Precept and Practice – JUNE 4 – The Sweetest Things of Life

The best things are nearest:  breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just before you.   Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life’s plain common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things of life.

A night’s sleep, what a miracle of mercy it is;  and a new day with the waking up of health to face it;  aye, even a pleasant meal with one’s household, is not that worth a thanksgiving?    Or, an interesting book, an hour with an old friend, a Sunday’s quiet resting after a strained and weary week, or some new light of interest or meaning in one’s favourite line of study – it is such things as these, far more than great special blessings, which make up the sum of happy life;  and it is such things, if one would but think of them more, and not be always taking them as a matter of course, which would fill our days with thanksgivings.

Brooke Herford

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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