind and limb, Through thick and thin she follow'd him. /. Butler— Hudibras. Ft. I. Canto II.

L. 369.

True as the dial to the sun, Although it be not shined upon. g. Butler—Hudibras. Pt. III. Canto II.

L. 175.

Only a sweet and virtuous soul, Like seasoned timber, never gives. h. Herbert—Virtue.

'Tis often constancy to change the mind,
i. Hoole—Metastasia. Sieves.


Changeless march the stars above,
Changeless morn succeeds to even ;
And the everlasting hills,
Changeless watch the changeless heaven.
j. Charles Kinobley—Saint's Tragedy.
Act II. Sc. 2.


Be true to your word and your work and your friend. *. John Boyle O' Reilly—Rules of the

Road.

Abra was ready ere I call'd her name; And, though I call'd another, Abra came. 1. Prior—Solomon on the Vanity of the

World. Bk. H. L. 364.

He that parts us shall bring a brand from

heaven,

And fire us hence like foxes.
m. King Lear. Act V. Sc. 3. L. 22.


I could be well moved if I were as you;

If I could pray to move, prayers would move

me;

But I am constant as the northern star,
Of whose true fix'd and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.
n. Julius Ccesar. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 58.


If ever thou shalt love,
In the sweet pangs of it remember me;
For such as I am all true lovers are,
Unstaid and skittish in all motions else,
Save in the constant image of the creature
That is belov'd.
o. Twelfth Ifight. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 15.


I would have men of such constancy put to sea. that their business might be everything and their intent everywhere ; for that's it that always makes a good voyage of nothing.

p. Twelfth Night. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 77.

Now from head to foot

I am marble-constant: now the fleeting moon No planet is of mine.

g. Antony and Cleopatra. ActV. Sc. 2.

L. 238.

0 constancy, be strong upon my side,

Set a huge mountain 'tween my heart and tongue!

1 have a man's mind, but a woman's might. r. Julius Caesar. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 7.

O heaven! were man

But constant, he were perfect. That one error Fills him with faults; makes him run through

all the sins:

Inconstancy falls off ere it begins.
s. Two Gentlemen of Verona. Act V.


Sc. 4. L. 109.

Whose worth's unknown, although his height

be taken. Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and

cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come; Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom. (. Sonnet CXVI.

Out upon it 1 I have loy'd

Three whole days together; And am like to love three more,

If it prove fair weather.

it. Sir John Suckling—Constancy.

CONTEMPLATION.

The act of contemplation then creates the thing contemplated. v. Isaac Disraeli—Literary Character.

Ch. XII. CONTEMPLATION.

CONTENT.

109

But first and chiefest, with thce bring
Him that yon soars on golden wing,
Guiding the fiery-wheeled throne,
The Cherub Contemplation.


a. Milton—II Penseroso. L. 51.

In discourse more sweet, (For Eloquence the Soul, Song charms the

sense,)

Others apart sat on a hill retir'd,
In thoughts more elevate, and reasoned high
Of Providence, Foreknowledge, Will and Fate,
Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute;
And found no end, in wand'ring mazes lost.


b. Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. II.

L. 555.

Contemplation makes a rare turkey-cock of him : how he jets under his advanced plumes.

c. Twelfth Night. Act II. Sc. 6. L. 35.

When holy and devout religious men

Are at their beads, 'tis hard to draw them

thence; So sweet is zealous contemplation.

d. Richard III. Act III. Sc. 7. L. 92.

CONTEMPT.

Go—let thy less than woman's hand
Assume the distaft:—not the brand.
«. Byeon—Bride of Abydos. Canto I.


St. 4.

So let him stand, through ages yet unborn,
Fix'd statue on the pedestal of Scorn.
/. Byeon—Curse of Minerva. L. 206.


There was a laughing Devil in his sneer,
That raised emotions both of rage and fear.
g. Bybon— The Corsair. Canto I. St. 9.


I find my familiarity with thee has bred contempt. h. Cervantes— Don Quixote. Pt. I.

Bk. III. Ch. VI.

We shall find no fiend in hell can match the fury of a disappointed woman,—scorn'd! slighted! dismiss'd without a parting pang.

i. Colley Cibbkb—Love's Last Shift.

Act IV. Sc. 1.

When they talk'd of their Raphaels, Cor-

reggios, and stuff,

He shiftecl his trumpet, and only took snuff. /. Gsldsmith—Retaliation. L. 145.

He hears

On all sides, from innumerable tongues
A dismal universal hiss, the sound
Of public scorn.
k. Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. X.


L. 506. Who can refute a sneer?

I. Paliy—Moral Philosophy. Of

Reverencing the Deity. Bk. V.
Ch. IX.


Grown all to all, from no one vice exempt, And most contemptible to shun contempt, m. Pope— Moral Essays. Pt. III. L. 21.

Becomes it thee to taunt his valiant age And twit with cowardice a man half dead ? n. Henry VI. Pt. I. Act III. Sc. 2.

L. 55.

But, alas! to make me
A fixed figure for the time of scorn
To point his slow unmoving finger at!
o. Othello. Act IV. Sc. 2. L. 53.


Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, yet you cannot play upon me. p. Hamlet. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 378.

He talks to me that never had a son.
q. King John. Act III. Sc. 4. L. 91.


