Voici comme je définis le talent: un don que Dieu nous a fait en secret, et que nous révélons sans le savoir. Montesquieu. GENIUS AND TALENT. Genius looks to the cause and life; it proceeds from within outward, whilst talent goes from without inward. Talent finds its models and methods and ends in society, exists for exhibition, and goes to the soul only for power to work. Genius is its own end, and draws its means and the style of its architecture from within, going abroad only for audience and spectators, as we adapt our voice and phrase to the distance and character of the ear we speak to. All your learning of all literature would never enable you to anticipate one of its thoughts or expressions, and yet each is natural and familiar as household words. Emerson. TACT. Talent Talent is power; tact is skill. Talent is weight; tact is momentum. Talent knows what to do; tact knows how to do it. makes a man respectable; tact will make him respected. Talent is wealth; tact is ready money. Talent is pleased that it ought to have succeeded; tact is delighted that it has succeeded. Talent toils for a posterity which will never repay it; tact throws away no pains, but catches the passions of the passing hour. Talent builds for eternity; tact for a short lease, and gets good interest. Anon. ("Atlas.") OBSTACLES. The block of granite which was an obstacle in the pathway of the weak, becomes a steppingstone in the pathway of the strong. Carlyle. PROGRESS. Es soll nicht genügen daß man Schritte thue die einst zum Ziele führen, sondern jeder Schritt soll Ziel sein. FLATTERY. Goethe. La flatterie est une fausse monnaie qui n'a cours que par notre vanité. La Rochefoucauld FLATTERY. Flattery is often a traffic of mutual meanness, where, although both parties intend deception, neither is deceived. FLATTERY. Colton. On croit quelquefois haïr la flatterie; mais on ne hait que la manière de flatter. La Rochefoucauld. FLATTERY AND DEFAMATION. "I resolve," says Bishop Beveridge, "never to speak of a man's virtues before his face; nor of his faults behind his back;" a golden rule! the observation of which would, at one stroke, banish flattery and defamation from the earth. A LIE. Bishop Horne Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all. O. W. Holmes FALSEHOOD. Je mehr Schwäche je mehr Lüge; die Kraft geht gerade; jede Kanonenkugel, die Höhlen oder Gruben hat, geht frumm. Schwächlinge müssen lügen. Jean Paul Richter. PRAISING THE GREAT.* On loue les grands pour marquer qu'on les voit de près, rarement par estime ou par gratitude. La Bruyère. PRAISING PRINCES FALSELY. Louer des princes des vertus qu'ils n'ont pas, c'est leur dire impunément des injures. Rochefoucauld. FRIENDSHIP. There are few subjects which have been more written upon, and less understood, than that of friendship. To follow the dictates of some, this |