Quotes from bovee christian nestell ii

Competition, which is said to be "the life of trade," when pushed too far, is no less the death of it--and of the soul.

Excellence in art is largely the result of attention to minutiae, and--prayer.

When we have the means to pay for what we desire, what we get is not so much what is best, as what is costliest.

Men were created for something better than merely to make money. A close application to business, until a competence is gained, is one of the chief virtues; but to continue in trade long after this result is obtained, is one of the signs, not to be mistaken, of a sordid and ignoble nature.

We serve the devil in our youth, God in our old age--thinking if we journey towards hell while our limbs are sound, we can turn when they fail us, and get to heaven on crutches.

An ambition to excel in petty things obstructs the progress to nobler aims.

The more common method of getting rid of an evil, is to merge it in a greater. Thus, if one suffers a loss of half his fortune at play, he overcomes his mortification by--losing the other half. The most ingenious expedient of this kind, was that of the indigent gentleman of rank, who married his washerwoman to get rid of her bill against him.

Youth is the season of receptivity, and should be devoted to acquirement; and manhood of power--that demands an earnest application. Old age is for revision.

Ambition, in one respect, is like a singer's voice; pitched at too high a key, it breaks and comes to nothing.

Give me the character and I will forecast the event.

A book ... should resemble a tranquil lake, in whose glassy surface the varied wonders of the earth and sky are faithfully imaged.

Books are embalmed minds. They make the great of other days our present teachers.

Few minds wear out; more rust out.

It is the life of democracy to favor equality.

The beauty of a woman transcends all other forms of beauty, as well in the sweetness of its suggestions, as in the fervor of the admiration it awakens. The beauty of a lovely woman is an inspiration, a sweet delirium, a gentle madness. Her looks are love-potions. Heaven itself is never so clearly revealed to us as in the face of a beautiful woman.

To become the master of his circumstances--to override them, as the stately ship overrides the waves, stormy or smooth, as her obedient element--not 'whelmed and lost in them--this is the aim and effort of every loftier nature.

When Fortune frowns upon her worthy wooer, it is still permitted him to think how pleasant it will be erewhile to bask in her smiles.

It is indeed a misfortune for a woman to be without beauty, as with men the eye is the chief arbiter of qualities in the sex. Her beauty is her capital--her worth in the market matrimonial depends upon it. With her the Virtues are less reverenced when unaccompanied by the Graces. The sex understand this very well; and hence they seek mainly to make captive the eye, knowing the mind and heart will follow as a matter of course.