Roger L'Estrange

“ We should have a Care how we Arm our Enemies against our Selves; for there's Nothing goes Nearer a Man than to be Undone by his Own Improvidence; and Nothing afterward more Ridiculous, then to Blame Fortune for our own Faults: Though we are so Fram'd by Nature, in respeft of our Souls and Bodies, that One Part of a Man is still Wounded by the Other. Nothing so much Troubled the Eagle and the Thrush, as the Thought of assisting to their own Destruction. ”

“ And he is not only Tormented by Others, but the very Tormenter of Himself too. Nay, rather than want a Colourable Ground of Trouble, he Creates it. His Pride is a Continual Drought upon him, and a Thirst never to be Quench'd. His Conscience, his Fancy, his Fears, Jealousies, and Mistakes; Every thing helps on toward his Undoing. And now to the Infinite Variety of Plagues that Wait upon Pride, there is likewise as Great a Diversity of Imperious Humours for This Misery to Work upon. ”

“ What One has Not, Another Has, and there is not That Man Living, but in some Case, or Other, stands in Need of his Neighbour, Take away This Correspondence, and the very Frame of all Political Bodies drops to pieces. Every thing is Best in fine, As God has Made it, and where God has Plac'd it. The Tame Ass Wrought Hard, for his Fine Coat, and the Wild one Far’d Hard, to Bailance the Comfort of his Freedom. ”

“ Now if the Charms of an Unruly Ambition could so far prevail upon the Angels Themselves in their Purity; and upon Mankind in a State of Innocence, how Strict a Guard ought we then to keep upon our selves, that are the Children of disobedience, and bring the feeds of This Deadly Vanity into the World with us in our very Veins? ”

“ REFLEXION.
Pride and Cruelty never want a Pretence to do Mischief. The Plea of Not Guilty goes for Nothing against Power: For Accusing is Proving, where Malice and Force are Joyn'd in the Prosecution. ”

“ It is below the Dignity of a Great Mind to Entertain Contests with People that have neither Quality nor Courage: Beside the Folly of Contending with a Miserable Wretch, where the very Competition is a Scandal. ”

“ Men in Power, Plunge their Clyents into the Mud, with a Ring about their Necks; So that let them bring up what they will, nothing goes down with them that they shall be ever the Better for. And when they come in Conclusion to Cast up the Profit and Loss of the Purchase, or the Project; what betwixt Force, Interest, and Good Manners, the Adventurer scapes well if he can but get off at last with his Labor for his Pains.
Ambition, and the Insatiable Thirst of Mony, Greatness, and Glory, know no other Bounds of Justice or Confidence, than the Measure of a Corrupt Appetite. ”

“ We are brought Naturally enough, by the Judgment we pass upon the Vices and Follies of our Neighbour, to the Sight and Sense of our Own; and Especially, when we are led to the Knowledge of the Truth of Matters by Significant Types, and Proper Resemblances, for we are much more Affected with the Images of things, then with the True Reason of them. Men that are Shot-free against All 'the Attaques of Honour, Conscience, Shame, Good Faith, Humanity, or Common Justice, have yet some Weak side or other, like Achilles's Heel, that was never dipt ”

“ To speak Properly, and to the Point, there is no such Thing as Happiness or Misery in this World (commonly so Reputed) but by Comparison; neither is there any Man so Miserable, as not to be Happy, or so Happy as not to be Miserable, in some Respect or Other: Only we are apt to Envy our Neighbours the Possession of Those Advantages that we Want, without ever giving Thanks for the Blessings that They Want, and We ourselves Enjoy. Now This Mixture in the Distributions of Providence, duly Consider'd, serves to make us Easy, as well as Necessary One to Another ”

“ The Ass Envies the Horse to day; and in some Few Days more, the Horse comes to Envy Him: Wherefore let no man Despair, so long as it is in the Power, either of Death, or of Chance, to Remove the Burden. Nothing but Moderation and Greatness of Mind can make, either a Prosperous, or an Adverse Fortune Easie to us. The Only Way to be Happy is to submit to our Lot; for No man can be properly said to be Miserable that is not wanting to Himself. ”

“ Another Man in my Place now, would perhaps take it for a Notable Stroke of Art, and Good Breeding, to Complement the Reader with Twenty Fooleries of Apology, and Excuse, for such an Undertaking: As if the Honestest and the most Necessary Part of a Man's Life, and Bus'ness, were a thing to be Asham'd of. ”

