Envy is but the smoke of low estate, Sir Fulke Greville More Quotes by Sir Fulke Greville More Quotes From Sir Fulke Greville I hardly know so true a mark of a little mind as the servile imitation of others. Sir Fulke Greville imitation mind littles What an argument in favor of social connections is the observation that by communicating our grief we have less, and by communicating our pleasure we have more. Sir Fulke Greville connections favors grief Good-humor will sometimes conquer ill-humor, but ill-humor will conquer it oftener; and for this plain reason, good-humor must operate on generosity, ill-humor on meanness. Sir Fulke Greville conquer generosity sometimes Surely no man can reflect, without wonder upon the vicissitudes of human life arising from causes in the highest degree accidental and trifling. If you trace the necessary concatenation of human events a very little way back, you may perhaps discover that a person's very going in or out of a door has been the means of coloring with misery or happiness the remaining current of his life. Sir Fulke Greville doors men mean Avarice starves its possessor to fatten those who come after, and who are eagerly awaiting the demise of the accumulator. Sir Fulke Greville avarice demise Our companions please us less from the charms we find in their conversation than from those they find in ours. Sir Fulke Greville charm conversation appreciation Vanity is the poison of agreeableness; yet as poison, when artfully and properly applied, has a salutary effect in medicine, so has vanity in the commerce and society of the world. Sir Fulke Greville vanity medicine poison I hardly know a sight that raises one's indignation more than that of an enlarged soul joined to a contracted fortune; unless it be that so much more common one, of a contracted soul joined to an enlarged fortune. Sir Fulke Greville soul sight common Whatever natural right men may have to freedom and independency, it is manifest that some men have a natural ascendency over others. Sir Fulke Greville freedom power men There is in some men a dispassionate neutrality of mind, which, though it generally passes for good temper, can neither gratify nor warm us: it must indeed be granted that these men can only negatively offend: but then it should also be remembered that they cannot positively please. Sir Fulke Greville neutrality mind men There is an unfortunate disposition in a man to attend much more to the faults of his companions which offend him, than to their perfections which please him. Sir Fulke Greville gratitude perfection men I hardly know so melancholy a reflection as that parents are necessarily the sole directors of the management of children, whether they have or have not judgment, penetration or taste to perform the task. Sir Fulke Greville parent reflection children It is not enough that you can form nay, and follow, the most excellent rules for conducting yourself in the world. You must also know when to deviate from them, and where lies the exception. Sir Fulke Greville enough lying world Many with trust, with doubt few, are undone. Sir Fulke Greville undone doubt Human knowledge is the parent of doubt. Sir Fulke Greville parent humans doubt Discernment is a power of the understanding in which few excel. Is not that owing to its connection with impartiality and truth? for are not prejudice and partiality blind? Sir Fulke Greville connections prejudice understanding Despair gives the shocking ease to the mind that a mortification gives to the body. Sir Fulke Greville despair mind giving Weak men often from the very principle of their weakness derive a certain susceptibility; delicacy and taste which render them, in those particulars, much superior to men of stronger and more consistent minds, who laugh at them. Sir Fulke Greville weak-man laughing men We should do by our cunning as we do by our courage--always have it ready to defend ourselves, never to offend others. Sir Fulke Greville cunning ready should Men and statues that are admired ire an elevated situation have a very different effect upon us when we approach them; the first appear less than we imagined them, the last bigger. Sir Fulke Greville lasts different men