FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146  
147   >>  
ith a clenched hand shows any thing but an open purpose. 18. It is a hard matter for a man to lie _all over_. Nature having provided king's evidence in almost every member. The hand will sometimes act as a vane to show which way the wind blows, when every feature is set the other way; the knees smite together, and sound the alarm of fear, under a fierce countenance; and the legs shake with anger, when all above is calm. 19. Nature observes a variety even in her correspondences; insomuch that in parts which seem but repetitions there will be found a difference. For instance, in the human countenance, the two sides of which are never identical. Whenever she deviates into monotony, the deviation is always marked as an exception by some striking deficiency; as in idiots, who are the only persons that laugh equally on both sides of the mouth. The insipidity of many of the antique Statues may be traced to the false assumption of identity in the corresponding parts. No work wrought by _feeling_ (which, after all, is the ultimate rule of Genius) was ever marked by this monotony. 20. He is but half an orator who turns his hearers into spectators. The best gestures (_quoad_ the speaker) are those which he cannot help. An unconscious thump of the fist or jerk of the elbow is more to the purpose, (whatever that may be,) than the most graceful _cut-and-dried_ action. It matters not whether the orator personates a trip-hammer or a wind-mill; if his mill but move with the grist, or his hammer knead the iron beneath it, he will not fail of his effect. An impertinent gesture is more likely to knock down the orator than his opponent. 21. The only true independence is in humility; for the humble man exacts nothing, and cannot be mortified,--expects nothing, and cannot be disappointed. Humility is also a healing virtue; it will cicatrize a thousand wounds, which pride would keep for ever open. But humility is not the virtue of a fool; since it is not consequent upon any comparison between ourselves and others, but between what we are and what we ought to be,--which no man ever was. 22. The greatest of all fools is the proud fool,--who is at the mercy of every fool he meets. 23. There is an essential meanness in the wish to _get the better_ of any one. The only competition worthy, of a wise man is with himself. 24. He that argues for victory is but a gambler in words, seeking to enrich himself by another's loss. 25. S
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146  
147   >>  



Top keywords:

orator

 

countenance

 

humility

 

virtue

 

monotony

 

marked

 
hammer
 

purpose

 
Nature
 
personates

opponent

 
independence
 
unconscious
 

matters

 
impertinent
 

graceful

 
beneath
 

effect

 
action
 

gesture


healing

 
essential
 

meanness

 

argues

 

victory

 

gambler

 

enrich

 

competition

 

worthy

 

seeking


greatest

 

cicatrize

 

thousand

 
wounds
 
Humility
 

exacts

 

mortified

 

expects

 

disappointed

 

comparison


consequent

 

humble

 
wrought
 

fierce

 
observes
 
repetitions
 

difference

 
insomuch
 
variety
 

correspondences