A WISE man is a great monarch; he hath an empire within himself; reason commands in chief, and possesses the throne and scepter. All his possessions, like obedient subjects, do obey; though the territories seem but small and narrow, yet the command and royalty are great, and reach further than he who wears the moon for a crest, or the other who wears the sun for a helmet. He who commands himself, commands the world too; and the more authority you have over others, the more command you must have over yourself.
Conquer your passions; it will be more glorious for you to triumph over your own heart than it would be to take a city. Defile not your mouth with swearing; neither use yourself to naming the Holy One. Obviate the first motion of passion; if you cannot resist the first, you will far less resist the second, and it still grows worse and worse, for the same difficulty which in the beginning might have been surmounted, is great in the end.
Quietness and peace flourish where reason and justice govern; and true joy reigneth where modesty directeth. Restrain yourself from being too fiery and flaming in matter of argument. Truth often suffers more from the heat of its defenders than from the arguments of its opposers. And nothing does reason more right than the coolness of those that offer it.
The love of God and the world are two different things; if the love of this world dwell in you, the love of God forsakes you; renounce that and receive this; it is fit the more noble have the best place and acceptance.
Vex not yourself when evil spoken of. Contumelies when not regarded, vanish; but repined at, argue either a puny soul, or a guilty conscience. The best answer to a slander, is to answer nothing; and so to carry it, as though the adversary were rather to be despised than minded.
The stories of our neighbors' errors tend but little to the reformation of our own. To be covetous of applause is a weakness, and self-conceit is the ordinary attendant of ignorance.
No man is contented with his situation though it be the best, nor dissatisfied with his wit though it be the worst.
It is the part of fools to be too sagacious in seeing the faults of other men, and to be too ignorant of their own. They that reprove others are sometimes guilty of pride; but they that amend their own lives, will more easily persuade their fellows.
The Holy Spirit is an antidote against seven poisons; it is wisdom against folly, quickness of apprehension against dullness, faithfulness of memory against forgetfulness, fortitude against fear, knowledge against ignorance, piety against profaneness, and humility against pride.
Vice creeps upon men under the name of virtue; for covetousness would be called frugality, and prodigality taketh to itself the name of bounty; pride calleth itself neatness, revenge seems like greatness of spirit, and cruelty exercised bitterness under the name of courage. We soil the splendor of our most beautiful actions by our vainglorious magnifying them.
Those whose virtue restrains from deceiving others are often disposed by their vanity to deceive themselves. Knowledge and learning, riches and honor, even in their most resplendent gallantry, are all but insignificant pageantry, without piety and virtue. It is an argument of a truly brave disposition in a learned man, not to assume the name and character of one. True philosophy, says Plato, consists more in fidelity, constancy, justice, sincerity, and in the love of our duty, than in great capacity.
Rectitude of will is a greater ornament and perfection, than brightness of understanding; and to be divinely good, more valuable than any other wisdom and knowledge. A good man will see his duty with only a moderate share of casuistical skill; but into a perverse heart this sort of wisdom enters not. Were men as much in fear of sin as they are of danger, there could be few occasions of consulting our casuists.
The highest of all philosophy, both natural and moral is to know thyself; and the end of this knowledge is to know God. Prefer the private approbation of the wise and good, to the acclamation of the multitude. He that is not content in any state, will be content in no state; for the fault is not in the thing but in the mind. The foundation of content must spring up in a man's own mind: and he who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition, will waste his life in fruitless efforts, and multiply griefs which he purposes to remove. To be humble to superiors is a duty, to equals courtesy, to inferiors nobleness, to all—safety—fortune may begin a man's greatness, but it is virtue continues it.
Contentment is the truest riches, and covetousness the greatest poverty. He is not rich that has much, but he that has enough. That man is poor that covets more, and yet wants a heart to enjoy what he already has.
We can never be perfectly humble, till we come to a thorough knowledge of ourselves.
The proper business of friendship is to inspire life and courage; and a soul thus supported outdoes itself; whereas if it be unexpectedly deprived of these succors, it droops and languishes. Being sometimes asunder heightens friendship. The greatest cause of the frequent quarrels between relations is their being much together. Among the many enemies of friendship, may be reckoned suspicion and distrust: the former is always hardening the cautious and the latter repelling the delicate.