How is it possible to suspend topaz in one cup of the balance and weigh it against amethyst in the other; or who in a single language can compare the tranquillizing grace of a maiden with the invigorating pleasure of witnessing a well-contested rat-fight?

Ernest Bramah

Categorized in : Grace Fighting Balance

A reputation for a thousand years may depend upon the conduct of a single moment.

Ernest Bramah

kaizen single-mom years

The province of philosophy is not so much to prevent calamities befalling as to demonstrate that they are blessings when they have taken place.

Ernest Bramah

taken blessing philosophy

There are few situations in life that cannot be resolved promptly, and to the satisfaction of all concerned, by either suicide, a bag of gold, or thrusting a despised antagonist over a precipice on a dark night

Ernest Bramah

suicide dark night

One may ride upon a tiger's back but it is fatal to dismount.

Ernest Bramah

tigers may

Although there exist many thousand subjects for elegant conversation, there are persons who cannot meet a cripple without talking about feet.

Ernest Bramah

feet conversation talking

He who thinks he is raising a mound may only in Reality be digging a pit.

Ernest Bramah

digging reality thinking

When struck by a thunderbolt it is unnecessary to consult the Book of Dates as to the precise meaning of the omen.

Ernest Bramah

thunderbolts unnecessary book

The wise duck keeps his mouth shut when he smells frogs.

Ernest Bramah

smell ducks wise

There are those who collect the refuse of the public streets, but in order to be received into the band it is necessary to have been born one of the Hereditary Confederacy of Superfluity Removers and Abandoned Oddment Gatherers.

Ernest Bramah

born band order

At the mention of the name and offence of this degraded being a great sound went up from the entire multitude - a universal cry of execration, not greatly dissimilar from that which may be frequently heard in the crowded Temple of Impartiality when the one whose duty it is to take up, at a venture, the folded papers, announces that the sublime Emperor, or some mandarin of exalted rank, has been so fortunate as to hold the winning number in the Annual State Lottery.

Ernest Bramah

names winning numbers

Before hastening to secure a possible reward of five taels by dragging an unobservant person away from a falling building, examine well his features lest you find, when too late, that it is one to whom you are indebted for double that amount.

Ernest Bramah

rewards too-late fall

One learns to itch where one can scratch.

Ernest Bramah

adaptability adaptation scratches

When an alluring woman comes in at the door," warningly traced the austere Kien-fi on the margin of his well-known essay, "discretion may be found up the chimney". It is incredible that beneath this ever-timely reminder an obscure disciple should have added the words: "The wiser the sage, the more profound the folly.

Ernest Bramah

should-have doors profound

He who has failed three times sets up as an instructor.

Ernest Bramah

three-times instructors three

Better a dish of husks to the accompaniment of a muted lute than to be satiated with stewed shark's fin and rich spiced wine of which the cost is frequently mentioned by the provider.

Ernest Bramah

sharks cost wine

One cannot live for ever by ignoring the price of coffins.

Ernest Bramah

coffins

Where the road bends abruptly, take short steps.

Ernest Bramah

bends-in-the-road steps

Eat in the dark the bargain that you purchased in the dusk.

Ernest Bramah

dusk bargains dark

However deep you dig a well it affords no refuge in the time of flood.

Ernest Bramah

refuge wells flood

The one-legged never stumble.

Ernest Bramah