I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon,
Than such a Roman.
r. Julius Csssar. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 27.


I had rather chop this hand off at a blow,
And with the other fling it at thy face,
Than bear so low a sail, to strike to thee.
s. Henry VI. Pt. III. Act V. Sc. 1.


L. 49,

O, what a deal of scorn looks beautiful
In the contempt and anger of his lip!


t. Twelfth Night. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 156.

CONTENT.

Content thyself to be obscurely good.

When vice prevails and impious men beai

away.

The post of honor is a private station.
u. Addison—Cato. Act IV. Sc. 4.


Ten poor men sleep in peace on one straw

heap, as Saadi sings, But the immensest empire is too narrow foi

two kings. v. Wm. K. Aloer—Oriental Poetry.

Elbow Room

Ah, sweet Content, where doth thine harbouj

hold? w. Babnabe Barnes—Parthenophil and

Parthenophe.

Happy am I; from care I'm free!
Why aren't they all contented like me?
x. Opera of La Bayadere.


From labour health, from health contentmenl

spring;

Contentment opes the source of every joy. y. James Beattik—The Minstrel. Bk. 1.

St. 13. 110

CONTENT.

CONTENT.

In Paris a queer little man you may see,

A little man all in gray; Rosy and round as an apple is he. Content with the present whate'erit may be, While from care and from cash he is equally

free,

And merry both night and day! "Ma foi! I laugh at the world," says he, " I laugh at the world, and the world laughs

at me!"

What a gay little man in gray, a. Beranger—The Mule Man all in Gray. Trans, by Amelia B. Edwards.

There was a jolly miller once,

Lived on the River Dee;
He worked and sang, from morn to night;


No lark so blithe as he.
And this the burden of his song,


Forever used to be,—
" I care for nobody, not I,


If no one cares for me."

6. Bickerstaff—Love in a Village.

Act I. Sc. 5.

Some things are of that nature as to make One's fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache.

c. Bunyan—The Author's Way of Sending

Forth his Second Part of the Pilgrim.
L. 126.


Contented wi' little, and cantic wi' mair

d. Burns—Contented wf Little. I'll be merry and free,

I'll be sad for nae-body; If nae-body cares for me, I'll care for nae-body.

e. Burhs—Nae-body.

With more of thanks and less of thought,
I strive to make my matters meet;


To seek what ancient sages sought,
Physic and food in sour and sweet,


To take what passes in good part,

And keep the hiccups from the heart. /. John Byrom—Careless Content.

I would do what I pleased, and doing what I pleased, I should have my will, and having my will, I should be contented; and when one is contented, there is no more to be desired; and when there is no more to be desired, there is an end of it.

g. Cervantes—Don Quixote. Pt. I.

Bk. IV. Ch. XXIII.

Therefore all seasons shall be sweet to tbee,
Whether the summer clothe the general earth
With greenness, or the redbreast sit and sing
Betwixt the tufts of snow on the bare branch
Of mossy apple-tree, while the nigh thatch
Smokes in the sunthaw; whether the eve-
drops fall,


Heard only in the trances of the blast,
Or if the secret ministry of frost
Shall hang them up in silent icicles,
Quietly shining to the quiet moon.


A. Coleridge—Frost at Midnight.

We'll therefore relish with content,
Whate'er kind Providence has sent.


Nor aim beyond our pow'r;
For, if our stock be very small,
'Tis prudent to enjoy it all,


Nor lose the present hour.

t. Nathaniel Cotton—Ihe Fireside.

St. 10.

Enjoy the present hour, be thankful for the

past, And neither fear nor wish th' approaches of

the last.

j. Cowley—Imitations. Martial. Lib.X.

Ep. XLVII.

'Tis pleasant, through the loopholes of retreat,
To peep at such a world; to see the stir
Of the Great Babel, and not feel the crowd.
*. Cowper— The Task. Bk. IV. L. 88.


Content with poverty, my soul I arm ;

And virtue, though in rags, will keep me

warm. 1. Drypen—Third Book of Horace. Odc29.

He trudged along, unknowing what he sought.

And whistled as he went, for want of thought.

m. Dryden—Cymon and Iphigenia. L. 84.

Since every man who lives is born to die,
And none can boast sincere felicity,
With equal mind, what happens let us bear,
Nor joy nor grieve too much for things beyond


our care.

Like pilgrims, to th' appointed place we tend; The world's an inn, and death the journey's

end.

n. Dryden—Palamon and Arcite. Bk.III.

L. 2.159.

Map me no maps, sir; my head is a map, a

map of the whole world. o. Fielding—Rape upon Rape. Act.I.

Sc.5.

Give me, kind Heaven, a private station,
A mind serene for contemplation:
Title and profit I resign;
The post of honour shall be mine.
p. Gay—Fables. Pt, II. The Vulture,


the Sparrow and other Birdf.

What happiness the rural maid attends,
In cheerful labour while each day she spends!
She gratefully receives what Heav'n has sent.
And, rich in poverty, enjoys content.
q. Gay—Rural Sports. Canto II. L. 148.


Man wants but little here below,
Nor wants that little long.
r. Goldsmith— The Hermit. St. 8.


Their wants but few, their wishes all confin'd. s. Goldsmith— The Traveller. L. 210.

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