“ Men that make it the Mark as well as the Prerogitave of a Philosopher, to be Magisterial, and Churlish; As if a man could not be Wise and Honest, without being Inhumane; or, I might have said, without putting an Affront upon Christian Charity, Civil Society, Decency and Good Manners: But they are not aware All this while, that the Foundations of Knowledge and Vertue are laid in our Childhood; when Nothing goes Kindly down with us, that is not Season'd and Adapted to the Palate and Capacity of those Tender Years. ”

“ It is nor, I fay, for Every Common Eye, or Hand, to Divide so Accurately betwixt the Good, and the Evil, the Gracious, and the Perverse, as to Hit the precise Medium of Encouraging the One, without Discouraging the Other. ”

“ It is highly Remarkable, that as Pride, and Envy are the Two Passions, that above All Others give the Greatest Trouble to the Sons of Men, so are they likewise the First Emotions of the Mind that we take Notice of in our Approaches to the Exercise of our Reason. ”

“ He that's a Slave in the Town is a kind of a Petty Prince in the Country. He loves his Neighbours, without Pride, and lives in Charity with the Whole World. All that he fees is his Own, as to the Delight of it, without Envying the Prosperity. ”

“ We place our Trust in Things that have no Being; Disorder our Minds, Discompose our Thoughts, Entangle our Estates, and Sell our selves, in One Word, for Bubbles. how wretched is the Man that does not know when he's Well, but passes away the Peace and Comfort of his Life, for the Gratifying of a Fantastical Appetite, or Humour! Nay, and he Misses his Aim, even in That too, while he Squanders away his Interest, and Forfeits his Discretion, in the Pursuit of One Vanity after Another. Ambition is a Ladder that reaches from Earth to Heaven ”

“ That we are to prefer things necessary, before things superfluous; the Comforts and the Blessings of Providence, before the dazling and the splendid Curiosities of Mode and Imagination: and finally, that we are not to govern our Lives by Fancy, but by Reason. ”

“ Society is so Necessary and Agreeable to Mankind in All Cases, that Death is Certainly the More Uneasy for a Man’s going alone into Another World: But the Consolation Pointed at in This Fable, is That which an Envious Man takes in the Ruine of his Enemy. There is a Memorable Instance to This Purpose, of a Gentleman that had an Estate for Lives, and Two of his Tenants in the Lease: One of them dyes, and the Other desires his Landlord to lay Both Farms into One, and Accept of Him for his Tenant. The Gentleman fairly Excus’d Himself, and away goes the Man in a Rage to his Wife ”

“ People have got a Custom, 'tis true, of Computing upon the Present Need, and Value of Things, without ever heeding the Consequences of them: As if all our Askings, and our Grantings were to be Governed by the Standard of the Market. ”

“ Let no man Despair in Adversity, nor presume in Prosperity, for All Things are Changeable.
Rise Early to your Business, Learn Good Things, and Oblige Good Men; These are three Things you shall never Repent of. ”

“ There's Nothing that I can pretend to but my Voyce, which I have ever employ'd so far as in me Lay, to the Service of Mankind. The King was so Tenderly moved with the Modesty and Prudence of the Mart, That he did not only give him his Life, but bad him ask any thing further that he had a Mind to, and it should be Granted him. ”

“ Innocence is no Protection against the Arbitrary Cruelty of a Tyrannical Power: But Reason and Conscience are yet sso Sacred, that the Greatest Villanies are still Contenanc'd under that Cloak and Color. ”

“ Theres no Permanent and Inviolable Good, but Wisdom and Virtue, though the Study of it signifies Little without the Practice.
Do not think it impossible to be a Wise Man, without looking Sowre upon it. Wisdom makes Men Severe, but not Inhumane. ”

“ But we are too too apt to think other People more Happy, and our selves Less, then in Truth, They, or We are: Which Savours of a Malevolence on the One hand, and an Ingratitude on the Other. Nay it falls out many times, that the Envious Persons are rather to be Envy'd of the Two. What had the Wild Ass here to Complain of, or the Tame One to be Envy’d for: The Former was but in the Plight that Wild Asses usually are; and in truth ought to be. When they are in the Woods they are at Home, and a Forrest-Life, to them, is but according to Nature. ”

“ It were well if All Two-Footed Servants were but as Faithful to their Masters as This Four-Legg'd Animal. A Loaf of Bread was as much to Him as a Bag of Guineas to a Great Officer; And why should not the One make as much Conscience of Betraying his Patron for Gold, as the Other of doing it for a Crust? Beside the Right Reasoning of the Dog uppon the Consequence of Things. ”

