C.N. Douglas, comp. Forty Thousand Quotations: Prose and Poetical. 1917.
Xenophon
A man’s praises have very musical and charming accents in another’s mouth, but very flat and untunable in his own.
Excess of grief for the deceased is madness; for it is an injury to the living, and the dead know it not.
Fire burns only when we are near it, but a beautiful face burns and inflames, though at a distance.
It is only for those to employ force who possess strength without judgment; but the well advised will have recourse to other means. Besides, he who pretends to carry his point by force hath need of many associates; but the man who can persuade knows that he is himself sufficient for the purpose; neither can such a one be supposed forward to shed blood; for, who is there would choose to destroy a fellow citizen rather than make a friend of him by mildness and persuasion?
Policy goes beyond strength, and contrivance before action; hence it is that direction is left to the commander, execution to the soldier, who is not to ask why, but to do what he is commanded.
The divine nature is perfection; and to be nearest to the divine nature is to be nearest to perfection.
The sweetest of all sounds is praise.