BREVITIES
Lines on observing a sunbeam glittering on a mass of snow:
“Mark, in yon beam the world’s destructive guile,
It melts us into ruin with a smile.”
When Socrates was asked what a man gains by telling lies, he answered, “not to be believed when he speaks the truth.”
I do not call the sod under my feet my country. But language, religion, laws, government, blood,—identity in these makes men of one country.—Coleridge.
The observation of hospitality, even towards an enemy, is inculcated by a Hindu author: “The sandal tree imparts its fragrance even to the axe that hews it.”
An Eastern sage being desired to inscribe on the ring of his Sultan a motto, equally applicable to prosperity or adversity, returned it with these words engraved upon it: “And this, too, shall pass away.”
Affection, like melancholy, magnifies trifles; but the magnifying of the one is like looking through a telescope at heavenly objects; that of the other, like enlarging monsters with a microscope.
It is very piteous to look at blind people; but it is observed that they are generally cheerful because others pay them so much attention; and one would suffer a good deal to be continually treated with love.—Leigh Hunt.