Poetry

it! I shiver in my fine attire.”

“I have no shirt. Pass on, Success.”

CLIII

Ignorance when inevitable is excusable. It may be harmless, even beneficial; but it is charming only to the unwise. To affect a spurious ignorance is to disclose a genuine.

CLIV

Because you will not take by theft what you can have by cheating, think not yours is the only conscience in the world. Even he who permits you to cheat his neighbor will shrink from permitting you to cheat himself.

CLV

“God keep thee, stranger; what is thy name?”

“Wisdom. And thine?”

“Knowledge. How does it happen that we meet?”

“This is an intersection of our paths.”

“Will it ever be decreed that we travel always the same road?”

“We were well named if we knew.”

CLVI

Nothing is more logical than persecution. Religious tolerance is a kind of infidelity.

CLVII

Convictions are variable; to be always consistent is to be sometimes dishonest.

CLVIII

The philosopher’s profoundest conviction is that which he is most reluctant to express, lest he mislead.

CLIX

When exchange of identities is possible, be careful; you may choose a person who is willing.

CLX

The most intolerant advocate is he who is trying to convince himself.

CLXI

In the Parliament of Otumwee the Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed a tax on fools.

“The right honorable and generous gentleman,” said a member, “forgets that we already have it in the poll tax.”

CLXII

“Whose dead body is that?”

“Credulity’s.”

“By whom was he slain?”

“Credulity.”

“Ah, suicide.”

“No, surfeit. He dined at the table of Science, and swallowed all that was set before him.”

CLXIII

Don’t board with the devil if you wish to be fat.

CLXIV

Pray do not despise your delinquent debtor; his default is no proof of poverty.

CLXV

Courage is the acceptance of the gambler’s chance: a brave man bets against the game of the gods.

CLXVI

“Who art thou?”

“A philanthropist. And thou?”

“A pauper.”

“Away! you have nothing to relieve my need.”

CLXVII

Youth looks forward, for nothing is behind; Age backward, for nothing is before.

CLXVIII

Think not, O man, the world has any need
That thou canst truly serve by word or deed.
Serve thou thy better self, nor care to know
How God makes righteousness and roses grow.

CLXIX

In spiritual matters material aids are not to be despised: by the use of an organ and a painted window an artistic emotion can be made to seem a religious ecstasy.

CLXX

The poor man’s price of admittance to the favor of the rich is his self-respect. It assures him a seat in the gallery.

CLXXI

One may know oneself ugly, but there is no mirror for the understanding.

CLXXII

If the righteous thought death what they think they think it they would search less diligently for divine ordinances against suicide.

CLXXIII

Weep not for cruelty to rogues in jail:
Injustice can the just alone assail.
Deny compassion to the wretch who swerved,
Till all who, fainting, walked aright are served.

CLXXIV

The artless woman may be known by her costume: her gown is trimmed with feathers of the white blackbird.

CLXXV

All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusion is called a philosopher.

CLXXVI

Slang is a foul pool at which every dunce fills his bucket, and then sets up as a fountain.

CLXXVII

The present is the frontier between the desert of the past and the garden of the future. It is redrawn every moment.

CLXXVIII

The virtue that is not automatic requires more attention than it is worth.

CLXXIX

At sunset our shadows reach the stars, yet we are no greater at death than at the noon of life.

CLXXX

Experience is a revelation in the light of which we renounce the errors of youth for those of age.

CLXXXI

From childhood to youth is eternity; from youth to manhood, a season. Age comes in a night and is incredible.

CLXXXII

Avoid the disputatious. When you greet an acquaintance with “How are you?” and he replies: “On the contrary, how are you?” pass on.

CLXXXIII

If all thought were audible none would be deemed discreditable. We know, indeed, that bad thoughts are universal, but that is not the same thing as catching them at being so.

CLXXXIV

“All the souls in this place have been happy ever since you blundered into it,” said Satan, ejecting Hope. “You make trouble wherever you go.”

CLXXXV

Our severest retorts are unanswerable because nobody is present to answer them.

CLXXXVI

The angels have good dreams and bad, and we are the dreams. When an angel wakes one of us dies.

CLXXXVII

The man of “honor” pays his bet
By saving on his lawful debt.
When he to Nature pays his dust
(Not for he would, but for he must)
Men say, “He settled that, ’tis true,
But, faith, it long was overdue.”

CLXXXVIII

Do not permit a woman to ask forgiveness, for that is only the first step. The second is justification of herself by accusation of you.

CLXXXIX

If we knew nothing was behind us we should discern our true relation to the universe.

CXC

Youth has the sun and the stars by which to determine his position on the sea of life; Age must sail by dead reckoning and knows not whither he is bound.

CXCI

Happiness is lost by criticising it; sorrow by accepting it.

CXCII

As Nature can not make us altogether wretched she resorts to the trick of contrast by making us sometimes almost happy.

CXCIII

When prosperous the fool trembles for the evil that is to come; in