I listen to them freely and with all the respect merited by their intelligence, their character, their knowledge, reserving always my incontestable right of criticism and censure. William Gilmore Simms More Quotes by William Gilmore Simms More Quotes From William Gilmore Simms We must calculate not on the weather, nor on fortune, but upon God and ourselves. He may fail us in the gratification of our wishes, but never in the encounter with our exigencies. William Gilmore Simms encounters wish weather No doubt solitude is wholesome, but so is abstinence after a surfeit. The true life of man is in society. William Gilmore Simms true-life solitude men Ambition is frequently the only refuge which life has left to the denied or mortified affections. We chide at the grasping eye, the daring wing, the soul that seems to thirst for sovereignty only, and know not that the flight of this ambitious bird has been from a bosom or home that is filled with ashes. William Gilmore Simms eye ambition home Tact is one of the first of mental virtues, the absence of which is frequently fatal to the best of talents. Without denying that it is a talent of itself, it will suffice if we admit that it supplies the place of many talents. William Gilmore Simms talent virtue firsts Modesty is policy, no less than virtue. William Gilmore Simms modesty policy virtue To feel oppressed by obligation is only to prove that we are incapable of a proper sentiment of gratitude. To receive favors from the unworthy is simply to admit that our selfishness is superior to our pride. Most men remember obligations, but not often to be grateful for them. The proud are made sour by the remembrance and the vain silent. William Gilmore Simms gratitude grateful pride There is no doubt such a thing as chance, but I see no reason why Providence should not make use of it. William Gilmore Simms use doubt reason-why The birth of a child is the imprisonment of a soul. William Gilmore Simms soul birthday children Stagnation is something worse than death. It is corruption, also. William Gilmore Simms stagnation corruption action Not in sorrow freely is never to open the bosom to the sweets of the sunshine. William Gilmore Simms sunshine sorrow sweet Vanity may be likened to the smooth-skinned and velvet-footed mouse, nibbling about forever in expectation of a crumb; while self-esteem is too apt to take the likeness of the huge butcher's dog, who carries off your steaks, and growls at you as be goes. William Gilmore Simms vanity self-esteem dog What we call vice in our neighbor may be nothing less than a crude virtue. To him who knows nothing more of precious stones than he can learn from a daily contemplation of his breastpin, a diamond in the mine must be a very uncompromising sort of stone. William Gilmore Simms precious-stones vices may It is a bird-flight of the soul, when the heart declares itself in song. The affections that clothe themselves with wings are passions that have been subdued to virtues. William Gilmore Simms passion music song The apothegm is the most portable form of Truth.... It is thus that the proverb answers where the sermon fails, as a well-charged pistol will do more execution than a whole barrel of gunpowder idly expended in the air. William Gilmore Simms gunpowder air answers Genius is the very eye of intellect and the wing of thought; it is always in advance of its time, and is the pioneer for the generation which it precedes. William Gilmore Simms pioneers eye wings Neither praise nor blame is the object of true criticism. Justly to discriminate, firmly to establish, wisely to prescribe and honestly to award - these are the true aims and duties of criticism. William Gilmore Simms blame awards criticism I know not that there is anything in nature more soothing to the mind than the contemplation of the moon, sailing, like some planetary bark, amidst a sea of bright azure. The subject is certainly hackneyed; the moon has been sung by poet and poetaster. Is there any marvel that it should be so? William Gilmore Simms sailing moon sea To make punishments efficacious, two things are necessary. They must never be disproportioned to the offence, and they must be certain. William Gilmore Simms punishment prison two The amiable is a duty most certainly, but must not be exercised at the expense of any of the virtues. He who seeks to do the amiable always, can only be successful at the frequent expense of his manhood. William Gilmore Simms virtue success men Philosophy has its bugbears, as well as superstition. William Gilmore Simms superstitions wells philosophy
