The Good Book_ A Secular Bible - A. C. Grayling [336]
19. They take their notions from the surface, and go no deeper: they commend, as the gentlest and best-natured man in the world,
20. That man who has the most engaging exterior manner, though possibly they have been but once in his company.
21. An air, a tone of voice, a composure of countenance to mildness and softness, which are all easily acquired, do the business:
22. And without further examination, and possibly with the contrary qualities, that man is reckoned the gentlest, the best-natured man alive.
23. Happy the man who, with a certain fund of parts and knowledge, gets acquainted with the world early enough to make it his property, at an age when most people are the property of the world!
24. For that is the common case of youth. They grow wiser when it is too late;
25. And, ashamed and vexed at having been owned so long, too often turn knaves at last.
26. Do not therefore trust to appearances and the outside of their behaviour to yourself;
27. You may be sure that nine in ten of mankind try this, and ever will trust to them.
Epistle 22
1. My son, your heart, I know, is good, your sense is sound and your knowledge extensive. What then remains for you to do?
2. Nothing, but to adorn those fundamental qualifications with such engaging manners as will endear you to those who are able to judge your real merit,
3. And which always stand in the stead of merit with those who are not thus able to judge.
4. Let misanthropes declaim as much as they please against the vices, the simulation and dissimulation of the world;
5. Those invectives are always the result of ignorance, ill-humour or envy.
6. Let them show me a cottage where there are not the same vices of which they accuse courts;
7. With this difference only, that in a cottage they appear in their native deformity, and that in courts, manners and good breeding make them less shocking.
8. No, be convinced that manners are a solid good; they prevent a great deal of real mischief;
9. They create, adorn and strengthen friendships; they keep hatred within bounds;
10. They promote good humour and goodwill in families, where the want of good breeding and gentleness of manners is commonly the original cause of discord.
11. Get then, before it is too late, a habit of the little virtues as well as the great ones;
12. Practise them, that they may be easy and familiar to you always; and pass through life with success that makes it possible for you to do more good in the world at large.
Epistle 23
1. It is clear that no man can live a happy life, or even a supportable life, without the study of wisdom.
2. You know also that a happy life is reached when our wisdom is brought to completion,
3. But that life is at least endurable even when our search for wisdom is only begun.
4. This idea, however, clear though it is, must be strengthened and implanted more deeply by daily reflection;
5. It is more important for you to keep the resolutions you have already made than to continue making others.
6. You must persevere, must develop new strength by continuous reflection, until that which is at first only an inclination becomes a settled purpose.
7. I have, my son, great hopes for you, and confidence that you will achieve much; but I do not wish you to slacken your efforts always to improve.
8. Examine yourself; scrutinise and observe yourself in divers ways; but mark, before all else, whether it is in philosophy as well as in life that you have made progress.
9. Philosophy is no trick to catch the public; it is not devised for show. It is a matter, not of words, but of reasonings.
10. It is not pursued in order that the day may yield amusement, or that our leisure may be relieved of tedium. It is far more important:
11. It moulds and constructs the mind; it orders our life, guides our conduct, shows us what we should do and what we should not do;
12. It sits at the helm and directs our course as we waver amid uncertainties.
13. Without it, no one can live fearlessly