DICTIONARY

OF

QUOTATIONS

From Ancient and Modern, English and
Foreign Sources


INCLUDING

PHRASES, MOTTOES, MAXIMS, PROVERBS, DEFINITIONS, APHORISMS,
AND SAYINGS OF WISE MEN, IN THEIR BEARING ON LIFE,
LITERATURE, SPECULATION, SCIENCE, ART,
RELIGION, AND MORALS

ESPECIALLY IN THE MODERN ASPECTS OF THEM


SELECTED AND COMPILED BY THE
R E V.   J A M E S   W O O D
EDITOR OF "NUTTALL'S STANDARD DICTIONARY"


"Aphorisms are portable wisdom."—W. R. Alger
"A proverb is much matter decocted into few words."—Fuller

LONDON
FREDERICK WARNE AND CO.
AND NEW YORK
1893

PREFACE

The present "Book of Quotations" was undertaken in the belief that, notwithstanding the many excellent compilations of the kind already in existence, there was room for another that should glean its materials from a wider area, and that should have more respect to the requirements, both speculative and practical, of the times we live in. The wide-spread materials at command had never yet been collected into a single volume, and certain modern writings, fraught with a wisdom that supremely deserves our regard, had hardly been quarried in at all.

The Editor has therefore studied to compile a more comprehensive collection; embracing something of this wisdom, which naturally bears more directly on the interests of the present day. To these interests the Editor has all along had an eye, and he has been careful to collect, from ancient sources as well as modern, sayings that seem to reveal an insight into them, and bear pertinently upon them; they are such as are specified on the title-page, and they are one and all more than passing ones. The aphorisms which wise men have uttered on these vital topics can never fail to deserve our regard, and they will prove edifying to us, even should we, led by a higher wisdom, be inclined to say nay to them. For, as it has been said, "The errors of a wise man are more instructive than the truths of a fool. The wise man travels in lofty, far-seeing regions; the fool in low-lying, high-fenced lanes; retracing the footsteps of the former, to discover where he deviated, whole provinces of the universe are laid open to us; in the path of the latter, granting even that he has not deviated at all, little is laid open to us but two wheel-ruts and two hedges."

The quotations collected in this book, (particularly those bearing on the vital interests referred to,) are, it will be generally admitted, the words of wise men; therefore the Editor has endeavoured to ascertain and give the names of their authors, when not known. For, though the truth and worth of the sayings are nowise dependent on their authorship, it is well to know who those were that felt the burden they express, and found relief in uttering them. What was of moment to them, may well be of moment to others, and must be worthy of all regard and well deserving of being laid to heart.

Except in the case of quotations from Shakespeare, the reader will observe that the Editor has quoted only the names of the authors or the books from which they are taken, and has not, as might be expected of him, supplied either chapter or verse. The reason is, he did not think it worth the labour and expense that would have been involved in doing so, while the quotations given are for most part independent of the context, and are perfectly intelligible in their own light. They are all more or less of an aphoristic quality, and the meaning and application are evident to any one who understands the subject of which they treat.

As for the other qualities of these quotations, they will be found to be in general brief in expression and pointed