Garments will fall to pieces, jewels and gold will lose something of their lustre, but the fame that great poems acquire will last through all time. SENECA (7 B.C.-65 A.D.) The great blessings of mankind are within us, and within our reach; but we shut our eyes, and, like people in the dark, we fall foul upon the very thing we search for, without finding it. I will govern my life and my thoughts as if the whole world were to see the one, and to read the other. Difficulties strengthen the mind, as well as labor does the body. We should give as we receive, cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation; for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers. Let no man presume to give advice to others, that has not first given counsel to himself. Indolence is stagnation, employment is life. PHÆDRUS (20 or 30 A.D.) A poor man who aspires to ape the manners and habits of the rich, is sure to be ruined. JUVENAL (38-119?) Revenge is always the weak pleasure of a little and narrow mind. Yes, know thyself: in great concerns or small, Nature and wisdom never are at strife. PLUTARCH (ABOUT 49-120) Anger turns the mind out of doors, and bolts the entrance. To be ignorant of the lives of the most celebrated men of antiquity, is to continue in a state of childhood all our days. TACITUS (57-118) A bitter jest, when it comes too near the truth, leaves a sharp sting behind it. EPICTETUS (ABOUT 60-117) Fortify yourself with contentment, for this is an impregnable fortress. Every place is safe to him who lives with justice. Hope is the thing most universally enjoyed; for they have it who have nothing else. In prosperity it is very easy to find a friend; in adversity, nothing is so difficult. No one, who is a lover of money, a lover of pleasure, or a lover of glory, is likewise a lover of mankind; but only he who is a lover of virtue. If evil be said of thee, and if it be true, correct thyself; if it be a lie, laugh at it. MARCUS AURELIUS (121-180) Let it make no difference to thee whether thou art cold or warm, if thou art doing thy duty. BASIL (329-379) A good deed is never lost : he who sows courtesy, reaps friendship; and he who plants kindness, gathers love. CLAUDIAN (365-408) The best manners are stained by the addition of pride. MOHAMMED (571?-632) The ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr. ST. SIMEON (390-460) The Golden Age is not behind, but before you. SADI (1189?-1291) To tell a falsehood is like the cut of a sabre; for though the wound may heal, the scar of it will remain. To use the hands in making quicklime into mortar, is better than to cross them on the breast in attendance on a prince. The bad fortune of the good, turns their faces up to heaven; and the good fortune of the bad, bows their heads down to the earth. To have the tongue cut out, and to be seated deaf and dumb in a corner, were preferable to his condition who cannot govern his tongue. The sandal-tree perfumes when riven The axe that laid it low: Let man who hopes to be forgiven DANTE (1265-1321) He who knows most grieves most for wasted time. The wretch that would wish the poetry of life and feeling to be extinct, let him forever dwell in flame, in frost, in ever-during night. GEOFFREY CHAUCER (1328-1400) Be mild to others, to thyself severe, In getting of your riches, and in using of 'em, ye shulen alway have three things in your heart, that is to say, our Lord God, Conscience, and good Name. Truth is the highest thing that man can keep. THOMAS À KEMPIS (1380-1471) THOMAS TUSSER (1523-1580) Who goes a-borrowing, goeth a-sorrowing. MONTAIGNE (1523-1592) It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others. To know by rote is no knowledge: it is only a retention of what is intrusted to the memory. That which a man truly knows may be disposed of without regard to the author, or reference to the book from whence he had it. CERVANTES (1547-1616) Blessings on him who invented sleep, the mantle that covers all human thoughts, the food that |