s fate, but nothing less
In ordering his own happiness:
For all his care and providence
Is too feeble a defence
To render it secure and certain
Against the injuries of Fortune;
And oft, in spite of all his wit,
Is lost by one unlucky hit,
And ruined with a circumstance,
And mere punctilio of a chance.

_Butler._

263.

There is nothing in this world which a resolute man, who exerts
himself, cannot attain.

_Somadeva._

264.

Ere need be shown, some men will act,
As trees may fruit without a flower;
To some you speak with no result,
As seeds may die, and yield no grain.

_Hindu Poetess._

265.

Seven things characterise the wise man, and seven the blockhead. The
wise man speaks not before those who are his superiors, either in
age or wisdom. He interrupts not others in the midst of their
discourse. He replies not hastily. His questions are relevant to the
subject, his answers, to the purpose. In delivering his sentiments
he taketh the first in order first, the last, last. What he
understands not he says, "I understand not." He acknowledges his
error, and is open to conviction. The reverse of all this
characterises the blockhead.

_Talmud._

266.

How absolute and omnipotent is the silence of the night! And yet the
stillness seems almost audible. From all the measureless depths of
air around us comes a half sound, a half whisper, as if we could
hear the crumbling and falling away of the earth and all created
things in the great miracle of nature--decay and reproduction--ever
beginning, never ending--the gradual lapse and running of the sand
in the great hour-glass of Time.

_Longfellow._

267.

What avails your wealth, if it makes you arrogant to the poor?

_Arabic._

268.

All confidence is dangerous unless it is complete; there are few
circumstances in which it is not better either to hide all or to
tell all.

_La Bruyere._

269.

It is well that there is no one without a fault, for he would not
have a friend in the world: he would seem to belong to a different
species.