*
It is easy to be virtuous when one's own convenience is not
affected; and it is no shame to any man to follow the
advice of an outsider who owns that, while he sees which is
the better part, he might not have the courage to profit
himself by this opinion.
*
As soon as prudence has begun to grow up in the brain, like
a dismal fungus, it finds its expression in a paralysis of
generous acts.
*
The man who cannot forgive any mortal thing is a green
hand in life.
*
It is a useful accomplishment to be able to say NO, but
surely it is the essence of amiability to prefer to say YES
where it is possible. There is something wanting in the
man who does not hate himself whenever he is constrained to
say no. And there was a great deal wanting in this born
dissenter. He was almost shockingly devoid of weaknesses;
he had not enough of them to be truly polar with humanity;
whether you call him demi-god or demi-man, he was at least
not altogether one of us, for he was not touched with a
feeling of our infirmities. The world's heroes have room
for all positive qualities, even those which are
disreputable, in the capacious theatre of their
dispositions. Such can live many lives; while a Thoreau
can live but one, and that only with perpetual foresight.
*
We can all be angry with our neighbour; what we want is to
be shown, not his defects, of which we are too conscious,
but his merits, to which we are too blind.
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