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MACKENZIE, Henry Quotes
(1745-1831), Scottish novelist
It is from the remembrance of joys we have lost that the arrows of affliction are pointed.
There are two kinds of bashfulness: one, the awkwardness of the booby, which a few steps into the world will convert into the pertness of a coxcomb; the other, a consciousness, which the most delicate feelings produce, and the most extensive knowledge cannot always remove.
There is no use of money equal to that of beneficence; here the enjoyment grows on reflection; and our money is most truly ours when it ceases to be in our possession.
It is only from the belief of the goodness and wisdom of a supreme being, that our calamities can be borne in the manner which becomes a man.
Mankind, in the gross, is a gaping monster, that loves to be deceived, and has seldom been disappointed.
Mankind in the gross is a gaping monster, that loves to be deceived, and has seldom been disappointed.
Fame is a revenue payable only to our ghosts; and to deny ourselves all present satisfaction, or to expose ourselves to so much hazard for this, were as great madness as to starve ourselves or fight desperately for food to be laid on our tombs after our death.
People do not care to give alms without some security for their money; and a wooden leg or a withered arm is a sort of draft upon heaven for those who choose to have their money placed to account there.
Knowledge is said to be power: and it is power in the same sense that wood is fuel. Wood on fire is fuel. Knowledge on fire is power. There is no more power in knowledge than there is in the stones or stars, unless there be a spirit and life in the knowledge which give it its energy. In proportion as men have this spiritual power they become strong in the world.
Luxury makes a man so soft, that it is hard to please him, and easy to trouble him; so that his pleasures at last become his burden. Luxury is a nice master, hard to be pleased.
Mankind in the gross is a gaping monster, that loves to be deceived, and has seldom been disappointed.
An old man who has lived in the exercise of virtue, looking back without a blush on his past days, and pointing to that better state where alone he can be perfectly rewarded, is a figure the most venerable that can well be imagined.
Pedantry, in the common acceptation of the word, means an absurd ostentation of learning, and stiffness of phraseology, proceeding from a misguided knowledge of books, and a total ignorance of men.
What signifies sadness; a man grows lean upon it.
It is curious to observe how the nature of truth may be changed by the garb it wears; softened to the admonition of friendship, or soured into the severity of reproof; yet this severity may be useful to some tempers: it somewhat resembles a file, disagreeable in its operation, but hard metal may be the brighter for it.
They who have never known prosperity can hardly be said to be unhappy; it is from the remembrance of joys we have lost, that the arrows of affliction are pointed.
In this world of resemblances, we are content with personating happiness; to feel it is in art beyond us.
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