He who freely praises what he means to purchase, and he who enumerates the faults of what he has to sell, may set up a partnership with honesty. Lavater. A mind that is conscious of its integrity, scorns to say more than it means to perform. Burns. Honest men Are the soft, easy cushions on which knaves Repose and fatten. An honest soul is like a ship at sea, Otway. That sleeps at anchor upon the occasion's calm ; But when it rages, and the winds blow high, She cuts her way with skill and majesty. HYPOCRISY. Beaumont and Fletcher. We are oft to blame in this, "Tis too much proved, that, with devotion's visage, And pious action, we do sugar o'er The devil himself. Shakespeare. An evil soul, producing holy witness, Shakespeare. A hypocrite is an enemy to mankind, for his ugly mask teaches man to mistrust his fellow. Deceit, in a woman, too, is not only a wrong done to her immediate victim, but it is a flagrant injury to the sex generally. Gravity is the best cloak for sin, in all countries. 66 Fielding. Despise the craft of hypocrisy, remain firm in virtue, and yet cultivate that universal complacency and good-will, which is the offspring of good sense, principle, and humanity." "Hypocrisy having once usurped the place of religion, no gentle remedy will ever be able to extirpate it." Who dares think one thing, and another tell, "Homer's Iliad." They Can pray upon occasion, talk of heaven, Otway. When Christ is in court, and religion in fashion, then the hypocrite will put on some fits 66 of diligence. Oh, what will not a hypocritical Jehu do, when there is a crown to be had for following Christ and religion! "O come, then, and see my religion, and zeal for the Lord of hosts." But bring Christ to the hall of Caiaphas, then will he soon quit him, and scatter religion. Gray. HASTINESS. Do not accuse a man for what he utters in affliction. Maimonides. HONOUR. "If a man brags about honour, talks of how thoroughly he is possessed by this noble feeling, and what respect is due to the possessors of it, be sure he possesses little of it. Virtues that some know they can never attain truly, are often praised by these persons the higher, that knowing it to be an impossibility that they possess them, they may at least appear both to have, and to appreciate them.” Better it were, a brother died at once, Shakespeare. For 'tis the mind that makes the body rich; And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds, So honour peereth in the meanest habit. What is the jay more precious than the lark, Because his feathers are more beautiful? Shakespeare. Mine honour keeps the weather of my fate; Life every man holds dear; but the dear man Holds honour far more precious-dear than. Shakespeare. In man, the continued pursuit of honour and the belief that his labours will, at a certain point, be rewarded with success, much resembles a donkey, that having a carrot held before his nose, allows himself thus to be drawn along, always imagining that he will be in possession of the luxury immediately. Kendall. What need I be so forward with him that calls not on me? Well, 'tis no matter; honour pricks me on. Yes, but how if honour prick me off when I come on? how then? Can honour set a leg? No. Or an arm? No. Or take away the grief of a wound? No. Honour hath no skill in surgery, then? No. What is honour? A word. What is in that word honour? Air. A trim reckoning!—Who hath it? He that died o' Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No. Doth he hear it? No. Is it insensible, then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it:-therefore I'll none of it: honour is a mere scutcheon; and so ends my catechism. Shakespeare. No man to offend Ne'er to reveal the secrets of a friend; Massinger. Honour is Virtue's allow'd accent; honour that clasps HOPE. Massinger. The miserable have no other medicine, but only hope. Shakespeare. I will despair, and be at enmity |