Precept and Practice – AUGUST 24 – Books

I have friends – my books – whose society is extremely agreeable to me;  they are of all ages, and of every country.   They have distinguished themselves both in the cabinet and in the field, and obtained high honours for their knowledge of the sciences.   It is easy to gain access to them;  for they are always at my service, and I admit them to my company, and dismiss them from it whenever I please.   They are never troublesome, but immediately answer every question I ask them.   Some relate to me the events of past ages, while others relate to me the secrets of nature.   Some teach me how to live, and others how to die.   Some by their vivacity drive away my cares, and exhilarate my spirits, while others give fortitude to my mind, and teach me the important lesson how to restrain my desires, and to depend wholly upon myself.

(Petrarch)

Books are precious heirlooms from one generation to another, training us, encouraging us, teaching us by the words and thoughts of men, whose bodies are crumbled into dust long ago, but whose words – the power of uttering themselves, which they got from Christ, the Word of God – still live and bear fruit in our hearts, and in the hearts of our children after us, till the last day.

)The Reverend Charles Kingsley)

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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