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Adams, John • Bacon, Francis • Bible • Bierce, Ambrose • Billings, Josh • Butcher, Jim • Chesterton, Gilbert Keith • Churchill, Winston • Einstein, Albert • Eisenhower, Dwight David • Emerson, Ralph Waldo • Franklin, Benjamin • Fuller, Thomas (1654) • Gaiman, Neil • Galbraith, John Kenneth • Gandhi, Mohandas • Goethe, Johann von • Hazlitt, William • Heinlein, Robert A. • Hoffer, Eric • Huxley, Aldous • Ingersoll, Robert Green • James, William • Jefferson, Thomas • Johnson, Lyndon • Johnson, Samuel • Kennedy, John F. • King, Martin Luther • La Rochefoucauld, Francois • Lewis, C.S. • Lincoln, Abraham • Mencken, H.L. • Orwell, George • Pratchett, Terry • Roosevelt, Eleanor • Roosevelt, Theodore • Russell, Bertrand • Seneca the Younger • Shakespeare, William • Shaw, George Bernard • Stevenson, Adlai • Stevenson, Robert Louis • Twain, Mark • Watterson, Bill • Wilde, Oscar- Only the 45 most quoted authors are shown above. Full author list.
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- 5-Sep-19 - Erewhon, ch. 20 (1872) | WIST on 1 Timothy 6:10 (KJV).
- 4-Sep-19 - "Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution," sermon, National Cathedral, Washington, DC (31 Mar 1968) | WIST on Letter from Birmingham Jail (16 Apr 1963).
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Quotations by Fuller, Thomas (1654)
First get an absolute conquest over thyself, and then thou wilt easily govern thy wife.
Better hazard once than be always in fear.
Every Ass loves to hear himself bray.
It is the property of fools, to be always judging.
Heaven is a cheap purchase, whatever it cost.
A wise man turns chance into good fortune.
Serving one’s own passions is the greatest slavery.
He that fears you present, will hate you absent.
Counsel is irksome when the Matter is past Remedy.
He that scattereth thorns must not go barefoot.
Those see nothing but faults that seek for nothing else.
There is not so much comfort in the having of children as there is sorrow in parting with them.
Charity begins at home but should not end there.
Cheat me in the price, but not in the goods.
Promise little and do much; so shalt thou have Thanks.
Comparison, more than Reality, makes Men happy or wretched.
Conscience can’t be compelled.
Destiny leads the willing but drags the unwilling.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English writer, physician
Gnomologia, #1274 (1732)
See Seneca the Younger.
Even doubtful Accusations leave a Stain behind them.
Fetters of Gold are still Fetters.
A Good life fears not Life nor Death.
Good Works will never save you, but you can never be saved without them.
He cannot speak well that cannot hold his tongue.
He does not believe, that does not live according to his Belief.
He that flings Dirt at another dirtieth himself most.
He that’s cheated twice by the same Man is an Accomplice with the Cheater.
He that swells in Prosperity will shrink in Adversity.
He that will have the Kernel must crack the Shell.
He that will not set sail till all dangers are over must never put out to sea.
He that fasteth and doth no Good saveth his Bread but loseth his Soul.
He whose Belly is full believes not him whose is empty.
A Life of Leisure and a Life of Laziness are two things.
A light Purse makes a heavy Heart.
Health is not valued until Sickness comes.
If Afflictions refine some, they consume others.
It is a good Blade that bends well.
If you leap into a Well, Providence is not bound to fetch you out.
A man of Cruelty is God’s enemy.
Learning makes a Man fit Company for himself.
Many can bear Adversity but few Contempt.
Many talk like Philosophers and live like Fools.
Many would be Cowards if they had Courage enough.
Men are more prone to revenge Injuries than to requite Kindnesses.
No condition so low but may have Hopes, none so high but may have Fears.
No Man is the worse for knowing the worst of himself.
