Arthur Helps Quotes
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A great and frequent error in our judgment of human nature is to suppose that those sentiments and feelings have no existence, which may be only for a time concealed. The precious metals are not found at the surface of the earth, except in sandy places.
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You cannot ensure the gratitude of others for a favour conferred upon them in the way which is most agreeable to yourself.
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I do not know any way so sure of making others happy as of being so oneself, to begin with.
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Nature intended you to be the fountain-spring of cheerfulness and social life, and not the mountain of despair and melancholy.
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Infinite toil would not enable you to sweep away a mist; but by ascending a little you may often look over it altogether.
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Our knowledge of human nature is for the most part empirical; and it would often be better, if, instead of endeavouring to say some new things ourselves, we were to confirm without more words the sayings of another.
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Do not shun this maxim because it is common-place. On the contrary, take the closest heed of what observant men, who would probably like to show originality, are yet constrained to repeat. Therein lies the marrow of the wisdom of the world.
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People resemble still more the time in which they live, than they resemble their fathers.
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War may be the game of kings, but, like the games at ancient Rome, it is generally exhibited to please and pacify the people.
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If you are often deceived by those around you, you may be sure that you deserve to be deceived; and that instead of railing at the general falseness of mankind, you have first to pronounce judgment on your own jealous tyranny, or on your own weak credulity.
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The most enthusiastic man in a cause is rarely chosen as the leader.
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There are no better cosmetics than a severe temperance and purity, modesty and humility, a gracious temper and calmness of spirit; and there is no true beauty without the signatures of these graces in the very countenance.
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The apparent foolishness of others is but too frequently our own ignorance.
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A mixture of admiration and pity is one of the surest recipes for affection.
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It is in length of patience, endurance and forbearance that so much of what is good in mankind and womankind is shown.
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Almost all human affairs are tedious. Everything is too long. Visits, dinners, concerts, plays, speeches, pleadings, essays, sermons, are too long. Pleasure and business labor equally under this defect, or, as I should rather say, this fatal super-abundance.
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Every happiness is a hostage to fortune.
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In a balanced organization, working towards a common objective, there is success.
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He who is continually changing his point of view sees more, and more clearly, than one who, statue-like, forever stands upon the same pedestal; however lofty and well-placed that pedestal may be.
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Having once decided to achieve a certain task, achieve it at all costs of tedium and distaste. The gain in self confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labor is immense.
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The thing which makes one man greater than another, the quality by which we ought to measure greatness, is a man's capacity for loving.
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If you would understand your own age, read the works of fiction produced in it. People in disguise speak freely.
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Routine is not organization, any more than paralysis is order.
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Do not be deceived into thinking that how a man acts is the full picture.