Precept and Practice – JUNE 6 – Cheerfulness

The men whom I have seen succeed best in life have always been cheerful and hopeful men, who went about their business with a smile on their faces, and took the changes and chances of this life like men facing rough and smooth as it came, and so found the truth of the old proverb:  ‘Good Times and Bad Times, and All Times, pass over.’ 

The Reverend Charles Kingsley

What, indeed, does the word ‘cheerfulness’ imply?   It means a contented spirit;  it means a pure heart;  it means a kind and loving disposition;  it means humility and charity;  it means a generous appreciation of others and a modest opinion of self.

W. M. Thackeray

Good temper is like a sunny day; it sheds its brightness upon everything.

oooOOOooo

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