Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 1011

I cannot call any man poor that has enough still left, be it never so little: it is good advice yet to those that have the world before them, to play the good husbands betimes, for it is too late to spare at the bottom, when all is drawn out to the lees. He that takes away a day from me, takes away what he can never restore me. But our time is either _forced away_ from us, or _stolen_ from us, or _lost_; of which the last is the foulest miscarriage.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 482

He is not moved with the utmost violence of fortune, nor with the extremities of fire and sword; whereas a fool is afraid of his own shadow, and surprised at ill accidents, as if they were all levelled at him. He does nothing unwillingly, for whatever he finds necessary, he makes it his choice. He propounds to himself the certain scope and end of human life: he follows that which conduces to it, and avoids that which hinders it.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 1005

In the division of life, there is time _present_, _past_, and _to come_. What we _do_ is _short_, what we _shall do_ is _doubtful_, but what we _have done_ is _certain_, and out of the power of fortune. The passage of time is wonderfully quick, and a man must look backward to see it; and, in that retrospect, he has all past ages at a view; but the present gives us the slip unperceived.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 69

Which want of resolution was fatal to them all; for Silvanus also, that was one of the conspirators, assisted now to serve and to increase those crimes, which he had before complotted to revenge. And yet he did not think fit to appear himself in the business, but sent a centurion to Seneca to tell him his doom.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 1421

The Romans had their _morning_ and their _meridian spectacles_. In the _former_, they had their combats of _men_ with _wild beasts_; and in the _latter_, the _men_ fought _one with another_. “I went,” says our author, “the other day to the _meridian spectacles_, in hope of meeting somewhat of mirth and diversion to sweeten the humors of those that had been entertained with blood in the _morning_; but it proved otherwise, for, compared with this inhumanity, the former was a mercy.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 1231

Thirdly, It is to no purpose. “It is a sad thing,” we cry, “to put up with these injuries, and we are not able to bear them;” as if any man that can bear _anger_ could not bear an _injury_, which is much more supportable. You will say that anger does some good yet, for it keeps people in awe, and secures a man from contempt; never considering, that it is more dangerous to be feared than despised. Suppose that an angry man could do as much as he threatens; the more terrible, he is still the more odious; and on the other side, if he wants power, he is the more despicable for his anger; for there is nothing more wretched than a choleric huff, that makes a noise, and nobody cares for it.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 828

Some have escaped out of the fire; others, when a house has fallen over their head, have received no hurt: one man has been saved when a sword was at his throat; another has been condemned, and outlived his headsman: so that ill-fortune, we see, as well as good, has her levities; peradventure it will be, peradventure not; and until it comes to pass, we are not sure of it: we do many times take words in a worse sense than they were intended, and imagine things to be worse taken than they are.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 503

He that robs upon the highway had rather find his booty than force it; ask any of them that live upon rapine, fraud, oppression, if they had not rather enjoy a fortune honestly gotten, and their consciences will not suffer them to deny it.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 118

such an estate?” as if that were the benefit which is only the sign and mark of it: for the obligation rests in the mind, not in the matter; and all those advantages which we see, handle, or hold in actual possession by the courtesy of another, are but several modes or ways of explaining and putting the good-will in execution.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 761

Did not our consuls live more happily when they cooked their own meat with those victorious hands that had conquered so many enemies and won so many laurels? Did they not live more happily, I say, than our Apicius (that corrupter of youth, and plague of the age he lived in) who, after he had spent a prodigious fortune upon his belly, poisoned himself for fear of starving, when he had yet 250,000 crowns in his coffers?

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 451

Let us therefore, _first_, consider “what it is we should be at;” and, _secondly_, “which is the readiest way to compass it.” If we be right, we shall find every day how much we improve; but if we either follow the cry, or the track, of people that are out of the way, we must expect to be misled, and to continue our days in wandering in error.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 1497

And if I go on, what end will there be of blood and of punishment? If it be against my life that the nobility arm itself, and level its weapons, my single life is not worth the while, if so many must be destroyed that I may be preserved.”

