Precept and Practice – JUNE 2 – Disposition

Man is the artificer of his own happiness.   Let him beware how he complains of the disposition of circumstances, for it is his own disposition he blames.

If this is sour, or that rough, or the other steep, let him think if it be not his work.   If his looks curdle all hearts, let him not complain of a sour reception;  if he hobble in his gait, let him not grumble at the roughness of the way;  if he is weak in his knees, let him not call the hill steep.   This was the pith of the inscription on the wall of the Swedish inn:  ‘You will find at Trochate excellent bread, meat and wine, provided you bring them with you.’

Thoreau

Our heart makes our world for us, and if the heart be without hope and cheer, the world is always dark.   We find in life just what we have the capacity to find.

No enjoyment, however inconsiderable, is confined to the present moment.   A man is the happier for life for having made once an agreeable tour, or lived for any length of time with pleasant people, or enjoyed any considerable interval of innocent pleasure.

Sydney Smith

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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