Very Few Live by Choice.—Every man is placed in his present condition by causes which acted without his foresight, and with which he did not always willingly co-operate; and therefore you will rarely meet one who does not think the lot of his neighbor better than his own.
—Dr. Johnson in Rasselas.
1437
We ought to do at once and without delay whatever we owe to our neighbors; to make them wait for what is due to them, is the essence of injustice.
1438
A BIRD'S NEST.
It wins my admiration
To view the structure of this little work—
A bird's nest. Mark it well, within, without;
No tool had he that wrought; no knife to cut,
No nail to fix, no bodkin to insert,
No glue to join; his little beak was all;
And yet how neatly finished!—What nice hand,
And every implement and means of art,
And twenty years' apprenticeship to boot,
Could make me such another? Fondly then
We boast of excellence, whose noblest skill
Instinctive genius foils.
—Hurdis.
1439
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done, is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.