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 775

How many warlike nations and strong cities, that have stood invincible to attacks and sieges, has drunkenness overcome! Is it not a great honor to drink the company dead? a magnificent virtue to swallow more wine than the rest, and yet at last to be outdone by a hogshead? What shall we say of those men that invert the offices of day and night? as if our eyes were only given us to make use of in the dark? Is it day? “It is time to go to bed.” Is it night?

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 723

I can take as sound a sleep in a barn as in a palace, and a bundle of hay makes me as good a lodging as a bed of down. Should every day succeed to my wish, it should not transport me; nor would I think myself miserable if I should not have one quiet hour in my life. I will not transport myself with either pain or pleasure; but yet for all that, I could wish that I had an easier game to play, and that I were put rather to moderate my joys than my sorrows.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 1414

We have intended one thing and done another; wherein only the want of success has kept us from being criminals. This very thing, methinks, should make us more favorable to delinquents, and to forgive not only ourselves, but the gods too; of whom we seem to have harder thoughts in taking that to be a particular evil directed to us, that befalls us only by the common law of mortality. In fine, no man living can absolve himself to his conscience, though to the world, perhaps, he may.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 1186

They are moved to fury by some objects; they are quieted by others; they have their terrors and their disappointments, but without reflection: and let them be never so much irritated or affrighted, so soon as ever the occasion is removed they fall to their meat again, and lie down and take their rest.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 275

In some cases it must be carried more home: as in that of Julius Cæsar, who, as he was hearing a cause, the defendant finding himself pinched; “Sir,” says he, “do not you remember a strain you got in your ankle when you commanded in Spain; and that a soldier lent you his cloak for a cushion, upon the top of a craggy rock, under the shade of a little tree, in the heat of the day?” “I remember it perfectly well,” says Cæsar, “and that when I was ready to choke with thirst, an honest fellow fetched me a draught of water in his helmet.” “But that man, and that helmet,” says the soldier, “does Cæsar think that he could not know them again, if he saw them?” “The man, perchance, I might,” says Cæsar, somewhat offended, “but not the helmet.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 1249

The huntsman is not angry with the wild boar when he either pursues or receives him; a good swordsman watches his opportunity, and keeps himself upon his guard, whereas passion lays a man open: nay, it is one of the prime lessons in a fencing-school to learn not to be angry. If Fabius had been _choleric_, Rome had been _lost_; and before he conquered _Hannibal_ he overcame _himself_.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 1050

It is not that I propound the making of death so indifferent to us, as it is, whether a man’s hairs be even or odd; for what with self-love, and an implanted desire in every being of preserving itself, and a long acquaintance betwixt the soul and body, friends may be loth to part, and death may carry an appearance of evil, though in truth it is itself no evil at all.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 520

The Stoics hold all virtues to be equal; but yet there is great variety in the matter they have to work upon, according as it is larger or narrower, illustrious or less noble, of more or less extent; as all good men are equal, that is to say, as they are good; but yet one may be young, another old; one may be rich, another poor; one eminent and powerful, another unknown and obscure. There are many things which have little or no grace in themselves, and are yet glorious and remarkable by virtue.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 60

His gardens, villas, lands, possessions, and incredible sums of money, are agreed upon at all hands; which drew an envy upon him. Dio reports him to have had 250,000_l._ sterling at interest in Britanny alone, which he called in all at a sum. The Court itself could not bring him to flattery; and for his piety, submission, and virtue, the practice of his whole life witnesses for him.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 1325

Every man has his weak side; let us learn which that is, and take a care of it; for the same thing does not work upon all men alike. We are moved like beasts at the idle appearances of things, and the fiercer the creature, the more is it startled.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 903

If a philosopher be exposed to torments, the ax over his head, his body wounded, his guts in his hands, I will allow him to groan; for virtue itself cannot divest him of the nature of a man; but if his mind stand firm, he has discharged his part. A great mind enables a man to maintain his station with honor; so that he only makes use of what he meets in his way, as a pilgrim that would fain be at his journey’s end.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 1456

