Precept and Practice – OCTOBER 19 – Gambling

Gambling flourishes under the aegis of drink;  it runs drink hard at the present day as the most successful line in the devil’s business.   It is dis-honouring to all good sport, as though the game weren’t worth playing without these paltry adventitious excitements.   It is dishonest, because it means one man takes another man’s money without earning it.   And it is infinitely dangerous, for the law-courts show that it is the most fruitful source of embezzlement and fraud.   ‘Oh, but I shall know when to stop.’   You may know well enough when to stop, but be absolutely powerless to do it.   It is like taking hold of the handles of an electric generator:  it is very easy to take hold, it is uncommonly hard to let go.

On the contrary, exact strict account for yourself of the money that you receive and spend.   Keep accounts and balance up every night.   Money is more than anything the test of conduct.   It is better to be over-punctilious and careful in this matter than to be loose.   If Mr. Gladstone wasn’t above doing this, you and I need not consider ourselves above it.

J. Lewis Paton (From a Letter)

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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