C.N. Douglas, comp. Forty Thousand Quotations: Prose and Poetical. 1917.
Repose
Power rests in tranquillity.
A gentleman makes no noise; a lady is serene.
Our foster-nurse of nature is repose.
The toils of honor dignify repose.
Vulgar people can’t be still.
What sweet delight a quiet life affords.
But quiet to quick bosoms is a hell.
Too much rest itself becomes a pain.
There is no mortal truly wise and restless at once; wisdom is the repose of minds.
The heart that is to be filled to the brim with holy joy must be held still.
When a man finds not repose in himself it is in vain for him to seek it elsewhere.
Repose without stagnation is the state most favorable to happiness. “The great felicity of life,” says Seneca, “is to be without perturbations.”
The gravest events dawn with no more noise than the morning star makes in rising.
Repose and cheerfulness are the badge of the gentleman—repose in energy. The Greek battle pieces are calm; the heroes, in whatever violent actions engaged, retain a serene aspect.
Have you known how to compose your manners? You have done a great deal more than he who has composed books. Have you known how to take repose? You have done more than he who has taken cities and empires.
As unity demanded for its expression what at first might have seemed its opposite—variety; so repose demands for its expression the implied capability of its opposite—energy. It is the most unfailing test of beauty; nothing can be ignoble that possesses it, nothing right that has it not.
The repose necessary to all beauty is repose, not of inanition, nor of luxury, nor of irresolution, but the repose of magnificent energy and being; in action, the calmness of trust and determination; in rest, the consciousness of duty accomplished and of victory won; and this repose and this felicity can take place as well in the midst of trial and tempest, as beside the waters of comfort.