Chapter 76
1051
KISSING--PROPRIETY OF.
Some say that kissing's a sin; But I think it's nane ava, For kissing has wonn'd[1051:A] in this warld Since ever that there was twa.
Oh! if it wasna lawfu', Lawyers wadna allow it; If it wasna holy, Ministers wadna do it; If it wasna modest, Maidens wadna tak' it; If it wasna plenty, Puir folk wadna get it.
--_Burns._
FOOTNOTES:
[1051:A] Won.
1052
Knowledge is a comfortable and necessary retreat and shelter for us in an advanced age; and if we do not plant it while young, it will give us no shade when we grow old.
1053
Ask the young people: they know everything!
1054
A Persian philosopher being asked by what method he had acquired so much knowledge, replied, "By not being prevented by shame from asking questions respecting things of which I was ignorant."
1055
Knowledge is not gained on a bed of roses.
1056
If you have knowledge let others light their candles at it.
--_Fuller._
1057
Men may acquire knowledge, but not wisdom. Some of the greatest fools the world has known have been learned men.
1058
I have never yet found a man who did not know something of which I was ignorant.
1059
If we do not plant it (knowledge) when young, it will give us no shade when we are old.
1060
Knowledge without practice is like a gla.s.s eye, all for show, and nothing for use.
1061
_Johnson_:--I remember very well when I was at Oxford, an old gentleman said to me,--"Young man, ply your book diligently now, and acquire a stock of knowledge; for when years come upon you, you will find that poring upon books will be but an irksome task."
--_Boswell's Johnson._
1062
The Earl of Morton said at John Knox's grave,-- "He lies there who never feared the face of man."
L
1063
LABOR.
The beauty and blessedness of labor are finely presented by John Greenleaf Whittier:--
Give fools their gold, and knaves their power; Let fortune's bubbles rise and fall; Who sows a field, or trains a flower, Or plants a tree, is more than all.
For he who blesses most is blest; And G.o.d and man shall own his worth Who toils to leave, as his bequest An added beauty to the earth.
1064
Genius begins great works; labor alone finishes them.
1065
The fruit derived from labor is the sweetest of all pleasures.
--_Vauvenargues._