does not save from error, nor wealth from trouble.

The owner of the house knows best what is in it.

SPECULATIVE STUDIES

All speculative research ends in perplexing uncertainty.

I sought in the great sea of theoretical learning a bottom on which to stand—and found nothing but one wave dashing me against another.

After a lifetime of research and learning, I amassed nothing but such phrases as: "It is said," or "They say."

O erring reason, I am sick of thee! I take a single step and thou movest a whole mile away from me.

The object sought in abstruse study is either a truth which cannot be known, or a vain thing which it is useless to know.

THOUGHTS, DOUBTS

Most thoughts are wishes.

The thoughts of the wise are more trustworthy than the convictions of fools.

Do not confuse opinions with certainties.

If you are doubtful of a thing let it alone.

Remove doubts by enquiry.

A thing that is heard is not like a thing that is seen.

Do not believe all that you hear.

It is not wise to be sure of a thing only because you think so.

Where there is much difference of opinion it is difficult to know the truth.

To think well of others is a religious duty.

He who thinks well of others is a happy man.

He who has an evil thing in him thinks all men are like him.

If a man think well of you, make his thought true.

A poet says: "It was my habit to think well of others until experience taught me otherwise."

Be well with God and fear nothing.

Most men think well of themselves, and this is self-delusion.

WISDOM, PRUDENCE, EXPERIENCE

Reason is a light in the heart which distinguishes between truth and error.

A wise man sees with his heart what a fool does not see with his eyes.

Men should be judged according to their lights (reason).

A wise man is not he who considers how he may get out of an evil, but he who sees that he does not fall into it.

Actions are judged by their endings. If you desire a thing, consider its end.

A man cannot be wise without experience.

No wise man will be bitten twice from the same den.

No boon is so remunerative as reason.

Long experience is an addition to mind.

Consideration may take the place of experience.

A wise man is he who has been taught by experience.

One word is sufficient to the wise man.

A cheap offer makes a wise purchaser wary.

He who considers consequences will attain his object, and he who does not carefully think on them, evil will be sure to overtake him.

Everything has need of reason, and reason has need of experience.

Mind and experience are like water and earth co-operating—neither of which alone can bring forth a flower.

Reason and anxious thought are inseparable.

A wise man is never happy. (For in much wisdom is much grief, and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.—ECCLES. i. 18.)

IGNORANCE, FOLLY

Ignorance is the greatest poverty.

Ignorance is death in life.

There is no evil so great as ignorance.

Folly is an incurable disease.

A foolish man is like an old garment, which if you patch it in one place becomes rent in many other places.

It is just as allowable to blame a blind man for want of sight as to blame a fool for his folly.

To bear the folly of a fool is indeed a great hardship.

The best way to treat a fool is to shun him.

The fool is an enemy to himself—how can he then be a friend to others?

An ignorant man is highly favoured, for he casts away the burden of life, and does not vex his soul with thoughts of time and eternity.

The most effectual preacher to a man is himself. A man never turns away from his passions unless the rebuke comes from himself to himself.

CONSULTATION

If you consult a wise man, his wisdom becomes yours.

Confide your secret to one only, and hear the counsel of a thousand. (In the multitude of counsellors there is safety. PROV. xi. 14.)

A counsellor is a trusted man.

When men consult together, they are led by the wisest among them.

The knowledge of two is better than the knowledge of one. Two heads are better than one.

Let your counsellor be one who fears God.

Consult a man of experience, for he gives you what has cost him much, and for which you give nothing.

A man who is older than yourself by a day is more experienced than you by a year.

Consult an older man and a younger, then decide for yourself.

The wisest may need the advice of others.

He who is wise, and consults others, is a whole man; he who has a wise opinion of his own, and seeks no counsel from others, is half a man; and he who has no opinion of his own, and seeks no advice, is no man at all.

No man can be sorry for seeking advice, or happy if he blindly follows out his own thoughts.

SPEAKING, WRITING, BOOKS

If it were not for the faculty of speech, man would be nothing more than a silent picture or a contemptible animal.

The tongue is the best part of man.

Man is hidden behind his tongue.

A man's talk shows what kind of mind he has.

What you write is the truest thing that can be said of you.

The words of eloquent men are like a mighty army, and their writings like glittering swords.

Note down in writing what you learn. All knowledge which is not committed to writing is lost.

The best handwriting is that which is most easily read.

A bad pen is like an unruly, undutiful child.

If you value a book you will read it through.

If you write a book, be ready to encounter criticism.

A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.

A book is an eloquent, silent companion, or a speaking friend answering and questioning you.

Books are the food of minds.

There is something wise in every proverb.

The tongues of men are the pens of truth.

Poets, love-stricken, ramble up and down in every valley.

Poetry is one of the musical instruments of Satan.

SILENCE, GUARDED SPEECH

Wise men are silent.

Silence is often more eloquent than words.

Be not hasty with your tongue. If words are silver, silence is gold.

Not all that is known should be said.

Silence is a wise thing, but they who observe it are few.

When the mind becomes large speech becomes little.

Restrain your tongue from saying anything but what is good.

An unguarded word may do you great harm.

A man who talks much is open to much blame.

The most faulty of men are they that are most loquacious in matters which do not concern them.

To guard his tongue is one of the best traits in a man's character.

Man is saved from much evil if he guard his tongue.

The tongue is a lion which must be chained, and a sharp sword which must be sheathed.

Nothing on earth is so deserving of a long imprisonment as the tongue.

Beware of saying anything of which you may be ashamed.

It is better to regret a thing which you did not say than a thing which you did say.

A slip of the foot is safer than a slip of the tongue. A false step may break a bone which can be set, but a slip of the tongue cannot be undone.

A thrust of the tongue is sharper than the thrust of a lance.

A word may cause much trouble, destroy a home, or open a grave.

A great tree grows out of a small seed.

The difference between loquacity and