John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
Page 721
| Samuel Smiles. (1816–1904) (continued) |
| 7197 |
| We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery. |
| Self-Help. |
| Philip James Bailey. (1816–1905) |
| 7198 |
| Evil and good are God’s right hand and left. |
| Festus. Proem. |
| 7199 |
| Art is man’s nature; nature is God’s art. |
| Festus. Proem. |
| 7200 |
| Let each man think himself an act of God, His mind a thought, his life a breath of God; And let each try, by great thoughts and good deeds, To show the most of Heaven he hath in him. |
| Festus. Proem. |
| 7201 |
| Men might be better if we better deemed Of them. The worst way to improve the world Is to condemn it. |
| Festus. Scene iv. A Mountain. Sunrise. 1 |
| 7202 |
| We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; In feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best. Life’s but a means unto an end; that end Beginning, mean, and end to all things,—God. |
| Festus. Scene v. A Country Town. |
| 7203 |
| Who never doubted never half believed 2 Where doubt there truth is—’t is her shadow. |
| Festus. Scene v. A Country Town. |
| 7204 |
| America thou half-brother of the world! With something good and bad of every land. |
| Festus. Scene x. Earth’s Surface. |
| Note 1. J. R. Lowell: Biglow Papers, II, ii. St. 9. The surest plan to make a man Is to think him so. [back] |
| Note 2. Tennyson: There lives more faith in honest doubt Believe me, than in half the creeds. [back] |