By one delay after another they spin out their whole lives, till there's no more future left for them.-L'ESTRANGE. Procrastination is the thief of time.-YOUNG. For Yesterday was once To-morrow.-PERSIUS. Never leave that till to-morrow which you can do to-day.-FRANKLIN. Indulge in procrastination, and in time you will come to this, that because a thing ought to be done, therefore you can't do it.-CHARLES BUXTON. Progress. He only is advancing in life whose heart is getting softer, whose blood warmer, whose brain quicker, whose spirit is entering into living peace.-RUSKIN. "Can any good come out of Nazareth?" This is always the question of the wiseacres and the knowing ones. But the good, the new, comes from exactly that quarter whence it is not looked for, and is always something different from what is expected. Everything new is received with contempt, for it begins in obscurity. It becomes a power unobserved.-FEUERBACH. Look up and not down; look forward and not back; look out and not in; and lend a hand.-E. E. HALE. I must do something to keep my thoughts fresh and growing. I dread nothing so much as falling into a rut and feeling myself becoming a fossil.— JAMES A. GARFIELD. Humanity, in the aggregate, is progressing, and philanthropy looks forward hopefully.-HOSEA BALLOU. Human improvement is from within outwards.FROUDE. An original sentence, a step forward, is worth more than all the centuries.-ÊMERSON. Let us labor for that larger and larger comprehension of truth, that more and more thorough repudiation of error, which shall make the history of mankind a series of ascending developments.HORACE MANN. We can trace back our existence almost to a point. Former time presents us with trains of thoughts gradually diminishing to nothing. But our ideas of futurity are perpetually expanding. Our desires and our hopes, even when modified by our fears, seem to grasp at immensity. This alone would be sufficient to prove the progressiveness of our nature, and that this little earth is but a point from which we start toward a perfection of being. -SIR HUMPHRY DAVY. By the disposition of a stupendous wisdom, moulding together the great mysterious incorporation of the human race, the whole, at one time, is never old, or middle-aged, or young; but, in a condition of unchangeable constancy, moves on through the varied tenor of perpetual decay, fall, renovation, and progression.-BURKE. We are either progressing or retrograding all the while; there is no such thing as remaining stationary in this life.-JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE. It is wonderful how soon a piano gets into a loghut on the frontier. You would think they found it under a pine-stump. With it comes a Latin grammar, and one of those tow-head boys has written a hymn on Sunday. Now let colleges, now let senates take heed! for here is one who, opening these fine tastes on the basis of the pioneer's iron constitution, will gather all their laurels in his strong hands.-EMERSON. A fresh mind keeps the body fresh. Take in the ideas of the day, drain off those of yesterday. -LΥΤΤΟΝ. The wisest man may be wiser to-day than he was yesterday, and to-morrow than he is to-day. Total freedom from change would imply total freedom from error; but this is the prerogative of Omniscience alone.-COLTON. Prosperity.-Watch lest prosperity destroy generosity.-BEECHER. Prosperity seems to be scarcely safe, unless it be mixed with a little adversity.-HOSEA BAllou. The increase of a great number of citizens in prosperity is a necessary element to the security, and even to the existence, of a civilized people.— BURET. Prosperity is the touchstone of virtue; for it is less difficult to bear misfortunes than to remain uncorrupted by pleasure.-TACITUS. Prosperity demands of us more prudence and moderation than adversity.-CICERO. We must distinguish between felicity and prosperity; for prosperity leads often to ambition, and ambition to disappointment.-LANDOR. He that swells in prosperity will be sure to shrink in adversity.-COLTON. Prosperity is very liable to bring pride among the other goods with which it endows an individual; it is then that prosperity costs too dear.-HOSEA BALLOU. Prosperity, in regard of our corrupt inclination to abuse the blessings of Almighty God, doth prove a thing dangerous to the soul of man.-HOOKER. It is one of the worst effects of prosperity to make a man a vortex, instead of a fountain; so that, instead of throwing out, he learns only to draw in.-BEECHER. Prosperity makes some friends and many enemies. -VAUVENARgues. They who lie soft and warm in a rich estate seldom come to heat themselves at the altar.SOUTH. Take care to be an economist in prosperity: there is no fear of your being one in adversity.-ZIM MERMAN. Providence.-The Providence of God is the great protector of our life and usefulness, and under the divine care we are perfectly safe from danger.-SPURGEON. I know not where His islands lift Beyond His love and care. -WHITTIER. In The decrees of Providence are inscrutable. spite of man's short-sighted endeavors to dispose of events according to his own wishes and his own purposes, there is an Intelligence beyond his reason, which holds the scales of justice, and promotes his well-being, in spite of his puny efforts.—MORIER. Divine Providence tempers his blessings to secure their better effect. He keeps our joys and our fears on an even balance, that we may neither presume nor despair. By such compositions God is pleased to make both our crosses more tolerable and our enjoyments more wholesome and safe.-W. WOGAN. He who ruleth the raging of the sea, knows also how to check the designs of the ungodly. I submit myself with reverence to His Holy Will. O Abner, I fear my God, and I fear none but Him.-RACINE. Duties are ours; events are God's. This removes an infinite burden from the shoulders of a miserable, tempted, dying creature. On this consideration only can he securely lay down his head and close his eyes.-CECIL. Yes, thou art ever present, power supreme! In wealth, in want, in freedom or in chains, We must follow, not force Providence. SHAKESPEARE. Go, mark the matchless working of the power In color these, and those delight the smell; A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.-PROVERBS 16: 9. Prudence.-Men are born with two eyes, but with one tongue, in order that they should see twice as much as they say.-COLTON. Prudence is that virtue by which we discern what is proper to be done under the various circumstances of time and place.-MILTON. When any great design thou dost intend, Think on the means, the manner, and the end. -SIR J. DENHAM. The prudence of the best heads is often defeated by the tenderness of the best of hearts. -FIELDING. Prudence is a necessary ingredient in all the virtues, without which they degenerate into folly and excess.-JEREMY COLLIER. No other protection is wanting, provided you are under the guidance of prudence.—JUVENAL. Prudence is not only the first in rank of the virtues political and moral, but she is the director and regulator, the standard of them all.-BURKE. |
