The Columbus journal., 1881-04-13
WISE SAWS.
Familiar Precepss and Maxins
of Famous Authors.


ter of aphoristic wisdom. His pre-
cepts and maxims have been some
times objected to as on q low plane
of selfish thrift, and savoring rather
of political economy than of the
golden rule. But Franklin was q
true sage, in the old Greek sense of
the word, aud after the manner Of
the seven wise men, who each of
them is represented as having ut
tered some memorable saying which
became q proverb. The most ia
nous of these sayings was the in
junction of Thales, "Know thyself"
The writer, whether OF prose or
poetry, whose works most abound
in passages which have become pro-
verbal and current in the every
day speech of everybody, has
achieved lasting and genuine
fame. The two English writers who
have achieved this sort of fame be-
yond any others are Shakespeare
and Pope. Gray wrote but little,
but that little has become, almost Gil
of il, proverbial. Eastern wise men,
from the days of Solomon down,
and long before, were always fond
Of expressing their wisdom senten-
tiously. Every reader of "Don
Quixote" is aware that the Spanish
language is peculiarly rich in pro-
verbs. Sancho Psnzs profusely sea-
sons his remarks and conversations
with his master of the rueful coun-
tensnce with proverbisl spice. But
most nations of any account, whether
ancient or modern, had and have a
copious literature of proverbs, or
brief, pregnant sayings, which 90
directly to the mark, and compress
q great deal of truth in regard to
men and things in the smallest pos
sible verbal compass, furnishing a
sort of portable philosophy of life,
or small change of wisdom for daily
use. Proverbs are ordinarily as
blunt as they are pithy. The Latin
poet Horace, had q faculty of offer
ing himself in q sententious way,
and wrote many lines which still
circulate among scholars, at least, as
proverbs. Of course, the proverbs
of the various nations are racy of
their soils. Multitudes of them are
blunt and homely, with the blunt
ness and homeliness of common life.
Bacon was not only a collector of
proverbs, but the author of a great
number of sententious sayings full
of significance. He observes that
"he that goes into foreign country
before he knows its language goes
TO school and not to travel" When
ever we dip into a collection of
proverbs we are sure of finding wit
and wisdom both. Here are four
sayings about success: Successful
guilt is the bsne of society,"" "Suc-
cess consecrates the foulest crimes"
Success makes a fool seem wise"
Success is never blamed" Many
lonely, friendless man in q throng
has felt that great city is a great
solitude, more depressing with it's
social contrasts than even a great
forest He who has good health is
young, whatever his age may be.
He who serves the public has but a
scurvy master. Here is 8 proverb
which has the note of Scotland about
il: "a dog Wilma yowl if ye fell him
VII q bsne." Impatient social re-
formers, who cannot tolerate the
world as il is, are taught patience
by the Persian proverb: "The most
high God sees and hears my neigh
Dor knows, and is always finding
fault" One of the oldest Greek
proverbs asserts that those whom
the gods love die young, or as it has
been finely put by an English poet:
ITO die young is heavens divinest
gift" An older proverb which has
come down from the far past, is to
the effect that the voice of the peo-
pie is the voice of God. A hand
book of the proverbial sayings of all
ages end nations may be called the
judgment of all the grand men, of
humanity on every conceivable SUBJ
ject delivered in terse, epigfsmmatic
sentences. Fools and weeds grow
without watering. The proverbs of
all nations are very full on the SUBJ
ject Of fools. Gray comes to the
rescue Of the fool with one of his
lines, which asserts, aft ignorance is
bliss, tits folly to be wise" The an
clients had a good deal to say about
fortune, and even made divinity of
her, for Fortune personified was of
the feminine gender, as her proven
bial fickleness sufficiently indicated.
She was q dreaded power among the