Passing' Thoughts By Herbert Wolcott Bo-wen -< NEW YORK Gbe fmtcfcerbocker press 1902 A To Carolyn. You, Thou, Mine. H. W. B. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES Caracas, Venezuela, Aug. 27, 1902. PASSING THOUGHTS What we call the cares and vexations of life are generally duties we are loth to perform. Destiny is principally a question of determination. 3 It is worse to make others relax their principles than for you to relax your own. 5 4 Thought finds readier expression than feeling : hence the delicious silence of lovers. 5 The difference between your friend and your enemy is that the former ex- aggerates your virtues and the latter your faults. Your ideals should never be so high as to be out of the reach of your com- mon sense. 7 Christians very easily confound the Lamb of God with the Golden Calf. 6 8 As winter tests the vitality of a plant, so separation tests the strength of friendship. 9 Sin has all the attractions that Virtue ought to have. 10 To every mortal is the power given To make some other's life a hell or heaven. 1 1 Great length of tongue cannot supply A small man's insufficiency. 12 A man with an empty heart and a plethoric brain is sadly deformed. 13 Wish not to skip a single hour of life, for that hour might contain some valu- able lesson or experience. H One does not worry much who hears the cry, " The world is losing fast its coal sup- ply" If one has got a cinder in his eye. 15 What we have we depreciate : what we have not we more than appreciate. 16 Hopes from fears their brightness bor- row ; Joy its radiance gets from sorrow. i7 Women should not talk about dress, for dress is one of the arts by which they please ; it therefore should not seem to be studied. 18 Do your best to get what you want, and if you do not get it, do your best to get on without it. l 9 In matters in which the heart is con- cerned one can be happy in hoping without reason, but not in reasoning without hope. 20 Do not worry about the agonizing 9 mortification you think you will feel when Judgment Day comes. Long be- fore even Nero's soul is turned inside out every possible sin will have been exposed countless times. 21 Those that sigh for love and sympa- thy sigh for the bread and water of life. 22 If a woman would give half as much time to preserving her husband's love as she dedicates to preserving her looks, few homes would be unhappy. 23 There are faces that seem to need but one touch to make them beautiful : that touch is love. 10 24 Love is the crowning glory of life. Sad are those who know it not ; their day has no sun, and their night has no stars. 25 The reason walks ; the heart flies. The weak wait ; the strong seize. 26 Open your arms too soon and you will learn that persons are very skilful at dodging. 27 My patience is a virtue only so long as it does not encourage in you the vice of procrastination. 11 28 Man lives on necessaries and for luxuries. 29 Thrice blessed is the woman whose beauty attracts, whose speech allures, and whose virtues captivate. 30 Use your past as your rudder. 3i To envy is bad, but to wish to be en- vied is worse, 32 The more sympathetic we are with others, the better we are able to bear our own troubles. 12 33 Moral courage is to man what the sun is to the universe — the glory and the splendor. 34 How great Shakespeare is ! and yet, how he sinks into nothingness when my sweetheart comes behind my chair, draws back my head, and kisses me with her warm, rosy lips ! 35 One can estimate with great accuracy how dull and insipid your life is by the amount of gossip you indulge in about others. 36 One's interest in things is propor- 13 tioned to one's knowledge of them, and one's indifference to one's ignorance. 37 A dirty face is less disgusting than a dirty mind. 38 Man's conceit is only equalled by woman's deceit. 39 If Life does not smile on you, smile on Life ; all sweet smiles are contagious. 40 The milk of human kindness does not satisfy you ; you want the cream. 14 4i Love is always ready to forgive ; it is only self-love that is obdurate. 42 If you must be a philosopher, pray be an Epicurean or a Stoic : the former gets the most pleasure out of life, and the latter the least pain — but, better still, be both. 43 Why expect marriage to be faultless, when every other institution known to man, whether social, political, or re- ligious, falls far short of perfection ? 44 A sensitive person without sense is always a selfish person. 15 45 Whatever is well done always seems easily done. 4 6 Thoreau was a fine specimen of a recluse, but not of a man. 47 A jealous husband converts the word ," wedlock " into " lock-and-key." 48 We all have, in one form or another, our rattles and toys. 49 Nothing in life is half as bad or as beautiful as it seems — and not only nothing, but also nobody. 16 5o How much by every heart is forgot- ten that should be remembered, and how much remembered that should be forgotten t 51 Many see that the times have changed : few that they are changing. 52 Death brings peace to the dead, but takes it away from the living. 