Precept and Practice – JUNE 10 – Misfortunes

Something which befalls you may seem a great misfortune;- you meditate over its effects on you personally;  and begin to think that it is a chastisement, or a warning, or a this of that or the other of profound significance;  and that all the angels in heaven have left their business for a little while, that they may watch its effects on your mind.   But give up this egotistic indulgence of your fancy;  examine a little what misfortunes, greater a thousand-fold, are happening, every second, to twenty times worthier persons:  and your self-consciousness will change into pity and humility; and you will know yourself, so far as to understand that ‘there hath nothing taken thee but what is common to man.’

Ruskin

Some earnest enthusiasm of life is the effectual cure for all disquiet.  There will always be minor cares and troubles for those who are at leisure to attend to them;  nor can we be rescued from these except by interests and pursuits that take us out of their region.

J. H. Thom

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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