The romance of biography

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Page 270 - Herostratus lives that burnt the temple of Diana, he is almost lost that built it; time hath spared the epitaph of Adrian's horse, confounded that of himself. In vain we compute our felicities by the advantage of our good names, since bad have equal durations; and Thersites is like to live as long as Agamemnon.
Page 360 - ... passage in a ship bound for America, and, at the same time, paid the captain for my freight and all the other expenses of my voyage. But it so happened that the wind did not answer for three weeks ; and you know, mother, that I could not command the elements. My misfortune was, that, when the wind served, I happened to be with a party in the country, and my friend, the captain, never inquired after me, but set sail with as much indifference as if I had been on board.
Page 270 - But man is a noble animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the grave, solemnizing nativities and deaths with equal lustre, nor omitting ceremonies of bravery in the infamy of his nature.
Page 373 - Of the blessings set before you make your choice, and be content. No man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of the spring : no man can, at the same time, fill his cup from the source and from the mouth of the Nile.
Page 10 - What we commonly call man, the eating, drinking, planting, counting man, does not, as we know him, represent himself, but misrepresents himself. Him we do not respect, but the soul, whose organ he is, would he let it appear through his action, would make our knees bend.
Page 43 - What a career !' exclaimed the stranger; rising from his chair and walking up and down the room ; ' the secret sway of Europe ! That was indeed a position ! But it is needless to multiply instances ! The history of Heroes is the history of Youth.
Page 10 - All goes to show that the soul in man is not an organ, but animates and exercises all the organs; is not a function, like the power of memory, of calculation, of comparison, but uses these as hands and feet; is not a faculty, but a light; is not the intellect or the will, but the master of the intellect and the will ; is the background of our being, in which they lie, — an immensity not possessed and that cannot be possessed.
Page 270 - Who knows whether the best of men be known, or whether there be not more remarkable persons forgot, than any that stand remembered in the known account of time?
Page 276 - No. Let us save ourselves, then. All else was swallowed up in one grand ruin. ' To make the best of our misfortune, we availed ourselves of the light from the ship to steer a tolerably good course towards the shore. She continued to burn till about midnight, when the saltpetre...
Page 228 - You have nothing to give me. If I undertake your cause and lose' it, it will bring me into disgrace', as all the wealth and evidence' are on your brother's

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