Reflect on your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men read more

Reflect on your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.

A great fortune in the hands of a fool is a great misfortune.

A great fortune in the hands of a fool is a great misfortune.

Misfortune tests friends, and detects enemies

Misfortune tests friends, and detects enemies

Rocks whereon greatest men have oftest wreck'd.

Rocks whereon greatest men have oftest wreck'd.

Fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen,
Fallen from his high estate,
And welt'ring in his blood;
read more

Fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen,
Fallen from his high estate,
And welt'ring in his blood;
Deserted at his utmost need,
By those his former bounty fed;
On the bare earth expos'd he lies,
With not a friend to close his eyes.

One more unfortunate
Weary of breath,
Rashly importunate,
Gone to her death!

One more unfortunate
Weary of breath,
Rashly importunate,
Gone to her death!

Man's great misfortune is that he has no organ, no kind of eyelid or brake, to mask or block a read more

Man's great misfortune is that he has no organ, no kind of eyelid or brake, to mask or block a thought, or all thought, when he wants to

There is nothing so wretched or foolish as to anticipate
misfortunes. What madness it is in your expecting evil read more

There is nothing so wretched or foolish as to anticipate
misfortunes. What madness it is in your expecting evil before it
arrives!
[Lat., Nil est nec miserius nec stultius quam praetimere. Quae
ista dementia est, malum suum antecedere!]

Ignorance of all things is an evil neither terrible nor excessive, nor yet the greatest of all; but great cleverness read more

Ignorance of all things is an evil neither terrible nor excessive, nor yet the greatest of all; but great cleverness and much learning, if they be accompanied by a bad training, are a much greater misfortune.