Precept and Practice – OCTOBER 16 – Good Turns

He who receives a good turn should never forget it:  he who does one should never remember it.

Charron

… One man, when he has done a service to another, is ready to set it down to his account as a favour conferred.   Another is not ready to do this, but still in his own mind he thinks of the man as his debtor, and he knows what he has done.   A third in a manner does not even know what he has done, but he is like a vine which has produced grapes, and seeks for nothing more after it has once produced its proper fruit.   As a horse when he has run, a dog when he has caught the game, a bee when it has made its honey, so a man when he has done a good act does not call out for others to come and see, but he goes on to another act, as a vine goes on to produce again the grapes in season.   

Must a man, then, be one of these, who in a manner acts thus without observing it? Yes,

Marcus Aurelius

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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