Precept and Practice – JUNE 14 – The Guiding Marks of a Wise Life

The great guiding marks of a wise life are indeed few and simple: to do our duty, to avoid useless sorrow, and to acquiesce patiently in the inevitable.

William Lecky

Mrs. Garth had that rare sense which discerns what is unalterable, and submits to it without murmuring.   Adoring her husband’s virtues she had early made up her mind to his incapacity of minding his own interests, and had met the consequences cheerfully.   She had been magnanimous enough to renounce all pride in teapots of children’s frilling, and had never poured any pathetic confidences into the ears of her feminine neighbours concerning Mr. Garth’s want of prudence and the sums he might have had if he had been like other men.

George Eliot

There is no use arguing with the inevitable;  the only argument with an east wind is to put on your overcoat.

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