Of prudenceDaniel Fanshaw, 1816 - Conduct of life |
Common terms and phrases
absurd advantage advice affairs affected agreeable animalcule appear behaviour better bliging capable character child circumstances conceive conduct consequence consider contempt contrary conversation Cornelius Nepos creature Divine endeavour entertaining error especially evilspeaking existence expect faculties favour folly fortune gentleman give happiness human nature humour improvement infinite ingra innu judgment keep knowledge learning live Livy mankind manner marriage matter means ment mind misery moral nature of things necessary ness never obliged occasion one's opinion parents passion perfect pleasure Plutarch possible proper prudence quire racter rank rational reason rectitude religion rience romantic love ruin scheme sense sider temper thing thought tion trade tremely trifling truth turally understanding unguarded hours unhappy universal utmost vice virtue weak whole wholly wisdom wise woman worth wrong turn young person youth
Popular passages
Page 180 - These are thy glorious Works, Parent of good, Almighty! thine this universal frame, Thus wondrous fair: thyself how wondrous then, Unspeakable! who sitt'st above these heavens To us invisible, or dimly seen In these thy lowest works; yet these declare Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine.
Page 150 - ... that he will seldom be widely out, or miss giving proof of a clear head, and a comprehensive knowledge. At least, this is the only way I know, to give the understanding its due improvement to the full extent of its capacity...
Page 180 - Speak, ye who best can tell, ye sons of light, Angels ! for ye behold him, and with songs And choral symphonies, day without night, Circle his throne rejoicing : ye in heaven, On earth join all ye creatures to extol Him first, him last, him midst, and without end.
Page 36 - There is hardly any bodily blemish, which a winning behaviour will not conceal, or make tolerable ; and there is no external grace, which ill-nature or affectation will not deform. If you mean, to make your...
Page 48 - ... mention of a merchant who, at first setting out, opened and shut his shop every day, for several weeks together, without selling goods to the value of...
Page 133 - Wisdom for promoting virtue and goodness, may yet be so managed as to disgust a young mind, and prejudice it against religion for life; but the latter, properly conducted, will prove an endlessly various entertainment. There is not a duty of morality you can have occasion to inculcate, but what may give an opportunity of raising some entertaining observation, or introducing some amusing history ; and nothing can be more striking than the accounts of supernatural things, of which Holy Scripture is...
Page 35 - If you have seen a man misbehave once, do not from thence conclude him a fool. If you find he has been in a mistake in one particular, do not at once conclude him void of understanding. By that way of judging, you can entertain a favourable opinion of no man upon earth, nor even of yourself. In mixed company, be readier to hear than to speak, and put people upon talking of what is in their own way. For then you will both oblige them, and be most likely to improve by their conversation. • Humanity...
Page 126 - ... means of human knowledge, scanty and confined as it is. The wonders performed by means of reading and writing are so striking, that some learned men have given it as their opinion, that the whole was communicated to mankind originally by some superior being. That by means of the various compositions of about twenty different articulations of the human voice, performed by the assistance of the lungs, the glottis, the tongue, the lips, and the teeth, ideas of all sensible and intelligible objects...
Page 29 - Nothing shows a greater abjectness of spirit, than an overbearing temper appearing in a person's behaviour to inferiors. To insult or abuse those who dare not answer again, is as sure a mark of cowardice, as it would be to attack with a drawn sword a woman or a child. And wherever you see a person given to insult his inferiors you may assure yourself he will creep to his superiors; for the same baseness of mind will lead him to act the part of a bully to those who cannot resist, and of a coward to...
Page 49 - ... be particularly watchful of opportunities. There are times and seasons proper for every purpose of life ; and a very material part of prudence it is to judge rightly of them, and make the best of them. If you have, for example, a favour to ask of a phlegmatic, gloomy man, take him, if you can, over his bottle. If you want to deal with a covetous man, by no means propose your business to him immediately after he has been paying away money, but rather after he has been receiving. If you know a...