Wisdom, Wit, and Allegory. Selected from "The Spectator" |
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Page 97
... fame is easily lost , and as difficult to be preserved as it was at first to be acquired . There are many passions and tempers of mind which naturally dispose us to depress and vilify the merit of one rising in the esteem of mankind ...
... fame is easily lost , and as difficult to be preserved as it was at first to be acquired . There are many passions and tempers of mind which naturally dispose us to depress and vilify the merit of one rising in the esteem of mankind ...
Page 99
... fame , naturally betrays us into such slips and unwarinesses as are not incident to men of a contrary disposition . After all , it must be confessed , that a noble and trium- phant merit often breaks through and dissipates these little ...
... fame , naturally betrays us into such slips and unwarinesses as are not incident to men of a contrary disposition . After all , it must be confessed , that a noble and trium- phant merit often breaks through and dissipates these little ...
Page 100
... fame in life and motion . For when it is once at a stand , it natur- ally flags and languishes . Admiration is a very short - lived passion , that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object , unless it be still fed with ...
... fame in life and motion . For when it is once at a stand , it natur- ally flags and languishes . Admiration is a very short - lived passion , that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object , unless it be still fed with ...
Page 101
... fame is a good so wholly foreign to our natures , that we have no faculty in the soul adapted to it , nor any organ in the body to relish it- an object of desire , placed out of the possibility of fruition . It may , indeed , fill the ...
... fame is a good so wholly foreign to our natures , that we have no faculty in the soul adapted to it , nor any organ in the body to relish it- an object of desire , placed out of the possibility of fruition . It may , indeed , fill the ...
Page 102
... fame makes him hate reproach . If he can be transported with the extraordinary praises of men , he will be as much dejected by their censures . How little , there- fore , is the happiness of an ambitious man , who gives every one a ...
... fame makes him hate reproach . If he can be transported with the extraordinary praises of men , he will be as much dejected by their censures . How little , there- fore , is the happiness of an ambitious man , who gives every one a ...
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Common terms and phrases
acrostic actions admiration advantage Æneid agreeable ALLEGORY ambition animal appear atheist Avarice beautiful bewitching black tower body burlesque cast character cheerfulness Cicero colours consider conversation creatures delight desire discourse discover Divine drachmas endeavour entertaining evil fable fame fancy filled folly friends genius give greater hand happy heart heaven HESIOD honour human nature ideas Iliad imagination infinitely Jupiter kind laugh laughter live look mankind manner mentioned mind Mirth never notion objects observed occasion ourselves Ovid pain particular passions perfection perpetual person philosopher Pindar Plato pleasing pleasure Plutus poet poverty present proper raise reader reason receive reflect religion reputation ridicule says secret sense shew short sider sight Sir Francis Bacon Sir Roger l'Estrange Socrates soul species temper things thou thought tion truth turn vanity vice Virgil virtue virtuous whole wisdom words writing Xenophon
Popular passages
Page 201 - HOW are thy servants blest, O Lord, How sure is their defence ! Eternal wisdom is their guide, Their help, omnipotence.
Page 263 - OUR sight is the most perfect and most delightful of all our senses. It fills the mind with the largest variety of ideas, converses with its objects at the greatest distance, and continues the longest in action, without being tired or satiated with its proper enjoyments.
Page 66 - When all thy mercies, O my God, My rising soul surveys; Transported with the view, I'm lost In wonder, love, and praise.
Page 213 - Others apart sat on a hill retired, In thoughts more elevate, and reason'd high Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate, Fix'd fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute, And found no end, in wandering mazes lost.
Page 25 - I ascended the high hills of Bagdat in order to pass the rest of the day in meditation and prayer. As I was here airing myself on the tops of the mountains, I fell into a profound contemplation on the vanity of human life; and, passing from one thought to another, surely, said I, man is but a shadow and life a dream.
Page 210 - Euphrosyne, And by men, heart-easing Mirth, Whom lovely Venus at a birth With two sister Graces more To ivy-crowned Bacchus bore...
Page 200 - They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters ; these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.
Page 116 - I have set the Lord always before me : Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth : My flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell ; Neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life : In thy presence is fulness of joy ; At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
Page 268 - On the contrary, a spacious horizon is an image of liberty, where the eye has room to range abroad, to expatiate at large on the immensity of its views, and to lose itself amidst the variety of objects that offer themselves to its observation.
Page 67 - Ten thousand, thousand precious gifts My daily thanks employ ; Nor is the least a cheerful heart, That tastes those gifts with joy.