APHORISMS.
NO. III.
Two Rules.-To get safely and comfortably through the world, one must observe two rules: first, keep your eyes open; second, keep them shut.
Not to see the actual realities of our daily existence, is the part of a fool.
Not to notice the thousand and one petty faults of others, and the ever-recurring petty annoyances of our circumstances, is the part of a wise man.
Even injuries intentionally done to us, are often best disposed of by resolutely ignoring them.
So of evils that cannot be remedied—the less we know of them the better. Not to see an ill sight, is often just as good as to remove it from existence.
We need only to add: This seeing and not seeing, depends very much upon the will. The wolf that wills it can easily see the lamb disturbing the water that he drinks, even while the lamb is below him on the bank of the stream; and the lamb, by a stern resolve, can refuse to see the injustice which it has no power to remedy. The will of man is little less than omnipotent in the wide sphere of its appropriate power; and that sphere is much wider than feeble-minded people may suppose.