Christian Nestell Bovee Quotes - Page 7

In general, inquiry ceases when we adopt a theory. After that, we overlook whatever makes against it, and see and think, and talk and write, only in its favor. Indeed, when we have a snug, comfortable theory, to which we are much attached, they appear to us as a very mean set of facts that will not square with it.

All power is indeed weak compared with that of the thinker. He sits upon the throne of his Empire of Thought, mightier far than they who wield material sceptres.

The light in the world comes principally from two sources,-the sun, and the student's lamp.

Honesty is not only "the first step toward greatness," - it is greatness itself.

Very handsome women have usually far less sensibility to compliments than their less beautiful sisters.

Courage enlarges, cowardice diminishes resources. In desperate straits the fears of the timid aggravate the dangers that imperil the brave.

The finest compliment that can be paid to a woman of sense is to address her as such.

The busiest of living agents are certain dead men's thoughts.

A strong will deals with the hard facts of life as a sculptor with his marbles, making them facile and yielding to his purposes, and conquering their stubbornness by a greater stubbornness in himself.

In a contest with a weaker party it is more honorable to yield than to force concession. Magnanimity becomes the strong.

Every war involves a greater or less relapse into barbarism. War, indeed, in its details, is the essence of inhumanity. It dehumanizes. It may save the state, but it destroys the citizen.

It is curious to what a degree one may become attached to a fine tree, especially when it is placed where trees are rare.

The loss of a beloved connection awakens an interest in Heaven before unfelt.

One must have been, at some time or other, in a situation where a small sum was as necessary almost as life itself, with no more ability to raise it than to raise the dead, before he can fully appreciate the value of money.

The life even of a just man is a round of petty frauds; that of a knave a series of greater. We degrade life by our follies and vices, and then complain that the unhappiness which is only their accompaniment is inherent in the constitution of things.

No work deserves to be criticized that has not much in it that deserves to be applauded.

Beauty can afford to laugh at distinctions: it is itself the greatest distinction.

Besides the five senses, there is a sixth sense, of equal importance--the sense of duty.

It is one of the arts of a great beauty to heighten the effect of her charms by affecting to be sweetly unconscious of them.

A peculiar work in any art must not be too hastily judged. New styles have to create new tastes.

An ambition to excel in petty things obstructs the progress to nobler aims.

It is easier to die bravely than to live so.

A particular disappointment is seldom more than an excrescence upon the trunk of a general good--a shower that spoils the pleasure party, but refreshes and enriches the earth.

The less the difference, the greater the quarrel over it.

Ambition, in one respect, is like a singer's voice; pitched at too high a key, it breaks and comes to nothing.