LITERARY MEMORIES OF THE PAST-----III

 

LITERARY MEMORIES OF THE PAST-----III

1.     A man’s first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart; his next, to escape the censures of the world.

If the last interferes with the former, it ought to be entirely neglected. But otherwise, there cannot be a greater satisfaction to an honest mind, than to see those approbations which it gives itself seconded by the applause of the public.

A man is more sure of hid conduct, when the verdict which he passes upon his own behavior is thus warranted, and confirmed by the opinion of all that know him.------JOSEPH ADDISON, The Spectator. 1711.

2.      Misfortunes happen in all families. ----SIR RICHARD STEELE, The Spectator. 1711.

3.     The mind of man in a long life will become a magazine of wisdom or folly, and will consequently discharge itself in something impertinent or improving. For which reason, as there is nothing more ridiculous than an old trifling story-teller, so there is nothing more venerable, than one who has turned his experience to the entertainment and advantage of mankind. ----SIR RICHARD STEELE, The Spectator. 1710.

4.     Misery consists chiefly in the imagination, nothing is more necessary o mankind in general than his pleasing delirium, which renders every one satisfied with himself, and persuades him that all others are equally so.----ALEXANDER POPE, in essay entitled The Grand Elixir. The Guardian. 1712.

5.     For what is this life but a circulation of little mean actions? We lie down and rise again, dress and undress, feed and wax hungry, work or play, and are weary, and then we lie down again, and the circle returns.

We spend the day in trifles, and when the night comes we throw our selves into the bed of folly, amongst dreams and broken thoughts and our wild imaginations.

Our reason lies asleep by us, and we are for the time as arrant brutes as those that sleep in the stalls or in the field.

Are not the capacities of man higher than these? And ought not his ambition and expectations to be greater?

Let us be adventurers for another world: It is at least a fair noble chance; and here is nothing in this worth our thoughts or our passions.  

If we should be disappointed, we are still no worse than the rest of fellow-mortals; and f we succeed in our expectations, we are eternally happy. ----SIR RICHARD STEELE in essay on GOOD TEMPER, The Spectator. 1711.

                                                            ******

G. R. Kanwal

1^st August 2026