HONOUR. L'honneur ressemble à l'œil, qui ne saurait souffrir la moindre impurité sans s'altérer; c'est une pierre précieuse dont le moindre défaut diminue le prix. VANITY. BOSSUET. Ce qui nous rend la vanité si insupportable c'est qu'elle blesse la nôtre. LA ROCHEFoucauld. APPEARANCE. Du bist am Ende was Du bist. - Sez' Dir Perücken auf von Millionen Locken, Set' Deinen Fuß auf ellenhohe Socken, Du bleibst doch immer was Du bist. GOETHE. IMITATION. It is by imitation, far more than by precept, that we learn everything; and what we learn thus we acquire not only more effectually, but more pleasantly. This forms our manners, our opinions, our lives. PRAISE. BURKE. Those who are greedy of praise, prove that they are poor in merit.* DRESS. PLUTARCH. En fait de parure il faut toujours rester au dessous de ce qu'on peut. MONTESQUIEU. ELOQUENCE. Fénelon says of Demosthenes: Il se sert de la parole, comme un homme modeste de son habit, pour se vêtir et non pour se parer. * This extract and those on pp. 19. and 123. are taken from La Harpe's Lycée (p. 354). He gives neither the original nor references. MODESTY. La modestie est au mérite ce que les ombres sont aux figures dans un tableau; elle lui donne de la force et du relief.* LA BRUYÈRE. TALENT. Voici comme je définis le talent: un don que Dieu nous a fait en secret, et que nous révélons sans le savoir. TACT. MONTESQUIEU. Talent is power; tact is skill. Talent is weight; tact is momentum. Talent knows * A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of. It heightens all the virtues which it accompanies; like the shades of paintings, it raises and rounds every figure, and makes the colours more beautiful, though not so glowing as they would be without it. ADDISON (Spectator, No. 231). Talent 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). FLATTERY. La flatterie est une fausse monnaie qui n'a cours que par notre vanité. LA ROCHEFOUCAULD. FLATTERY. On croit quelquefois haïr la flatterie; mais on ne hait que la manière de flatter. LA ROCHEFoucauld. |