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Goodness: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations
Whatever any one does or says, I must be good.— AURELIUS ANTONINUS — Meditations. Ch. VII.
What good I see humbly I seek to do, And live obedient to the law, in trust That what will come, and must come, shall come well.— EDWIN ARNOLD — The Light of Asia. Bk. VI. L. 273.
Because indeed there was never law, or sect, or opinion, did so much magnify goodness, as the Christian religion doth.— BACON — Essays. Of Goodness and
Goodness of Nature. The good he scorned Stalked off reluctant, like an ill-used ghost, Not to return; or if it did, in visits Like those of angels, short and far between.— BLAIR — The Grave. Pt. 2. L. 586.
There shall never be one lost good! What was shall live as before; The evil is null, is nought, is silence in.plying sound; What was good shall be good, with, for evil, so much good more; On the earth the broken arcs; in the heaven a perfect round.— ROBERT BROWNING — Abt Vogler. IX.
No good Book, or good thing of any sort, shows its best face at first.— CARLYLE — Essays. Novalis.
Doing good, Disinterested good, is not our trade.— COWPER — The Task. Bk. I. The Sofa. L. 673.
That good diffused may more abundant grow.— COWPER — Conversation. L. 441.
Now, at a certain time, in pleasant mood, He tried the luxury of doing good.— CRABBE — Tales of the Hall. Bk. III.
Who soweth good seed shall surely reap; The year grows rich as it groweth old, And life's latest sands are its sands of gold! S.— JULIA C. R. DORR — To the "Bouquet
Club." Look around the habitable world, how few Know their own good, or knowing it, pursue.— DRYDEN — Juvenal. Satire X.
If e'er she knew an evil thought, She spoke no evil word: Peace to the gentle! She hath sought The bosom of her Lord.— EBENEZER ELLIOT — Hannah Ratcliff.
If you wish to be good, first believe that you are bad.— EPICTETUS — Fragments. Long's trans.
And learn the luxury of doing good.— GOLDSMITH — The Traveller. L. 22.
Impell'd with steps unceasing to pursue Some fleeting good, that mocks me with the view, That, like the circle bounding earth and skies, Allures from far, yet, as I follow, flies.— GOLDSMITH — The Traveller. L. 25.
If goodness leade him not, yet wearinesse May tosse him to my breast.— HERBERT — The Pulley. St. 4.
God whose gifts in gracious flood Unto all who seek are sent, Only asks you to be good And is content.— VICTOR HUGO — God whose Gifts in
Gracious Flood. He was so good he would pour rose-water on a toad.— DOUGLAS JERROLD — Jerrold's Wit.
A Charitable Man. How near to good is what is fair!— BEN JONSON — Love Freed from
Ignorance and Folly. Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever; Do noble things, not dream them all day long; And so make life, death, and that vast forever One grand, sweet song.— CHARLES KINGSLEY — A Farewell.
The soil out of which such men as he are made is good to be born on, good to live on, good to die for and to be buried in.— LOWELL — Among my Books. Second
Series. Garfield. None But such as are good men can give good things, And that which is not good, is not delicious To a well-governed and wise appetite.— MILTON — Comus. L. 702.
Since good, the more Communicated, more abundant grows.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. V. L. 71.
A glass is good, and a lass is good, And a pipe to smoke in cold weather; The world is good, and the people are good, And we're all good fellows together.— JOHN O'KEEFE — Sprigs of Laurel. Act II. Sc. 1.
Cui bono? What's the good of it? for whose advantage?— CICERO — Oratio Pro Sextio Roscio
Amerino. XXX. Ergo hoc proprium est animi bene constituti, et lætari bonis rebus, et dolere contrariis. This is a proof of a well-trained mind, to rejoice in what is good and to grieve at the opposite.— CICERO — De Amicitia. XIII.
Homines ad deos nullâ re propius accedunt, quam salutem hominibus dando. Men in no way approach so nearly to the gods as in doing good to men.— CICERO — Oratio Pro Quinto Ligario. XII.
Vir bonus est quis? Qui consulta patrum, qui leges juraque servat. Who is a good man? He who keeps the decrees of the fathers, and both human and divine laws.— HORACE — Epistolæ. I. 16. 40.
Rari quippe boni: numero vix sunt totidem quot Thebarum portæ, vel divitis ostia Nili. The good, alas! are few: they are scarcely as many as the gates of Thebes or the mouths of the Nile.— JUVENAL — Satiræ. XIII. 26.
Bonum necessarium extra terminos necessitatis non est bonum. Necessary good is not good beyond the bonds of necessity. Law Maxim. Begnius homines bona quam mala sentiunt. Men have less lively perception of good than of evil.— LIVY — Annales. XXX. 21.
Si veris magna paratur Fama bonis, et si successu nuda remoto Inspicitur virtus, quicquid laudamus in ullo Majorum, fortuna fuit. If honest fame awaits the truly good; if setting aside the ultimate success excellence alone is to be considered, then was his fortune as proud as any to be found in the records of our ancestry.— LUCAN — Pharsalia. IX. 593.
Bono ingenio me esse ornatam, quam auro multo mavolo. Aurum fortuna invenitur, natura ingenium bonum. Bonam ego, quam beatam me esse nimio dici mavolo. A good disposition I far prefer to gold; for gold is the gift of fortune; goodness of disposition is the gift of nature. I prefer much rather to be called good than fortunate.— PLAUTUS — Pœnulus. I. 2. 90.
Itidemque ut sæpe jam in multis locis, Plus insciens quis fecit quam prudens boni. And so it happens oft in many instances; more good is done without our knowledge than by us intended.— PLAUTUS — Captivi Prologue. XLIV.
Esse quam videri bonus malebat. He preferred to be good, rather than to seem so.— SALLUST — Catilina. LIV.
Bonitas non est pessimis esse meliorem. It is not goodness to be better than the very worst.— SENECA — Epistolæ Ad Lucilium.
Das Uebel macht eine Geschichte und das Gute keine. Sin writes histories, goodness is silent.— GOETHE — See RIEMER, Mittheilungen
über Goethe. II. 9. 1810. Denn Gott lohnt Gutes, hier gethan, auck hier noch. For God rewards good deeds done here below-rewards them here.— LESSING — Nathan der Weise. I. 2.
Weiss Dass alle Länder gute Menschen tragen. Know this, that every country can produce good men.— LESSING — Nathan der Weise. II. 5.