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June 9, 2020
the next thing most like living one's life over again seems to be a recollection of that life, and to make that recollection as durable as possible by putting it down in writing.
emmets,
account of my rowing; but I insisted on their taking it. A man being sometimes more generous when he has but a little money than when he has plenty, perhaps thro' fear of being thought to have but little.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do.
the one who happen'd first to die should, if possible, make a friendly visit to the other, and acquaint him how he found things in that separate state. But he never fulfill'd his promise.
doubted whether some error had not insinuated itself unperceiv'd into my argument, so as to infect all that follow'd, as is common in metaphysical reasonings.
day, I never was without some religious principles. I never doubted, for instance, the existence of the Deity; that he made the world, and govern'd it by his Providence; that the most acceptable service of God was the doing good to man; that our souls are immortal; and that all crime will be punished, and virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter. These
had attained an acquaintance with the French, Italian, and Spanish, I was surpriz'd to find, on looking over a Latin Testament, that I understood so much more of that language than I had imagined,
In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the small-pox, taken in the common way. I long regretted bitterly, and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation. This I mention for the sake of parents who omit that operation, on the supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died under it; my example showing that the regret may be the same either way, and that, therefore, the safer should be chosen.
defense of the country was not disagreeable to any of them, provided they were not requir'd to assist in it. And
so." And, indeed, if it be the design of Providence to extirpate these savages in order to make room for cultivators of the earth, it seems not improbable that rum may be the appointed means. It has already annihilated all the tribes who formerly inhabited the sea-coast.
Human felicity is produc'd not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day.
They get victory sometimes, but they never get good will, which would be of more use to them.
This whole transaction gave us Americans the first suspicion that our exalted ideas of the prowess of British regulars had not been well founded.
justice and goodness, not only toward all men, but also toward the brute creatures; that, as the mind was moved by an inward principle to love God as an invisible, incomprehensible Being, so, by the same principle, it was moved to love him in all his manifestations in the visible world; that, as by his breath the flame of life was kindled in all animal sensible creatures, to say we love God as unseen, and at the same time exercise cruelty toward the least creature moving by his life, or by life derived from him, was a contradiction in itself. I
and keep these things sealed up in my own breast.
I looked upon the works of God in this visible creation, and an awfulness covered me. My heart was tender and often contrite, and universal love to my fellow-creatures increased in me. This will be understood by such as have trodden in the same path.
"The love of ease and gain are the motives in general of keeping slaves, and men are wont to
is often led to consider the purity of the Divine Being,
use action enough in some useful employ, or do I sit too much idle while some persons who labor to support me have too great a share of it? If in any of these things I am deficient, to
Doth vanity form imaginary wants? Do these wants prompt men to exert their power in requiring more from others than they would be willing to perform themselves, were the same required of them?
Does malice, when ripe, become revengeful, and in the end inflict terrible pains on our fellow-creatures and spread desolations in the world?
Christ directed them to use us in this sort, then Christ is a cruel tyrant."
There is nothing of which we are apt to be so lavish as of Time,
It were Happy if we studied Nature more in natural Things; and acted according
to Nature; whose rules are few, plain and most reasonable.
For how could Man find the Confidence to abuse it, while they should see the Great Creator stare them in the Face, in
Their Ignorance makes them insensible, and that Insensibility hardy in misusing this noble Creation, that has the Stamp and Voice of a Deity every where, and in every Thing to the Observing.
He knows not how to estimate his Creator, because he knows not how to value his Creation.
In his Prayers he says, Thy Will be done: But means his own: At least acts so.
It is Reproach to Religion and Government to suffer so much Poverty and Excess.
enough is as good as a Feast: But
it being the basest of Passions to like when we have not, what we slight when we possess.
Men are generally more careful of the Breed of their Horses and Dogs than of their Children.
Some are so Foolish as to interrupt and anticipate those that speak, instead of hearing and thinking before they answer; which is uncivil as well as silly.
For Truth often suffers more by the Heat of its Defenders, than from the Arguments of its Opposers. 143. Zeal
Only trust thy self, and another shall not betray thee.
cannot be a good Constitution, where the Appetite is great and the Digestion is weak. 165. There
It is not How we leave our Children, but What we leave them.
Never give out while there is Hope; but hope not beyond Reason, for that shews more Desire than Judgment.
Do Good with what thou hast, or it will do thee no good.
Haste makes Work which Caution
Tempt no Man; lest thou fall for it.
Do what good thou canst unknown; and be not vain of what ought rather to be felt, than seen.
He that does Good, for Good's sake, seeks neither Praise nor Reward; tho' sure of both at last.
Content not thy self that thou art Virtuous in the general: For one Link being wanting, the Chain is defective.
God is better served in resisting a Temptation to Evil, than in many formal Prayers.
The Humble, Meek, Merciful, Just Pious and Devout Souls, are everywhere of one Religion; and when Death has taken off the Mask, they will know one another, tho' the divers Liveries they wear here make them Strangers.
The tallest Trees are most in the Power of the Winds, and Ambitious Men of the Blasts of Fortune.
They are most seen and observed, and most envyed: Least Quiet, but most talk’d of, and not often to their Advantage