Now, for him that has so much mischief in his power, and yet applies that power to the common utility and comfort of his people, diffusing also clemency and goodness into their hearts too, what can be a greater blessing to mankind than such a prince? _Any man_ may _kill_ another _against_ the law, but only a _prince_ can _save_ him so. Let him so deal with his own subjects as he desires God should deal with him.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 1318

The things that we desire, if they be such as cannot be given to one without being taken away from another, must needs set those people together by the ears that desire the same thing. One man has a design upon my mistress, another upon mine inheritance; and that which should make friends makes enemies, our being all of a mind. The general cause of anger is the sense or opinion of an _injury_; that is, the opinion either of an injury simply done, or of an injury done, which we have not deserved.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 341

However the case stands, an ungrateful person is never the better for a reproach; if he be already hardened in his wickedness, he gives no heed to it; and if he be not, it turns a doubtful modesty into an incorrigible impudence: beside that, he watches for all ill words to pick a quarrel with them.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 602

Let us covet nothing out of our reach, but content ourselves with things hopeful and at hand; and without envying the advantages of others; for greatness stands upon a craggy precipice, and it is much safer and quieter living upon a level. How many great men are forced to keep their station upon mere necessity; because they find there is no coming down from it but headlong?

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 178

Two persons may part with the same sum of money, and yet not the same benefit: the one had it of his _own_, and it was but a _little_ out of a _great deal_; the other _borrowed_ it, and bestowed upon me that which he wanted for himself.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 283

For these reproaches and contempts will set everybody’s tongue a walking; and people will conclude that these things would never be, if there were not something very extraordinary in the bottom of it. When it comes to that once, there is not any calumny but fastens more or less, nor any falsehood so incredible, but in some part or other of it, shall pass for a truth.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 914

A generous and clear-sighted young man will take it for a happiness to encounter ill fortune. It is nothing for a man to hold up his head in a calm; but to maintain his post when all others have quitted their ground, and there to stand upright where other men are beaten down, this is divine and praiseworthy. What ill is there in torments, or in those things which we commonly account grievous crosses?

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 1358

CAUTIONS AGAINST ANGER IN THE MATTER OF EDUCATION, CONVERSE, AND OTHER GENERAL RULES OF PREVENTING IT, BOTH IN OURSELVES AND OTHERS.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 281

We are apt enough to acknowledge that “such a man has been the making of us;” so long as we are in possession of the advantage he has brought us; but new appetites deface old kindnesses, and we carry our prospect forward to something more, without considering what we have obtained already. All that is past we give for lost; so that we are only intent upon the future. When a benefit is once out of sight, or out of use, it is buried.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 1315

One while we suspect upon mistake; and another while we make a great matter of trifles. To say the truth, most of those things that exasperate us are rather subjects of disgust than of mischief: there is a large difference betwixt opposing a man’s satisfaction and not assisting it: betwixt _taking away_ and _not giving_; but we reckon upon _denying_ and _deferring_ as the same thing; and interpret another’s being _for himself_ as if he were _against us_.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 1165

No man can be poor that has enough; nor rich, that covets more than he has. Alexander, after all his conquests, complained that he wanted more worlds; he desired something more, even when he had gotten all: and that which was sufficient for human nature was not enough for one man. Money never made any man rich; for the more he had, the more he still coveted.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 1483

It is nothing to be free of another man’s purse, and it is as little to be merciful in another man’s cause. He is the great man that masters his passion where he is stung himself, and pardons when he might destroy. The end of punishment is either to comfort the party injured, or to secure him for the future. A prince’s fortune is above the need of such a comfort, and his power is too eminent to seek an advance of reputation by doing a private man a mischief.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 474

Some people have the skill of reclaiming the fiercest of beasts; they will make a lion embrace his keeper, a tiger kiss him, and an elephant kneel to him. This is the case of a wise man in the extremest difficulties; let them be never so terrible in themselves, when they come to him once, they are perfectly tame.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 346

Let the one say, that he has received a benefit, and let the other persuade himself that he has not returned it. Let the one say, _I am paid_, and the other, _I am yet in your debt_; let the benefactor acquit the receiver, and the receiver bind himself. The frankness of the discharge heightens the obligation. It is in _conversation_ as in a _tennis-court_; benefits are to be tossed like balls; the longer the rest, the better are the gamesters.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 650

It is not for a wise man to stand shifting and fencing with fortune, but to oppose her barefaced, for he is sufficiently convinced that she can do him no hurt; she may take away his servants, possessions, dignity, assault his body, put out his eyes, cut off his hands, and strip him of all the external comforts of life. But what does all this amount to more than the recalling of a trust which he has received, with condition to deliver it up again upon demand?

