Flee, and she follows: follow, and she’ll flee. A man chases a woman until she catches him. Boys win girls best with flattery. A word and a stone once let go cannot be recalled.
Words are the voice of the heart. Words are the only things that last forever. Our words have wings, but fly not where we would. Men of few words are the best men.
Words, like glass, darken whatever they do not help to see. It is as easy to draw back a stone thrown with force from the hand as to recall back a word once spoken. No man does as much work today as he is going to do tomorrow. If you want work well done, select a busy man.
Long talk makes short work. It may be hard to work, but it must be harder to want. Work is a fine fire for frozen fingers. Faith without works is dead.
A bad workman quarrels with his tools. Workmen are easier found than masters. As is the workman, so is the work. Even horses turn their backs to work.
He who would climb a ladder must start at the bottom. At the workingman’s house, hunger looks in but dares not enter. The world is a ladder for some to go up, and some down. The world is a net; the more we stir in it, the more we are entangled.
In spite of colleges and schools, the world remains a ship of fools. The world is a great book, of which they who never stir from home read only a page. Sorrow to the soul is what the worm is to wood. To carry care to bed is to sleep with a pack on your back.
Taking things philosophically is easy if they don’t concern you. The wicked grow worse, and good men better for trouble. A man’s best fortune, or his worst, is his wife. It is best to make the best of the worst.
Imitate the best, not the worst. The worst wheel of the cart makes the most noise. The worth of a thing is best known by the want of it. An ounce of patience is worth a pound of brains.
Little enemies and little wounds must not be despised. A soft answer turns away wrath. If a thing is done wrong, it is far better that it had not been done at all. There is as much in knowing how not to do wrong as there is in knowing how to do right.
Retribution is sure to come to him who does wrong. The most honest people are those who are too ignorant to know how to do wrong. Years know more than books. No man can call again yesterday.