“ A Philosopher says Æsop should Value a man for his Mind, Not for his body. This presence of Thought gave Xanthus a High Opinion of the Wisdom of the Man; and so he bad the Merchant set him his Lowest Price of That Miserable Creature. Why says he, you had as good Cheapen a Dunghill; but if you'l bid me like a Chapman for either of the Other Two, you shall have this Phantome into the Bargaine. Very good says the Philosopher; and without any more ado what's your selling Price? The Merchant speaks the Word, The Philosopher pays the Money, and takes Æsop away with him. ”

“ To be torn to pieces by Calumny, nay to be a Knave in his own Defence! for the Honester the Worse, in a Vicious Age, and where 'tis a Crime not to be like the Company. Men of that Character are not to be Read, and Understood by their Words, but by their Interests; their Promises and Protestations are no longer Binding than while they are Profitable. ”

“ There are more Meanings of Substance and Shadow; of Mistaking One for T'other; and Losing All by Chopping at More; than the Bare Sense and Letter of the Dog, the Flesh, and the Image here in the Fable. Under these Heads are comprehended all Inordinate Desires, Vain Hopes, and Miserable Disappointments. What shall we say of those that spend their Days in Gaping after Court Favours and Preferments; Servile Flatteries; and Slavish Attendances? that Live, and Entertain themselves upon Blessings in Vision? ”

“ There's No living in This World without an Exchange of Civil Offices, and the Need we have One of Another, goes a Great Way toward the Making of us Love One Another. How is this Amity, and Communication to be entertain'd now, but by the Commerce of Giving and Receiving? ”

“ As the Fable of the Raging Lyon Preaches Caution, and Moderation, to the Extravagances of Cruel, and Ambitious Rulers, by shewing them that Tyranny is the Scourge of Humane Nature, in Opposition to All the Blessings of a Well Order'd Government; and that they do but Plague other People, to their Own Infamy, and Ruine. ”

“ It is according to Prudence, as well as Nature, to pay that Honour to your Parents that you Expect your Children should pay to you.
Do All the Good you can to All men, but in the First Place to your Nearest Relations, and do no Hurt however, where you can do no Good. ”

“ It is the Custom of the World for People in All Cases where They are either Ignorant or Doubtfull, to Repair to Men that have the Reputation of Philosophers, for Councell and Satisfaction, But this, under favour, is a Great Mistake ”

“ The Moralists will have Wisdom and Virtue to be meant by the Diamond; the World and the Pleasures of it, by the Dunghill; and by the Cock, a Voluptuous Man, that Abandons himself to his Lusts, without any regard, either to the Study, the Practice, or the Excellency of Better Things. ”

“ Now the Corruption must needs be Strong, where Humane Frailty strikes in so Early with it, and the Progress no less Mortal, where it is suffer'd to go on without Control: For what are all the Extravagances of the Leudest Life, but the more Consummated Follies and Disorders, of either a Mis-taught, or a Neglected Youth? ”

“ There are, 'tis True, a Certain Set of Morose and Untractable Spirits in the World, that look upon Precepts in Emblem, as they do upon Gays and Pictures, that are only fit for Women and Children, and make no more reck'ning of them, then of the Fooleries of so many Old Wives Tales. ”

“ He lives to Himself as well as to the World, without Brawles or Quarrels, of any sort whatsoever. He sees No Bloody Murders; He hears No Blasphemous Execrations; He lives free from the Plagues of Jealousie and Envy: And This is the Life in fine, that the Greatest, and the Wisest Men in the World, Have, or would have made Choice of, if Cares and Business had not Hinder'd them from so Great a Blessing.
'Tis against Common Justice to pass Sentence without hearing Both sides: And the Only way to come to a True Estimate upon the Odds betwixt a Publick and a Private Life, is to Try Both. ”

“ Let him but set the Comforts of a Life spent in Noise, Formality, and Tumult, against the Blessings of a Retreat with Competency and Freedom, and then Cast up his Account.
What Man then, that is not stark Mad, will Voluntarily Expose himself to the Imperious Brow-beatings and Scorns of Great Men! to have a Dagger struck to his Heart in an Embrace ”

“ Leaving the whole World to take the same Freedom with Me, that I have done with Others: Provided that they do not Impute the Faults, and the Mis-Pointings of the Press, to the Author, and that they Consult the Errata for other Mistakes. ”