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 359

Upon this the philosopher went away, with his money chinking in his hand, and well enough content to save it: at last, his conscience took check at it; and, upon reflection, “Though the man be dead,” says he, “to others, he is alive to thee; pay him what thou owest him:” and so he went back presently, and thrust it into his shop through the chink of the door.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 589

A _precept_ delivered in _verse_ has a much greater effect than in _prose_: and those very people that never think they have enough, let them but hear a sharp sentence against _avarice_, how will they clap and admire it, and bid open defiance to money?

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 1074

Nature, that begat us, expels us, and a better and a safer place is provided for us. And what is death but a ceasing to be what we were before? We are kindled and put out: to cease to be, and not to begin to be, is the same thing. We die daily, and while we are growing, our life decreases; every moment that passes takes away part of it; all that is past is lost; nay, we divide with death the very instant that we live.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 149

There is no giving of water to a man in a fever; or putting a sword into a madman’s hand. He that lends a man money to carry him to a bawdy-house, or a weapon for his revenge, makes himself a partaker of his crime.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 453

It fares with us in human life as in a routed army; one stumbles first, and then another falls upon him, and so they follow, one upon the neck of another, until the whole field comes to be but one heap of miscarriages.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 863

It is the mind that makes us rich and happy, in what condition soever we are; and money signifies no more to it than it does to the gods. If the religion be sincere, no matter for the ornaments it is only luxury and avarice that make poverty grievous to us; for it is a very small matter that does our business; and when we have provided against cold, hunger, and thirst, all the rest is but vanity and excess: and there is no need of expense upon foreign delicacies, or the artifices of the kitchen.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 76

Whereupon the soldiers gave all freedom and encouragement to her servants to bind up her wounds, and stop the blood, which they did accordingly; but whether she was sensible of it or not is a question.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 642

How much a braver creature is a lion, (which by nature ought to be fierce and terrible) how much braver (I say) in his natural horror than in his chains? so that everything in its pure nature pleases us best. It is not health, nobility, riches, that can justify a wicked man: nor is it the want of all these that can discredit a good one.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 202

But there are some men that have philosophized themselves almost out of the sense of human affections; as Diogenes, that walked naked and unconcerned through the middle of Alexander’s treasures, and was, as well in other men’s opinions as in his own, even above Alexander himself, who at that time had the whole world at his feet: for there was more that the one scorned to take than that the other had it in his power to give: and it is a greater generosity for a beggar to refuse money than for a prince to bestow it.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 419

“Well, I shall never forget this favor, it will be an eternal obligation to me.” But within a while the note is changed, and we hear no more words of it, until, by little and little, it is all quite forgotten. So long as we stand in need of a benefit, there is nothing dearer to us; nor anything cheaper, when we have received it.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 1015

But the busy man has not leisure to look back, or if he has, it is an unpleasant thing to reflect upon a life to be repented of, whereas the conscience of a good life puts a man into a secure and perpetual possession of a felicity never to be disturbed or taken away: but he that has led a wicked life is afraid of his own memory; and, in the review of himself, he finds only appetite, avarice, or ambition, instead of virtue.

Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency, passage 1181

It is necessary to provide against hunger, thirst, and cold; and somewhat for a covering to shelter us against other inconveniences; but not a pin matter whether it be of turf or of marble—a man may lie as warm and as dry under a thatched as under a gilded roof. Let the mind be great and glorious, and all other things are despicable in comparison. “The future is uncertain, and I had rather beg of myself not to desire any thing, than of Fortune to bestow it.”