Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	work_v	world_n	young_a	21	3	5.8450	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28927	Characters of the virtues & vices of the age, or, Moral reflections, maxims, and thoughts upon men and manners translated from the most refined French wits ... and extracted from the most celebrated English writers ... : digested alphabetically under proper titles / by A. Boyer, Gent.	Boyer, Abel, 1667-1729.	1695 (1695)	Wing B3912; ESTC R19552	97,677	222

upon the several Ways of Working of Human Nature that first stored the World with Moral Truths and put Mankind upon forming such Rules of Practice as best suited with these Observations Reputation I. WHat an ill Name soever a Man has got in the World yet it is almost always in his own Power to recover his Reputation II. The great Characters of being Men of Honour and Iustice are very often grounded more upon Forms and a Knack of appearing to be such than any true and solid Worth III. Those that have the Accomplishments essential to the making a good Man supposing they need no Art neglect Formalities act more according to Nature and consequently live more obscure and in the dark For those that judge of them have something else to do than to examine them and so they pronounce Sentence only according to outward Appearances IV. Reputation would not be so highly valu'd if we did but seriously consider how very unjust the generality of Men are both in the giving and taking it away We should content our selves to deserve it by our Good-behaviour and when that Care is taken not be over-anxious about the Success V. The Vulgar value and extol Actions and other Things not only for their Excellence but more generally for the Uncommonness of them And this gives occasion to all the false Methods Men take to gain the Approbation of the World VI. A great Reputation is a great Charge very hard for a Man to acquit himself well of an obscure Life is more natural and more easie VII The first Step that a Man makes in the World generally determines all the rest and is the Foundation of his Reputation and best Presage of his Fortune and from the first Marches that he makes those that have had Experience will tell how far he will advance 'T is then very necessary to make this first Step with a great deal of Caution and to signalize ones Entry by something that is glorious and great VIII A Great Man ought not to suffer the Depth of his Capacity to be founded if he will be always esteem'd by the Vulgar He ought on the contrary to behave himself after such a manner as never to discover all his Ability and that no Man may assign Limits to his Learning For let a Man be never so Learned the Opinion we have of him when we know him but by halves goes always farther than the Idea we conceive of him when we are wholly acquainted with him IX Reputation is a Noise which strikes nothing but the Ear and which cannot make a sensible Impression upon a Noble Soul it depends less upon our selves than Fortune But as it is impossible to acquire a general one so the possession of it would be absolutely unserviceable X. A Man who is sensible of his Force and knows the Advantages of his Mind if he aspires to Glory and will raise his Reputation ought to dread as a Rock his being suspected that he is gov●rn'd by others XI Some People lose their Reputation by being too eager in their Endeavours to preserve it This foolish Deportment is ordinary with those who being suspected of any ill thing make use of long passionate Speeches for their Apology for tho' they may be guiltless yet the excess of Words they run into cannot but make us think the contrary XII There is no Passion which makes People more unhappy than this which almost all Men entertain for a general Esteem and Reputation for excepting some Persons of truly Heroical Minds who act only for the Satisfaction of their Conscience and perhaps too for the approbation of good Men all the rest do that for Noise which ought to be done for Virtue and suffer themselves to be inchanted with the Shadow and Appearance of a Thing whose real Body does not so much as affect them XIII Industry holds the Plac● of the greatest Merit and the Art of making himself esteem'd oftner gives more Reputation than the thing it self XIV * No Man can be said to be truly Great that depends for his Reputation upon the Opinion of the Multitude Self-Love I. SElf-Love is the love of one's self and of every thing else for one's self It makes Men Idolaters of themselves and would make them Tyrants over others if they could prevail with Fortune to get the Power and Opportunities It never rests out of it self and never dwells upon other Subjects but as Bees do upon Flowers to suck out what it thinks may be for its advantage Nothing is so violent as its Desires nothing so secret as its Intrigues nothing so quick and ingenious as its Managements It s Pliantness is past description its Transformations exceed the Poetical Metamorphosis and its Niceties the refining of Chymistry One can neither fathom its depth nor pierce through the Darkness of its Abyss Here it is quite out of the view of the most penetrating and sagacious Eyes here it turns to and fro in a thousand insensible Shapes here it is oftentimes invisible to it self here it hatches and breeds several Affections and Hatreds unknown to it self and some of these are so strange and monstrous that when they come to the Birth either it does not know them or is asham'd to own them From this gross Mist with which it is over-cast spring the ridiculous Opinions it has of it self hence procced all its Errours Mistakes and Fopperies concerning it self hence it is that it thinks its Inclinations to be quite dead when they are but lull'd asleep that it fancies to have done running when it does but rest and that it believes to have lost its Appetite when it has only fill'd its Stomach for the present And yet this thick and gloomy Darkness which hinders it from seeing it self is no obstruction to its sight of any thing else in which it is like our Eyes which perceive all and yet are blind only with regard to themselves for in its greatest Concerns where the violence of its Desires summon all its Attention it sees feels and hears it imagines suspects penetrates and guesses every thing even to that degree that a Man is apt to think that each of its Passions has a kind of Witchcraft particular to it Nothing is so strong and close as its Ti●s which it strives in vain to break off at the view of the impending Calamities nevertheless it ●ff●cts sometimes in a moment and without Pains what it could never accomplish with the most powerful and continu'd Endeavours of many Years From whence we may likely conclude That its Desires are kindled by its self rather than by the Worth or Beauty of its Objects and that its own Palate gives them both the Value that makes them precious and the Gloss that sets them off So that it follows its own self when it seems to pursue any thing else Self-love is all made up of Contraries it is Imperious and Dutiful High-flown and Humble Sincere and Counterfeit Merciful and Cruel Timorous and Bold

