Sydney Smith

Have the courage to be ignorant of a great number of things, in order to avoid the calamity of being read more

Have the courage to be ignorant of a great number of things, in order to avoid the calamity of being ignorant of everything.

A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage. Every day sends to read more

A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves obscure men whose timidity prevented them from making a first effort.

We shall generally find that the triangular person has got into
the square hole, the oblong into the triangular, read more

We shall generally find that the triangular person has got into
the square hole, the oblong into the triangular, and a square
person has squeezed himself into the round hole.

Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not read more

Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.

Feast of Vincent de Paul, Founder of the Congregation of the Mission (Lazarists), 1660 The greatest curse which read more

Feast of Vincent de Paul, Founder of the Congregation of the Mission (Lazarists), 1660 The greatest curse which can be entailed upon mankind is a state of war. All the atrocious crimes committed in years of peace -- all that is spent in peace by the secret corruptions or by the thoughtless extravagances of nations -- are mere trifles compared with the gigantic evils which stalk over the world in a state of war. God is forgotten in war -- every principle of Christian charity is trampled upon.