John Quotes
They who see through the eyes of others are controlled by the will of others.
There are faults which show heart and win hearts, while the virtue in which there is no love, repels.
To cultivate the memory we should confide to it only what we understand and love: the rest is a useless burden; for simply to know by rote is not to know at all.
If we learn from those only, of whose lives and opinions we altogether approve, we shall have to turn from many of the highest and profoundest minds.
The exercise of authority is odious, and they who know how to govern, leave it in abeyance as much as possible.
As we can not love what is hateful, let us accustom ourselves neither to think nor to speak of disagreeable things and persons.
A gentleman does not appear to know more or to be more than those with whom he is thrown into company.
There are who mistake the spirit of pugnacity for the spirit of piety, and thus harbor a devil instead of an angel.
Culture makes the whole world our dwelling place; our palace in which we take our ease and find ourselves at one with all things.
The teacher does best, not when he explains, but when he impels his pupils to seek themselves the explanation.
Friends humor and flatter us, they steal our time, they encourage our love of ease, they make us content with ourselves, they are the foes of our virtue and our glory.
We are made ridiculous less by our defects than by the affectation of qualities which are not ours.
If I am not pleased with myself, but should wish to be other than I am, why should I think highly of the influences which have made me what I am?
In the world of thought a man's rank is determined, not by his average work, but by his highest achievement.
We may outgrow the things of children, without acquiring sense and relish for those which become a man.
Liberty is more precious than money or office; and we should be vigilant lest we purchase wealth or place at the price of inner freedom.
Nothing requires so little mental effort as to narrate or follow a story. Hence everybody tells stories and the readers of stories outnumber all others.
As the visit of one we love makes the whole day pleasant, so is it illumined and made fair by a brave and beautiful thought.
A hobby is the result of a distorted view of things. It is putting a planet in the place of a sun.
As children must have the hooping cough, the college youth must pass through the stage of conceit in which he holds in slight esteem the wisdom of the best.
Exercise of body and exercise of mind are supplementary, and both may be made recreative and educative.
Be watchful lest thou lose the power of desiring and loving what appeals to the soul this is the miser's curse this the chain and ball the sensualist drags.
Folly will run its course and it is the part of wisdom not to take it too seriously.
To think profoundly, to seek and speak truth, to love justice and denounce wrong is to draw upon one's self the ill will of many.
We shrink from the contemplation of our dead bodies, forgetting that when dead they are no longer ours, and concern us as little as the hairs that have fallen from our heads.
The ploughman knows how many acres he shall upturn from dawn to sunset: but the thinker knows not what a day may bring forth.
There are few things it is more important to learn than how to live on little and be therewith content: for the less we need what is without, the more leisure have we to live within.
The power of free will is developed and confirmed by increasing the number of worthy motives which influence conduct.
States of soul rightly expressed, as the poet expresses them in moments of pure inspiration, retain forever the power of creating like states. It is this that makes genuine literature a vital force.
When guests enter the room their entertainers rise to receive them; and in all meetings men should ascend into their higher selves, imparting to one another only the best they know and love.
Work, mental or manual, is the means whereby attention is compelled, it is the instrument of all knowledge and virtue, the root whence all excellence springs.
As our power over others increases, we become less free; for to retain it, we must make ourselves its servants.
If thou need money, get it in an honest way by keeping books, if thou wilt, but not by writing books.
When we have attained success, we see how inferior it is to the hope, yearning and enthusiasm with which we started forth in life's morning.
If all were gentle and contented as sheep, all would be as feeble and helpless.
Leave each one his touch of folly; it helps to lighten life's burden which, if he could see himself as he is, might be too heavy to carry.