Historical voices

However slightly out of tune a harp or flute may be, the fault is still detected by a connoisseur; so we must be on the watch lest haply something in our life be out of tune--nay, rather, far greater is the need for painstaking, inasmuch…

Yet of these three principles, the one of prime importance is to keep impulse subservient to reason.

For what is done under some degree of excitement cannot be done with perfect self-respect or the approval of those who witness it.

The right course, moreover, even in our differences with our bitterest enemies, is to maintain our dignity and to repress our anger, even though we are treated outrageously.

Nay more, we must show clearly that even that very harshness which goes with our reproof is designed for the good of the person reproved.

We may seem angry, but anger should be far from us; for in anger nothing right or judicious can be done. *137* In most cases, we may apply a mild reproof, so combined, however, with earnestness, that while severity is shown, offensive…

We must also take the greatest care to show courtesy and consideration toward those with whom we converse.

We must observe, too, how far the conversation is agreeable and, as it had a reason for its beginning, so there should be a point at which to close it tactfully.

Accordingly, if the talk begins to drift off to other channels, pains should be taken to bring it back again to the matter in hand--but with due consideration to the company present; for we are not all interested in the same things at all…

And above all, he should be on the watch that his conversation shall not betray some defect in his character.

If it is grave, he should treat it with seriousness; if humorous, with wit.

And the one who engages in conversation should not debar others from participating in it, as if he were entering upon a private monopoly; but, as in other things, so in a general conversation he should think it not unfair for each to have…

We must be careful, therefore, to employ our thoughts on themes as elevating as possible and to keep our impulses under the control of reason.

Thought is occupied chiefly with the discovery of truth; impulse prompts to action.

And we shall not fail in this if we guard against violent excitement or depression, and if we keep our minds intent on the observance of propriety.

But it is much more important that we succeed in keeping our mental operations in harmony with nature's laws.

In this, as in most things, the best rule is the golden mean.

Therefore, let all finery not suitable to a man's dignity be kept off his person, and let him guard against the like fault in gesture and action.

Again, there are two orders of beauty: in the one, loveliness predominates; in the other, dignity; of these, we ought to regard loveliness as the attribute of woman, and dignity as the attribute of man.

We must, therefore, keep to the path of this sort of modesty, especially when Nature is our teacher and guide.

So, in standing or walking, in sitting or reclining, in our expression, our eyes, or the movements of our hands, let us preserve what we have called "propriety.

Robbery, fraud, and adultery, for example, are immoral in deed, but it is not indecent to name them.

But there is nothing so essentially proper as to maintain consistency in the performance of every act and in the conception of every plan.

It is, then, peculiarly the place of a magistrate to bear in mind that he represents the state and that it is his duty to uphold its honour and its dignity, to enforce the law, to dispense to all their constitutional rights, and to…