Arts and sciences are not cast in a mould, but are found and
perfected by degrees, by often handling read more

Arts and sciences are not cast in a mould, but are found and
perfected by degrees, by often handling and polishing, as bears
leisurely lick their clubs into shape.

Jock, when he hae naething else to do, ye may be aye sticking in
a tree; it will be read more

Jock, when he hae naething else to do, ye may be aye sticking in
a tree; it will be growing, Jock, when ye're sleeping.

Alas! worse every day! this colony grows backward like the tail
of a calf.
[Lat., Heu quotidie pejus! read more

Alas! worse every day! this colony grows backward like the tail
of a calf.
[Lat., Heu quotidie pejus! haec colonia retroversus crescit
tanquam coda vituli.]

Everything is a gift of the universe -- even joy, anger, jealously, frustration, or separateness. Everything is perfect either for read more

Everything is a gift of the universe -- even joy, anger, jealously, frustration, or separateness. Everything is perfect either for our growth or our enjoyment.

Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.

Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.

Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow...

Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow...

"Oh! what a vile and abject thing is man unless he can erect
himself above humanity." Here is a read more

"Oh! what a vile and abject thing is man unless he can erect
himself above humanity." Here is a bon mot and a useful desire,
but equally absurd. For to make the handful bigger than the
hand, the armful bigger then the arm, and to hope to stride
further than the stretch of our legs, is impossible and
monstrous. . . . He may lift himself if God lend him His hand of
special grace; he may lift himself . . . by means wholly
celestial. It is for our Christian religion, and not for his
Stoic virtue, to pretend to this divine and miraculous
metamorphosis.

Confidence is a plant of slow growth; especially in an aged bosom.

Confidence is a plant of slow growth; especially in an aged bosom.

What? Was man made a wheel-work to wind up,
And be discharged, and straight wound up anew?
read more

What? Was man made a wheel-work to wind up,
And be discharged, and straight wound up anew?
No! grown, his growth lasts; taught, he ne'er forgets;
May learn a thousand things, not twice the same.