Laconics; or, Good words of the best authors. Collated by W. Tegg

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William Tegg
1876

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Page 67 - It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes : 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest : it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown ; His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and...
Page 120 - For the Lord hath chosen Zion ; he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for ever ; here will I dwell ; for I have desired it.
Page 70 - ... into a love of the things themselves. For which cause there is nothing more contagious and pestilent than some kinds of harmony ; than some nothing more strong and potent unto good. And that there is such a difference of one kind from another we need no proof but our own experience, inasmuch as we are at the hearing of some more inclined unto sorrow and heaviness ; of some, more mollified and softened in mind ; one kind apter to stay and settle us, another to move and stir our affections ; there...
Page 75 - General observations drawn from particulars are the jewels of knowledge, comprehending great store in a little room; but they are therefore to be made with the greater care and caution, lest if we take counterfeit for true our loss and shame be the greater when our stock comes to a severe scrutiny.
Page 57 - The truth of it is, that a man in much business must either make himself a knave, or else the world will make him a fool...
Page 105 - To be attached to the subdivision, to love the little platoon we belong to in society, is the first principle (the germ as it were) of publick affections.
Page 12 - ... a mind full of ideas, will be apt in speaking to hesitate upon the choice of both; whereas common speakers have only one set of ideas, and one set of words to clothe them in, and these are always ready at the mouth ; so people come faster out of a church when it is almost empty than when a crowd is at the door.
Page 119 - No prophet bards, thy glittering courts among, Wake the full lyre, and swell the tide of song : But lawless force, and meagre want are there, And the quick-darting eye of restless fear, While cold oblivion, 'mid thy ruins laid, Folds his dank wing beneath the ivy shade.
Page 31 - Equity is a roguish thing ; for law we have a measure, know what to trust to ; equity is according to the conscience of him that is Chancellor, and as that is larger or narrower, so is equity. 'Tis all one as if they should make the standard for the measure we call a foot...
Page 24 - Difficulty is a severe instructor, set over us by the supreme ordinance of a parental Guardian and Legislator, who knows us better than we know ourselves, as he loves us better too. Pater ipse colendi hand facilem esse viam voluit. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.

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