--_Sir John Bowring's translation of Derzhavin's "Ode to God."_
Ideas are like beards; men do not have them until they grow up.
Labor is the divine law of our existence; repose is desertion and suicide.
If you want anything done, go to a busy man; Man of leisure never has time to do anything.
Lose this day loitering--'twill be the same story To-morrow, and the next more dilatory.
If any man wish to escape idleness let him fall in love.
Better lose your labor than your time in idleness.
Idleness must thank itself if it go barefoot.
I would not waste my spring of youth In idle dalliance; I would plant rich seeds, To blossom in my manhood and bear fruit When I am old.
Never remain ignorant for the want of asking questions.
Ignorance is often a voluntary misfortune.
Rather bear the ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of.
Man's ills are in the main of his own seeking.
Those who imitate us we like much better than those who endeavor to equal us. Imitation is a sign of esteem, competition of envy.
It must be so--Plato, thou reasonest well!-- Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, This longing after immortality? Or whence this secret dread, and inward horror, Of falling into naught? Why shrinks the soul Back on herself, and startles at destruction? 'Tis the Divinity that stirs within us; 'Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter, And intimates eternity to man. The stars shall fade away, the sun himself Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years, But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, Unhurt amidst the war of elements, The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds.
_Impertinence._--That man is guilty of impertinence who considers not the circumstances of time, or engrosses the conversation, or makes himself the subject of his discourse, or pays no regard to the company he is in.
Airs of importance are often the credentials of insignificance.
Live within your income. Always have something saved at the end of the year. Let your imports be more than your exports, and you'll never go far wrong.
All men are not susceptible to improvement.
It is better to have nothing to do than to be doing nothing.
Men of all ages have the same inclinations, over which reason exercises no control. Thus, wherever men are found, there are the same follies.