Just as we are often moved to merriment for no other reason than that the occasion calls for seriousness, so we are correspondingly serious when invited too freely to be amused. Agnes Repplier More Quotes by Agnes Repplier More Quotes From Agnes Repplier It is not begging but the beggar, who has forfeited favor with the elect. Agnes Repplier begging charity favors The dog is guided by kindly instinct to the man or woman whose heart is open to his advances. The cat often leaves the friend who courts her, to honor, or to harass, the unfortunate mortal who shudders at her unwelcome caresses. Agnes Repplier cat dog heart the most comfortable characteristic of the period [1775-1825], and the one which incites our deepest envy, is the universal willingness to accept a good purpose as a substitute for good work. Agnes Repplier envy good-work purpose Humor brings insight and tolerance. Irony brings a deeper and less friendly understanding. Agnes Repplier humor patience funny There is no illusion so permanent as that which enables us to look backward with complacency; there is no mental process so deceptive as the comparing of recollections with realities. Agnes Repplier complacency reality looks whereas the dog strives to lessen the distance between himself and man, seeks ever to be intelligent and intelligible, and translates into looks and actions the words he cannot speak, the cat dwells within the circle of her own secret thoughts. Agnes Repplier distance cat dog It is impossible for a lover of cats to banish these alert, gentle, and discriminating friends, who give us just enough of their regard and complaisance to make us hunger for more. Agnes Repplier cat pet giving real letter-writing ... is founded on a need as old and as young as humanity itself, the need that one human being has of another. Agnes Repplier real humanity writing Economics and ethics have little in common. Agnes Repplier ethics common littles A puppy is but a dog, plus high spirits, and minus common sense. Agnes Repplier common-sense pet dog There is something frightful in being required to enjoy and appreciate all masterpieces; to read with equal relish Milton, and Dante, and Calderon, and Goethe, and Homer, and Scott, and Voltaire, and Wordsworth, and Cervantes, and Molière, and Swift. Agnes Repplier discrimination appreciate literature The sanguine assurance that men and nations can be legislated into goodness, that pressure from without is equivalent to a moral change within, needs a strong backing of inexperience. Agnes Repplier strong law men Anyone, however, who has had dealings with dates knows that they are worse than elusive, they are perverse. Events do not happen at the right time, nor in their proper sequence. That sense of harmony with place and season which is so strong in the historian--if he be a readable historian--is lamentably lacking in history, which takes no pains to verify his most convincing statements. Agnes Repplier pain strong history It is impossible to withhold education from the receptive mind, as it is impossible to force it upon the unreasoning. Agnes Repplier mind inspiring inspirational Those persons are happiest in this restless and mutable world who are in love with change, who delight in what is new simply because it differs from what is old; who rejoice in every innovation, and find a strange alert pleasure in all that is, and that has never been before. Agnes Repplier delight innovation change Whatever has "wit enough to keep it sweet" defies corruption and outlasts all time; but the wit must be of that outward and visible order which needs no introduction or demonstration at our hands. Agnes Repplier sweet order hands Cats, even when robust, have scant liking for the boisterous society of children, and are apt to exert their utmost ingenuity to escape it. Nor are they without adult sympathy in their prejudice. Agnes Repplier adults cat children There is an optimism which nobly anticipates the eventual triumph of great moral laws, and there is an optimism which cheerfully tolerates unworthiness. Agnes Repplier optimism triumph law Diaries tell their little tales with a directness, a candor, conscious or unconscious, a closeness of outlook, which gratifies our sense of security. Reading them is like gazing through a small clear pane of glass. We may not see far and wide, but we see very distinctly that which comes within our field of vision. Agnes Repplier vision glasses reading the tea-hour is the hour of peace ... strife is lost in the hissing of the kettle - a tranquilizing sound, second only to the purring of a cat. Agnes Repplier cat sound tea
