Essays: First SeriesD. McKay, 1888 - 396 pages |
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Page 10
... the triumphs of will , or of genius , anywhere lose our ear , any- where make us feel that we intrude , that this is for our betters , but rather is it true that in their grandest strokes , there we feel most at home 10 ESSAY I.
... the triumphs of will , or of genius , anywhere lose our ear , any- where make us feel that we intrude , that this is for our betters , but rather is it true that in their grandest strokes , there we feel most at home 10 ESSAY I.
Page 11
... true of himself . We sympathize in the great moments of history , in the great dis- coveries , the great resistances , the great pros- perities of men ; -because there law was en- acted , the sea was searched , the land was found , or ...
... true of himself . We sympathize in the great moments of history , in the great dis- coveries , the great resistances , the great pros- perities of men ; -because there law was en- acted , the sea was searched , the land was found , or ...
Page 23
... true poem is the poet's mind ; the true ship is the ship - builder . In the man , could we lay him open , we should see the sufficient reason for the last flourish and tendril of his work , as every spine and tint in the sea - shell pre ...
... true poem is the poet's mind ; the true ship is the ship - builder . In the man , could we lay him open , we should see the sufficient reason for the last flourish and tendril of his work , as every spine and tint in the sea - shell pre ...
Page 27
... true , and Biography deep and sublime . As the Persian imitated in the slender shafts and capi- tals of his architecture the stem and flower of the lotus and palm , so the Persian Court in its magnificent era never gave over the ...
... true , and Biography deep and sublime . As the Persian imitated in the slender shafts and capi- tals of his architecture the stem and flower of the lotus and palm , so the Persian Court in its magnificent era never gave over the ...
Page 36
... true for one and true for all . His own secret biog- raphy he finds in lines wonderfully intelligible to him , yet dotted down before he was born . One after another he comes up in his private adventures with every fable of Æsop , of ...
... true for one and true for all . His own secret biog- raphy he finds in lines wonderfully intelligible to him , yet dotted down before he was born . One after another he comes up in his private adventures with every fable of Æsop , of ...
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Common terms and phrases
action affection appear beautiful soul beauty becomes behold better black event Bonduca Cæsar Calvinistic character child circle conversation divine doctrine Egypt Epaminondas eternal evanescent fact fear feel friendship genius gifts give Greek hand heart heaven Heraclitus heroism hour human instinct intel intellect less light live look lose man's marriage ment mind moral nature ness never noble object OVER-SOUL painted pass perception perfect persons Petrarch Phidias Phocion Pindar Plato Plotinus Plutarch poet poetry proverb prudence Pyrrhonism relations religion Rome sculpture secret seek seems seen sense sensual Shakspeare society Socrates Sophocles soul speak Spinoza spirit stand stoicism sweet talent teach thee things thou thought tion to-day true truth ture universal virtue whilst whole wisdom wise words Xenophon youth
Popular passages
Page 64 - A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.
Page 52 - There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance ; that imitation is suicide ; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion ; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till.
Page 52 - A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.
Page 75 - These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are ; they exist with God to-day. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose ; it is perfect in every moment of its existence.
Page 128 - Some damning circumstance always transpires. The laws and substances of nature water, snow, wind, gravitation - become penalties to the thief. On the other hand, the law holds with equal sureness for all right action. Love, and you shall be loved. All love is mathematically just, as much as the two sides of an algebraic equation.
Page 78 - Why, then, do we prate of self-reliance ? Inasmuch as the soul is present, there will be power not confident but agent. To talk of reliance is a poor external way of speaking. Speak rather of that which relies, because it works and is.
Page 121 - As no man had ever a point of pride that was not injurious to him, so no man had ever a defect that was not somewhere made useful to him. The stag in the fable admired his horns and blamed his feet, but when the hunter came, his feet saved him, and afterwards, caught in the thicket, his horns destroyed him.
Page 60 - What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it.
Page 53 - Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events.
Page 81 - O father, O mother, O wife, O brother, O friend, I have lived with you after appearances hitherto. Henceforward I am the truth's. Be it known unto you that henceforward I obey no law less than the eternal law.