TRUE GENTILITY
One cannot from the world conceal
The current of his thought;
It seems to me there is no maxim for a noble life like this: Count always your highest moments your truest moments.—Phillips Brooks. A word or action will reveal
The thing his brain hath wrought.
True goodness from within must come
And deeds, to be refined,
Their outer grace must borrow from
Politeness of the mind.
Our manners are ourselves. They constitute our personality and it is by our We only begin to realize the value of our possessions when we commence to do good to others with them.— Joseph Cook. personality that we are judged. If that is frank and pleasant and agreeable we shall not lack for friends.
A person may be deficient in the charm of form or face but if the manners are Believe me, girls, on the road of life you and I will find few things more worth while than comradeship.—Margaret E. Sangster. perfect they will call forth admiration as nothing else could do.
Our thoughts are the essential and impressive part of ourselves. "It is the spirit that maketh alive. The flesh profiteth nothing." We are told by Swedenborg that "every volition and thought of man is inscribed on his brain, Do noble things, not dream them, all day long, and so make life, death, and the vast forever, one grand, sweet song.—Charles Kingsley. for volition and thoughts have their beginnings in the brain, whence they are conveyed to the bodily members, wherein they terminate. Whatever, therefore, is in the mind is in the brain, and from the brain in the body, according to the order of its parts. Thus a man writes his life in his physique, and thus the angels discover his autobiography in his structure."
And to get peace, if you do want it, make for yourself nests of pleasant thoughts.—Ruskin. Since good habits and pleasing manners are such important aids in the making of character and personality we should leave nothing undone to strengthen the better side of our lives. And since we all are constantly being acted upon by When one is so dedicated to his mission, so full of a great purpose that he has no thought for self, his life is one of unalloyed joy—the joy of self-sacrifice.—Lyman Abbott. suggestion we should invite to our assistance anything that will tend to keep us in the most exemplary frame of mind.
In addition to the spoken word of admonition from parents, teachers, and others honestly interested in our welfare we should reinforce our good resolves by reading good books and in framing Morality is conformity to the highest standard of right and virtuous action, with the best intention founded on principle.—A. E. Winship. for our own benefit a code of rules for our better conduct.
It is considered to be a good plan to select a number of suitable quotations and display them in some manner where the eye must see them with frequency. A calendar with a daily quotation admirably serves this purpose. Oftentimes when a good thought is put into the mind in the early morning it tends to direct the To have a friend is to have one of the sweetest gifts that life can bring; to be a friend is to have a solemn and tender education of soul from day to day.—Anna Robertson Brown. course of our thinking throughout the day. The following quotations are offered only as suggestions. They can be added to indefinitely:
A man’s own good breeding is the best security against other people’s ill manners.—Chesterfield.