
“If thou hast sought happiness and missed it, but hast found wisdom instead, thou art fortunate.”
Source: Aphorisms and Reflections (1901), p. 85
Act IV, scene 2.
The Tragedy of Bonduca (1611–14; published 1647)
“If thou hast sought happiness and missed it, but hast found wisdom instead, thou art fortunate.”
Source: Aphorisms and Reflections (1901), p. 85
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727)
“How manifold it is, what thou hast made!”
Great Hymn to the Aten, as translated in The Ancient Near East, Vol. 1 : An Anthology of Texts and Pictures (1958) by James B. Pritchard, p. 227
Context: How manifold it is, what thou hast made!
They are hidden from the face.
O sole god, like whom there is no other!
Thou didst create the world according to thy desire,
Whilst thou wert alone: All men, cattle, and wild beasts,
Whatever is on earth, going upon feet,
And what is on high, flying with its wings.
“Let not thy mind run on what thou lackest as much as on what thou hast already.”
VII, 27
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VII
Context: Think not so much of what thou hast not as of what thou hast: but of the things which thou hast, select the best, and then reflect how eagerly they would have been sought, if thou hadst them not. At the same time, however, take care that thou dost not, through being so pleased with them, accustom thyself to overvalue them, so as to be disturbed if ever thou shouldst not have them.
Source: The Gospel in Ezekiel Illustrated in a Series of Discourses (1856), P. 32 (The Defiler).
“Oh, Diamond! Diamond! thou little knowest what mischief thou hast done!”
This is from an anecdote found in St. Nicholas magazine, Vol. 5, No. 4, (February 1878) http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15331/15331-h/15331-h.htm :
Sir Isaac Newton had on his table a pile of papers upon which were written calculations that had taken him twenty years to make. One evening, he left the room for a few minutes, and when he came back he found that his little dog "Diamond" had overturned a candle and set fire to the precious papers, of which nothing was left but a heap of ashes.
“Count not that thou hast lived that day, in which thou hast not lived with God.”
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 117.
“Since Thou hast regarded me,
Grace and beauty hast Thou given me.”
Spiritual Canticle of The Soul and The Bridegroom
Context: Despise me not,
For if I was swarthy once
Thou canst regard me now;
Since Thou hast regarded me,
Grace and beauty hast Thou given me. ~ 33