Henry Home, Lord Kames Quotes

Logic is the art of thinking well: the mind, like the body, requires to be trained before it can use its powers in the most advantageous way.

Men are guided less by conscience than by glory; and yet the shortest way to glory is to be guided by conscience.

Such is the power of imagination, that even a chimerical pleasure in expectation affects us more than a solid pleasure in possession.

When you descant on the faults of others, consider whether you be not guilty of the same. To gain knowledge of ourselves, the best way is to convert the imperfections of others into a mirror for discovering our own.

Beauty loses its relish; the graces never.

No man ever did a designed injury to another, but at the same time he did a greater to himself.

The sordid meal of the Cynics contributed neither to their tranquillity nor to their modesty. Pride went with Diogenes into his tub; and there he had the presumption to command Alexander the haughtiest of all men.

The mind is never more highly gratified than in contemplating a natural landscape.

Ridicule, which chiefly arises from pride, a selfish passion, is but at best a gross pleasure, too rough an entertainment for those who are highly polished and refined.

The coward reckons himself cautious, the miser frugal.

Emotions are raised in us, not only by the qualities and actions of others, but also by their feelings. I cannot behold a man in distress, without partaking of his pain; nor in joy, without partaking of his pleasure.

Beauty is a dangerous property, tending to corrupt the mind of the wife, though it soon loses its influence over the husband. A figure agreeable and engaging, which inspires affection, without the ebriety of love, is a much safer choice.

An agreeable figure and winning manner, which inspire affection without love, are always new. Beauty loses its relish, the graces never, after the longest acquaintance, they are no less agreeable than at first.

Who hath not courage to revenge will never find generosity to forgive.

The truly generous is the truly wise, and he who loves not others lives unblest!

A great mind will neither give an affront nor bear it.

An infallible way to make your child miserable is to satisfy all his demands. Passion swells by gratification; and the impossibility of satisfying every one of his demands will oblige you to stop short at last, after he has become a little headstrong.

Luxury possibly may contribute to give bread to the poor; but if there were no luxury, there would be no poor.

Were wisdom to be sold, she would give no price; every man is satisfied with the share he has from nature.

An infallible way to make your child miserable is to satisfy all his demands.

A rich man cannot enjoy a sound mind nor a sound body without exercise and abstinence; and yet these are truly the worst ingredients of poverty.

To a zealot every one of his own sect is a saint, while the most upright of a different sect are to him children of perdition.

We part more easily with what we possess, than with our expectations of what we wish for; because expectation always goes beyond enjoyment.

Nothing more excites to everything noble and generous, than virtuous love.

Genius is allied to a warm and inflammable constitution; delicacy of taste, to calmness and sedateness. Hence it is common to find genius in one who is a prey to every passion.