The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1873-11-10
Familiar Quotations.

LaIiIllAf SNOthtiOhb'
The old phrase, There's many slip
'tOixt the cup aud the lip is literal
translation Of az old Greek hexameter
line; and when we talk of smiling
through tears we are quoting Homer.
Tie harry expression, "nullum qucd
tetisi.it nom orngvitt," is the phrase
employed 10y Dr.. Johnson in his epitaph
on Goldsmith 10 express the genius OF
his Nriend. Tie lines SO often attribu-
ted 10 Shakespeare, "A fellow feeling
make one wondrous kind, was writ
ten by G. 7rrick in the oCcaeionsl prol
ogue spoken by him on leaving the
stage Owen Falthan, the author of
the Resolve" is one OF those un'ortun-
ate men who have written many good
aud pithy things, while others have
usurped the credit OF them; such Tor
instance, as without q certain mod
icum OF chatf, the horse is apt to bolt
his oats" which has been go dexterous-
Il applied. Macaulay has the reputa
ION OF many brilliant epigram for
which lie WAS indebted far more to
his gigantic memory than to his origin
atty.
The Oft quoted image of the trav-
eler from New Zealand taking his staud
on q brken arch OF London bridge to
sketch the ruins OF St. Paurs is bor-
rowcd from Horace Walpole. "The
Imitation OF Christ" Herbert's "1scula
Prudeutism," and Franklin's works are
the great storehouses OF many proverbs
and quotations. From the first we have
Man proposes but God disposes.' "Of
two evils, the less is always to be cho-
sen" Early to bed and early to rise
makes s. man healthy, wealthy and
wise" is from Franklin; so also is, God
helps them that help themselves" He
that goes borrowing goes sorrowlng;'
Continual dropping wears away
stone=, though the germ OF this, by
the way, is to Ia tourd in Lucretlus
and OVID R,btla;s has given us many
popular phrases, such 50, HE thought
The moon was made of green cheese;
By robbipg Peter he paid Paul. The
devil was sick, the devil monk would
be; the devil was well, the devil a
mouk was he" The phrase,
"War even 20 the knife" was the
answer OF Palafox, the Governor Of
SaragCza, when he was summoned TO
surrender by the French, who were be-
sieging the city in 1908. One OF the
sources from which many OF our pop
ular quotations have flowed fs Lord
Roscommons Essay on Translated
Verse; Tor example, the couplet so cons
Evidently attributed to Pope, "lmmo-
6est words admit OF no defense, for want
of decency is want OF sense;
and, Choose an author as
YOU choose a friend" Lord Lytton
somewhere says tina. Horace has sup
Piled. after Shakespeare, the greatest
number of quotations. 1t is true he ia
the author who rises most readily 10
the lips OF the scholar, and by HE
msrve llous powers of uniting happy
condensation with strong common
sense affords the readiest medium o
expressing the ordinary Incidents o.
| lie in the tersest language; but curl
ously enough there are very few stan
Jsrd quotations to be culled from hi
works. Terence and Plautus hav'
furnished us with q far greater number
though we owe a still larger debt 0
gratitude to Virgil and Ord. In Greel
literature, the great stoIehouses OF quo
tations are undoubtedly the fragment
OF the tragic aud comic poets, psrticu'
lsrlv Mehauder, whose sayings hav
been filtered through thousand chan
usls, end form 10 uncomfortable par
j OF the sum Of the familiar quotstion
most in vogus.-L1naon e!o6H