Addiction to the forms of some private Life and not regarding general things enough XLIII We meet with very few Authors that are plain and natural for even the Best are seldom contented either with their first Thoughts or with those Expressions which present themselves without study The generality of Men mistake the Per●ection of the Productions of Wit and value them in Proportion to the pains and troubles they stand them in as if Thoughts and Expressions were like Silver and Gold which must be digg'd out of Earth and purg'd of their Dross with great Labour before they can be good for any thing XLIV A Dogmatical Tone is generally the effect of a great Ignorance He that knows nothing thinks that he teaches others what he has learnt himself a Moment before On the contrary he that knows much does hardly think that what he says can be unknown to other People and so he speaks with a kind of Indifference * XLV The Men of Reading do very much busie themselves about such Conceptions which are no where to be ●ound out of their own Chambers The Sense the Custom the Practice the Iudgment of the World is quite a different thing from what they imagine it to be in private And therefore it is no wonder if when they come abroad into Business the Sight of Men the Tumult and Noise of Cities and the very Brightness of Day it self affright them * XLVI The studious Men while they continue heaping up in their Memories the Customs of past Ages fall insensibly to imitate them without any manner of Care how suitable they are to Times and Things In the Ancient Authors which they turn over they find Descriptions of Virtues more perfect than indeed they were The Governments are represented better and the ways of Life pleasanter than they deserv'd Upon this these Bookish Wise Men strait compare what they read with what they see and here beholding nothing so heroically Transcendent because they are able to mark all the Spots as well as Beauties of every thing that is so close to their sight they presently begin to despise their own Times to exalt the past to contemn the Virtues and aggravate the Vices of their Country not indeavouting to amend them but by such Examples as are now unpracticable by reason of the Alteration of Men and Manners Kings Princes Government I. A Prince makes himself first unhappy when he makes others so II. There are some fierce Souls who have but an imperfect Pleasure in being Masters i● they don't make their Power felt by others who place Greatness in Force and the Happiness of their Condition in making People miserable at their pleasure III. 'T is as great a Severity in a Prince to pardon all Crimes as to pardon none IV. Frequent Executions cast as great blemish on the Reputation of a King as frequent Funerals on that of a Physician * V. The Publick is but one Body and the Prince the Head on 't so that what Member soever withdraws his Service from the Head is no better than a Negative Traitor to his Country and himself VI. Princes and their Ministers have their Nature much like that of Celestial Bodies they have much Splendor but no Rest. * VII Princes are no farther touch'd with one anothers Misfortunes than concerns their own Interest * VIII The Periods of Empire like Natural Bodies grow for a certain Time and to a certain Size which they are not to exceed * IX The Sources of Conquests like those of great Rivers are generally obscure or taken little notice of until their Streams increasing by the Influence of many others make so mighty Inundations as to grow famous in Stories as well as Maps of the World * X. Usurpers and Tyrants do commonly Justice upon themselves for the Injuries they have done to others their own Consciences doing the Office of Tormentors and avenging their Publick Crimes by their Private Sufferings for they live in a perpetual Anguish of Thought with Fears and Jealousies * XI It is an easie matter for Princes to cover and de●end their unlawful Desires and unfaithful Vows with many outward seeming fair Pretences especially seeing there is no Umpire or Moderator of Matters concluded upon to whom a Reason should be tendred * XII When Princes that ought to be common Parents make themselves as a Party and lean to a Side it is a Boat that is over-thrown by uneven weight on the one side For when the Authority of Princes is made but an Accessary to a Cause and that there are other Bands that tye faster than the Band of Sovereignty Kings begin to be almost put out of Possession * XIII It is a miserable state of Mind to have few things to desire and many things to fear and yet that commonly is the Case of Kings who being at the highest want matter of Desire which makes their Minds more languishing and have many Representations of Perils and Shadows which makes their Minds the less clear * XIV Kings that have been fortunate Conquerors in their first Years it being not possible for them to go forward infinitely but that they must have some Check or Arrest in their Successes turn generally in their later Years to be Superstitious and Melancholy * XV. Nothing destroys Authority so much as the unequal and untimely interchange of Power press'd too far and relaxed too much * XVI The Honour of a Prince is a good Excuse when he has no mind to engage in a deceitful or unjust War but it is often forgotten when the Circumstances are more favourable * XVII There is no way more effectual to engage all to adhere to the Crown than the grateful Acknowledgments of past Services * XVIII In a weak Government an ill digested Insurrection raises the Power of the Prince and adds as much Spirit to his Friends as it depresses the Faction against him and it also gives a handle to do some things for which it were not easie otherwise to find either Colours or Instruments * XIX A Prince that does not secure Friends to himself while he is in Power and Condition to oblige them must never expect to find 'em when he is Old and Impotent and no longer able to do them any Good If he Governs Tyrannically in his Youth he will be sure to be treated contemptibly in his Old Age and the baser his Enemies are the more insolent and intolerable will be the Affront * XX. There is no Subject so inconsiderable but his Prince at one time or other may have occasion for him and it holds through the whole Scale of the Creation that the Great and the Little have need of one another * XXI There 's no medling with Princes either with Text or Argument Morality is not the Povince of a Cabinet-Council and Ghostly Fathers signifie no more than Spiritual Bug-bears in the Case of an unaccountable Privilege XXII Truth discovers it self to Princes no longer than while they are Young and under Age It