Precept & Practice – APRIL 27 – Public Benefactors

To ignore trifling annoyances, to avoid ultra-fastidiousness, to condone human frailties, ‘remembering whereof we are all made’:  to think the east wind will go round to the south, to believe that the darkest hour is just before dawn:  in a word, to make the best of things is to become a public benefactor without profession of philanthropy.

He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much, who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children;  who has filled his niche and accomplished his task;  who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul;  who has never lacked appreciation of earth’s beauty or failed to express it;  who has always looked for the best in others and given the best he had;  whose life was an inspiration;  whose memory a benediction

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From the Introduction to Precept and Practice

The kindly welcome given to my other little books, ‘Being and Doing’ and ‘Character and Conduct,’ must be my excuse for adding another collection of extracts to the number now in circulation.

The quotations are gathered from the books of many earnest thinkers, and deal with Life in all its length and breadth, with ourselves, our characters, our plain unvarnished faults and weaknesses, our often untoward circumstances, and with all that drags us down;-  with our purposes, our religion, our love and friendships, and with all that uplifts us;-  with our relation to others, our influence and responsibilities, and finally with those stages of our journey which bring us to the Road’s Last Turn and to the Silent Land.

CONSTANCE  M. WHISHAW