53 No one, until tested, knows how ex- pansive is his capacity for evil. 54 There are feelings stronger than any human law can create — or dominate. 17 55 The cleverest reader of others is he who reads himself most cleverly. 56 Alas for those that have a congealed emotional nature ! They miss that daily giving and taking of sunshine that lends to life ineffable sweetness and charm. 57 If you are not happy, try to be ; for that is the next best thing. 58 If the gods made man to be little more than the beasts, man has made himself to be little less than the gods. 18 59 One should have a great variety in life so as to keep all of one's self awake. 60 Do not make life any smaller than it is. 61 He who praises unjustly is to be censured quite as severely as he who blames unjustly ; for both are weak. 62 Calvinism hardens the heart more quickly than rum softens the brain. 63 Why expect one to agree with you in mind more than in looks ? 19 64 Deference wins oftener than defiance. 65 There is no rest like being with those one loves. 66 Those that wait for something to turn up should beware lest it be their own toes. 67 One's physical courage depends on one's nerves : one's moral courage on one's character. 68 Life without health is Venus without beauty. 20 6 9 Sarcasm is the happy art Of breaking someone else's heart. 70 Good deeds are better than good words, and decency is better than doc- trine. 7i It is better for a man to blunder than to be afraid to act. 72 Love is the supreme law of the heart, and Morality the supreme law of the mind. 21 73 Employment of the mind is the best tonic. 74 You can not make the most of your- self by making little of others. 75 The ghosts of generations past Still live in us, and hold us fast. 7 6 The fine arts Are divine arts Of fine hearts. 22 77 When Faith says Yes and Reason No, The Yes must ever weaker grow. 78 He : "I think not of myself enough." She : " That 's why you 're so uncouth and rough." 79 Though beauty be a dower For but a passing hour, How peerless is its power ! 80 Griefs there are that last forever, Though by lips they ne'er be spoken. 23 Ties there are Time cannot sever, Though the hearts they bind be broken. 81 No tears are utterly hopeless, Or never their course we could stay ; No smile is perfectly happy, Or never 't would fade away. 82 Though " Liberty" is but a little word, Tis written large on History's every page- In blood till recently, but now in gold. 83 Like Persian roses blooming in the snow The smiles are that you lovingly bestow On others, now that you are deep in woe. 24 8 4 Night is only darkened day ; Age is antiquated youth ; Error is perverted truth ; Sin is virtue all astray. 85 The roads in life that lead us, And speed us To love, or wealth, or fame, Are many ; but we pass Along them to the same Alas. 86 Many things seem out of place, Like the frown on Dives' face, Or the poor man's happy smile Still — but study them awhile, 25 You will grant, with easy grace, Each is in its proper place. 87 In every human creature There is a dual nature Athirst For what is best and worst ; And chiefly 'tis the chance Of circumstance Which cup Each one of us takes up. This was the thought of each to whom she bowed : A Sage, " Divine are beauty, health, and youth." 26 A Prince, " To win her, who would not be proud ? " A Poet, " Dreams are ever less than truth." A Nun, " Oh, would that I were pure as she ! " A Priest, " Few viler maids confess to me. 8 9 Sweet mem'ries bless My loneliness, As roses bloom About a tomb 90 Wisdom bids us bear our burdens With a firm and steadfast mind, Glancing not with trepidation Either forward or behind. 27 9 1 The points in which religions all agree, The best religion for mankind would be. 92 There 's many a rose halfblown The Autumn chills ; And many a love halfgrown Reflection kills. 93 The chief omission to be found In human nature's laws Is, that thereby we are not bound To bear the griefs we cause. 94 'T is not the lot we Ve got That sweetest seems, But that which we have not, I' the land of dreams. 28 95 How much do we forget ! This very day, Which seems momentous in its hopes and fears, In time will from our mem'ry fade away, Or wander, dateless, through a stretch of years. 9 6 To live without a care, Is not to live. To give the smaller share, Is not to give. A plan that bears no seed, Is not a plan. A man that has no creed, Is not a man. 29 97 No measure like the quatrain to supply The setting for a loving smile or sigh, Or for a tender, reminiscent tear, A dainty, quaint conceit, or withering sneer. 9 8 There 's much that 's sweet to feel That words cannot reveal ; And much that 's too divine For Feeling to define. 99 (From the German) If you receive a blessing, Your pride restrain : It might have cost another Some loss or pain. 30 And if you meet with sorrow, Remember, too, It might have spared another In seeking you. ioo She smiles when I Complain how fast The day has passed, And says : " Why sigh ? Time goes, but here We still are, dear." I smile, but know There '11 come a day When Time will stay, And we shall go. Ah, yes, I smile, But grieve the while. 31 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 015 863 447 8