13 quotes
Those views of life which deify pleasure are less likely to yield it.
The Dietetics of the Soul; Or, True Mental Discipline (1838)
True philosophy is a living wisdom, for which there is no death.
The Dietetics of the Soul; Or, True Mental Discipline (1838)
The man dissatisfied with the world will be dissatisfied with himself, so as to be continually eaten up by his own ill humor. And in such a state of mind how can he retain health?
The Dietetics of the Soul; Or, True Mental Discipline (1838)
Our minds are so constituted that a change of objects brings nearly as much relief as actual repose.
The Dietetics of the Soul; Or, True Mental Discipline (1838)
It is not enough to contemplate ourselves objectively; we must also treat ourselves objectively.
The Dietetics of the Soul; Or, True Mental Discipline (1838)
You must master an object before you attempt to despise it.
The Dietetics of the Soul; Or, True Mental Discipline (1838)
"He who wounds me" exclaims an animated writer, “ injures my body only: but he who wearies me assassinates my soul.” And he who wearies himself needs to be placed under a system of mental dietetics.
The Dietetics of the Soul; Or, True Mental Discipline (1838)
We cannot avoid moodiness; but we may turn to account, as does the poet, the various dispositions of the mind, or give them form and shape, as the sculptor his marble.
The Dietetics of the Soul; Or, True Mental Discipline (1838)
Those psychological observers who have accustomed themselves to consider the interior and exterior as intimately combined — as the inspiration and expiration of one living being— will readily understand and apprehend the views which I have here advanced.
The Dietetics of the Soul; Or, True Mental Discipline (1838)
It has been well remarked of the poems of Hafiz, that their refreshing influence does not depend so much on the sense of the words as on the tone of mind produced in the reader.
The Dietetics of the Soul; Or, True Mental Discipline (1838)
A treatise on mental dietetics would be imperfect without some special notice of that most irrational and melancholy of all human torments, hypochondriasis. Reason, morality, wit, and even religion, have endeavoured by every possible means to exorcise this demon. By pamphlets and by books—in tragedy and in comedy — from the pulpit and on the stage, it has been denounced and ridiculed.
The Dietetics of the Soul; Or, True Mental Discipline (1838)
Who is unacquainted with the sparkling eye. The full and quick pulse, the free respiration, the glowing colour, and serene brow of the joyous? Who is not familiar with the trembling aspect, the stammering hesitation, the cold ruffled skin, the bristling hair, the palpitating heart, the uneasiness, the impeded respiration, the paleness, the low pulse, and all the other symptoms occasioned by fear?
The Dietetics of the Soul; Or, True Mental Discipline (1838)
“The greatest treasure that God can give his creatures is and ever will be—genuine existence". If these words of Herder be true, cultivation is the key to the most precious of treasures; for as Nature has insured the permanence of existence by implanting in us a force of resistance and self-renovation, so may we, on our side, increase the force of these attributes by self-acquired powers of mind.
The Dietetics of the Soul; Or, True Mental Discipline (1838)