Word: manness
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Dates: during 1873-1873
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...influence exerted upon society by the silent man is irresistible; his very silence is a proof of wisdom. But let him break through his reserve, and his doom is sealed; henceforth he has lost his dignified-exaltation, and become one of the mobile vulgus. There is deeply implanted in the human heart a feeling that to speak, to write, is a sign of weakness, of lack of self-reliance. It shows that one's own approbation is not sufficient unless that of others be superadded. And there is a dim belief that the speaker, as Socrates says, is moved...
...silent man is supposed to live out his beautiful thoughts, to carry his poetry into his daily life, and make that, what others make their speeches and writings, ideally noble and beautiful. The outflow cannot exceed the supply; and if there is only so much of good in each man, if this runs away in the form of fine words, there is none left for home consumption, and vice versa. Indeed, the surest way to gain the respect and esteem of the world, and to keep it, is to say nothing, to express our wisdom, like...
Therefore, if you wish to retain the good opinions of your companions, be reserved and quiet, be never moved to laughter by a pun or joke; for the man who perpetrates it is half ashamed of himself, half convinced that he is doing something unseemly, and if you retain your gravity, he sees that you are wholly convinced, and respects you accordingly. I remember a person whom I once regarded as a superior being. He was a type of that class which George Eliot irreverently styles the "Divine Cow." In my acquaintance with him he had always looked with...
...man what words in his life he most regrets, those which he uttered or those which he left unuttered, and you will receive only one reply. No, my gushing friend, the silent people are those who rule this world, and all the rest of us are but puppets in their hands...
SHAKESPEARE.POETS have sung the praises of sleep as the restorer of strength to man's wearied frame, probably agreeing with Socrates, that a dreamless night is the pleasantest, and hence neglecting to celebrate the pleasures of sleep as well. These are not to be found in blank oblivion, nor in the incongruous, unreal, and half-recollected shadows of the hours of darkness, but in the hours of early morning. Then, like the light of the dawn going before the full radiance of the sun, the self-consciousness of each human mind precedes the full resumption of the sceptre over...