Precept and Practice – JUNE 9 – Melancholy 

You are always complaining of melancholy, and I conclude from those complaints that you are fond of it.   No man talks of that which he is desirous to conceal, and every man desires to conceal that of which he is ashamed.   Do not pretend to deny it;  manifestum habemus furem;  make it an invariable and obligatory law to yourself, never to mention your own mental diseases;  if you are never to speak of them, you will think on them but little;  and if you think little of them, they will molest you rarely.   When you talk of them it is plain that you want either praise or pity;  for praise there is no room, and pity will do you no good:  therefore, from this hour speak no more, think no more about them.

Dr. Johnson

It is usually not so much the greatness of our trouble, as the littleness of our spirit, which makes us complain.

Jeremy Taylor

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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