Quotes
Quotes about Wit
What you have said I will consider; what you have to say I will with patience hear, and find a time Both meet to hear and answer such high things.
With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. . . . Speak what you think to-day in words as hard as cannon balls, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict everything you said to-day.
Whatever failures I have known, whatever errors I have committed, whatever follies I have witnessed in private and public life have been the consequence of action without thought.
Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.
The Bill of RightsâThe Original Contract With America. Accept no substitutes. Beware of imitations. Insist on the genuine articles.
But first and chiefest, with thee bring Him that yon soars on golden wing, Guiding the fiery-wheeled throne, The Cherub Contemplation.
In Paris a queer little man you may see, A little man all in gray; Rosy and round as an apple is he, Content with the present whate'er it may be, While from care and from cash he is equally free, And merry both night and day! "Ma foi! I laugh at the world," says he, "I laugh at the world, and the world laughs at me!" What a gay little man in gray.
With more of thanks and less of thought, I strive to make my matters meet; To seek what ancient sages sought, Physic and food in sour and sweet, To take what passes in good part, And keep the hiccups from the heart.
In a cottage I live, and the cot of content, Where a few little rooms for ambition too low, Are furnish'd as plain as a patriarch's tent, With all for convenience, but nothing for show: Like Robinson Crusoe's, both peaceful and pleasant, By industry stor'd, like the hive of a bee; And the peer who looks down with contempt on a peasant. Can ne'er be look'd up to with envy by me.
We'll therefore relish with content, Whate'er kind providence has sent, Nor aim beyond our pow'r; For, if our stock be very small, 'Tis prudent to enjoy it all, Nor lose the present hour.
Give what thou canst, without Thee we are poor; And with Thee rich, take what Thou wilt away.
Happy the man, of mortals happiest he, Whose quiet mind from vain desires is free; Whom neither hopes deceive, nor fears torment, But lives at peace, within himself content; In thought, or act, accountable to none But to himself, and to the gods alone.
Let's live with that small pittance which we have; Who covets more is evermore a slave.
Those who want much, are always much in need; happy the man to whom God gives with a sparing hand what is sufficient for his wants. [Lat., Multa petentibus Desunt multa; bene est cui deus obtulit Parca quod satis est manu.]
He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.
So when two dogs are fighting in the streets, When a third dog one of the two dogs meets: With angry teeth he bites him to the bone, And this dog smarts for what that dog has done.
When individuals approach one another with deep purposes on both sides they seldom come at once to the matter which they have most at heart. They dread the electric shock of a too sudden contact with it.
Thus when a barber and collier fight, The barber beats the luckless collier--white; The dusty collier heaves his ponderous sack, And, big with vengeance, beats the barber--black. In comes the brick-dust man, with grime o'er spread, And beats the collier and the barber--red; Black, red, and white, in various clouds are toss'd, And in the dust they raise the combatants are lost.
Be content with your lot; one cannot be first in everything.
Happy the man, and happy he alone, he who can call today his own; he who, secure within, can say, tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.
The contented man can be happy with what appears to be useless.
It is right to be contented with what we have, but never with what we are.
If you can look back on your life with contentment, you have one of man's most precious giftsâa selective memory.
Learn to be pleased with everything; with wealth, so far as it makes us beneficial to others; with poverty, for not having much to care for; and with obscurity, for being unenvied.
What makes us discontented with our condition is the absurdly exaggerated idea we have of the happiness of others.