Nothing is good or bad but by Comparison.
Promises may get Friends, but ’tis Performances that keep them.
Prospect is often better than possession.
Prosperity has damn’d more Souls than all the Devils together.
Riches rather enlarge than satisfy Appetites.
Sail, quoth the King; hold, saith the Wind.
He that hath the worst Cause makes the most Noise
Some are very busy, and yet do nothing.
Some have been thought brave because they were afraid to run away.
The Prodigal robs the Heir, the Miser himself.
The Sting of a Reproach is the Truth of it.
They are not all Saints who use Holy Water.
They that buy an Office must sell something.
‘Tis harder to unlearn than learn.
‘Tis Perseverance that prevails.
Trust him no further than you can throw him.
Unkindness has no Remedy at Law.
Vows made in Storms are forgot in Calms.
We are born crying, live complaining, and die disappointed.
What a Day may bring a Day may take away.
Wine hath drowned more Men than the Sea.
Do business, but be not a Slave to it.
Women commend a modest Man, but like him not.
Be a Friend to thyself, and others will be so too.
Better hazard once than always be in fear.
One month in the school of affliction will teach thee more than the great precepts of Aristotle in seven years; for thou canst never judge rightly of human affairs, unless thou hast first felt the blows, and found out the deceits of fortune.
In a debate, rather pull to pieces the argument of thy antagonists than offer him any of thy own; for thus thou wilt fight him in his own country.
Do as most do and few will speak ill of thee.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English writer, physician
Introductio ad Prudentiam, # 135 (1726)
(Source)
Neither praise, nor dispraise thyself; thy Actions will do it enough.
Govern thy Life and Thoughts as if the whole World were to see the one, and read the other.
As we must account for every idle Word, so must we likewise for every idle Silence.
To work a Man to thy Bent: 1. Know his Inclinations. 2. Observe his Ends. 3. Search out his Weakness. And so thou mayst either draw or drive him.
Let the Care of one’s business be committed but to one Person; for otherwise, besides Disagreement which may arise when Account is taken, everyone’s Answer is, That he thought others had done it.
If evil Men speak good, or good Men evil of thee; examine thy Actions, and suspect thyself.
Some by their continual grinning and showing their Teeth make Men doubt whether they honor them, or laugh at them.
Be not magisterial in thy Dictates, nor pertinaciously contentious in ordinary discourse for thy Opinion. … Thou are not bound to convert all the World to Truth.
Bear patiently with the Defects of others, and labor to amend thy own.
Be neither too early in the Fashion, nor too long out of it, nor at any time too precisely in it.
Take heed: Most Men will cheat without Scruple where they can do it without Fear,
If thy Business be perplexed, divide it, and look upon all its Parts and sides.
If thou confesseth thy Sins and amendest not, thou mocketh God.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English writer, physician
Introductio ad Prudentiam, #661 (1726)
Full text.
In whatsoever Condition thou art, still ask thyself, What would my blessed Savior have thought, said, and done in this Case.
Imitate what is good wheresoever thou findest it.
Pray for thy enemy, for if thou beest a good Man thyself, thou canst not but rejoice to see thy worst Enemy become a good Man, too
Make it thy chief Design and thy great Business, not to be Rich and Great: but so to live in this World that thou mayest reasonably believe thou has God for thy Friend.
Endeavor to make thy own Company pleasant to thee.
To keep up and improve Friendship, thou must be willing to receive a Kindness, as well as to do one.
Regard not so much what the World thinks of thee, as what thou thinkest of thyself.
Believe not all thou hearest, nor speak all thou believest.
It’s no great Commendation to just forbear doing ill; thou art bound moreover to do good to others.
‘Tis much safer for thee to reconcile an Enemy than conquer him.
Give as thou wouldst receive.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English writer, physician
Introductio at Prudentium, #418 (1726)
Full text.
Act nothing in a furious passion. It’s putting to sea in a storm.