69 quotes
If you cannot inspire a woman with love of you, fill her above the brim with love of herself;— all that runs over will be yours.
Lacon (1820)
Our actions must clothe us with an immortality loathsome or glorious.
We should have a glorious conflagration, if all who cannot put fire into their works would only consent to put their works into the fire.
Lacon (1820)
Liberty will not descend to a people, a people must raise themselves to liberty; it is a blessing that must be earned before it can be enjoyed.
Lacon (1820)
Suicide sometimes proceeds from cowardice but not always; for cowardice sometimes prevents it; since as many live because they are afraid to die, as die because they are afraid to live.
Lacon (1820)
It is better to meet danger than to wait for it. He that is on a lee shore, and foresees a hurricane, stands out to sea and encounters a storm, to avoid a shipwreck.
None are so fond of secrets as those who do not mean to keep them; such persons covet secrets as a spendthrift covets money, for the purpose of circulation.
Lacon (1820)
To know the pains of power, we must go to those who have it; to know its pleasures, we must go to those who are seeking it; the pains of power are real, its pleasures imaginary.
Lacon (1820)
There are two principles of established acceptance in morals; first, that self-interest is the mainspring of all of our actions, and secondly, that utility is the test of their value.
Lacon (1820)
Times of great calamity and confusion have been productive for the greatest minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace. The brightest thunder-bolt is elicited from the darkest storm.
Drunkenness is the vice of a good constitution or of a bad memory—of a constitution so treacherously good that it never bends till it breaks; or of a memory that recollects the pleasures of getting intoxicated, but forgets the pains of getting sober.
Lacon (1820)
The sun should not set upon our anger, neither should he rise upon our confidence.
With books, as with companions, it is of more consequence to know which to avoid, than which to choose; for good books are as scarce as good companions.
Lacon (1820)
That author, however, who has thought more than he has read, read more than he has written, and written more than he published, if he does not command success, has at least deserved it.
Lacon (1820)
Times of general calamity and confusion, have ever been productive of the greatest minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace, and the brightest thunderbolt is elicited from the darkest storm.
Lacon (1820)
Style is indeed the valet of genius, and an able one too; but as the true gentleman will appear, even in rags, so true genius will shine, even through the coarsest style.
Lacon (1820)
Our very best friends have a tincture of jealousy even in their friendship; and when they hear us praised by others, will ascribe it to sinister and interested motives if they can.
A volume, therefore, that contains more words than ideas, like a tree that has more foliage than fruit, may suit those to resort to, who want not to feast, but to dream and to slumber.
Lacon (1820)
We ask advice, but we mean approbation.
Lacon (1820)
A harmless hilarity and a buoyant cheerfulness are not infrequent concomitants of genius; and we are never more deceived than when we mistake gravity for greatness, solemnity for science, and pomposity for erudition.