LITERARY MEMORIES OF PAS
READINGS-----IV
1.
Of
Cruelty To Animals. The more entirely the inferior creation is submitted to our
power, the more answerable we should seem for our mismanagement of it. It is
observable of those noxious animals, which have qualities most powerful to
injure us, that they naturally avoid
mankind, and never hurt us unless provoked, or necessitated by hunger. Man on
the hand, seeks out and pursues even
the most inoffensive animals on purpose to prosecute and destroy them.----ALEXANDER
POPE, The Guardian. 1713.
2.
Of
the Antiquity of Nothing. There is nothing falser than that old proverb which (like
many other falsehoods) is in every one’s mouth: Ex nihilo nihil fit. Thus
translated by William Shakespeare in his play KING Lear: Nothing can come of nothing. But nothing is as well the
object of our passions as our senses. Thus there are many who love Nothing,
some who hate Nothing, and some who fear nothing, etc. ….And one of the wisest men
in the world declared he knew Nothing. ---HENRY FIELDING. MISCELLANIES. 1743.
3.
Characteristics Of Greatness. The way to acquire lasting
esteem, is not by the fewness of a writer’s faults, but by the greatness of his
beauties; and our noblest works are
generally most replete with both.------OLIVER GOLDSMITH. Essay On Characteristics
Of Greatness. 1759.
4.
The
Distress Of A Common Soldier. The misfortunes of the great are held up to
engage our attention, are enlarged upon in tones of declamation, and the world
is called upon to gaze at the noble sufferers
: they have at once the comfort of admiration and pity. Yet where is the
magnanimity of bearing misfortunes when the whole world is looking on. Men in
such circumstances can act bravely even from motives of vanity. He only who is
in the vale of obscurity can brave
adversity—who, without friends to encourage, acquaintances to pity, or even
without hope to alleviate his distresses, can behave with tranquility and
indifference, is truly great; whether peasant or courtier , he deserves
admiration, and should be held up for our imitation and respect. -----OLIVER
GOLDSMITH in his essay The Distress Of A
Common Soldier. Essays. 1798.
5.
One
man is born with a silver spoon in his mouth and another with a wooden ladle.
----OLIVER GOLDSMITH, in essay on Citizen
of the world. 1762.
********
G.R. Kanwal
2nd August 2026
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