Sir William Temple's Essays, Volumes 1 à 2

Couverture
John Sharpe, 1821
 

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Page 119 - The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new ? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.
Page 41 - I doubt not, been cast for that purpose, if this piece of gardening had been then in as much vogue as it is now.
Page 64 - But whether either of these be modern Discoveries, or derived from old Fountains, is disputed: Nay, it is so too, whether they are true or no; for though Reason may seem to favour them more than the contrary Opinions, yet Sense can very hardly allow them; and to satisfie Mankind, both these must concur.
Page 42 - ... which shall yet, upon the whole, be very agreeable. Something of this I have seen in some places, but heard more of it from others who have lived much among the Chinese, a people whose way of thinking seems to lie as wide of ours in Europe as their country does.
Page 52 - ... the seasons whether they come up or no, and whether he or any other gather the fruit. I have chosen those subjects of these essays, wherein I take human life to be most concerned, and which are of most common use, or most necessary knowledge ; and wherein, though I may not be able to inform men more than they know, yet I may perhaps give them the occasion to consider more than they do.
Page 122 - ... of them which makes them inexcusable. In this world, madam, there is nothing perfectly good ; and whatever is called so, is but either comparatively with other things of its kind, or else with the evil that is mingled in its composition...
Page 49 - The measure of choosing well is whether a man likes what he has chosen, which, I thank God, has befallen me; and though among the follies of my life, building and planting have not been the least, and have cost me...
Page 44 - ... the most general and most innocent amusements of common time and life. They still find room in the Courts of Princes, and the cottages of shepherds. They serve to revive and animate the dead calm, of poor or idle lives, and to allay or . divert .the violent passions and perturbations of the greatest and the busiest men.
Page 52 - ... those of their neighbours ; and this, in quest of books rather than men, for their guides, though these are living, and those, in comparison, but dead instructors ; which, like a hand with an inscription, can point out the straight way upon the road, but can neither tell you the next turnings, resolve your doubts, or answer your questions, like a guide that has traced it over, and perhaps knows it as well as his chamber.
Page 45 - When all is done, human life is, at the greatest and the best, but like a froward child, that must be played with and humoured a little to keep it quiet till it falls asleep, and then the care is over.

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