Fortune reigns in the gifts of the world, not in the lineaments of nature.
Oh, the incomparable contrivance of Nature who has ordered all things in so even a method that wherever she has been less bountiful in her gifts, there she makes it up with a larger dose of self-love, which supplies the former deficits and makes all even.--_Erasmus._
Nature,--a thing which science and art never appear to see with the same eyes. If to an artist Nature has a soul, why, so has a steam-engine. Art gifts with soul all matter that it contemplates; science turns all that is already gifted with soul into matter.--_Bulwer-Lytton._
Vivitur exiguo melius: natura beatis / Omnibus esse dedit, si quis cognoverit uti=--Men live best upon a little: nature has ordained all to be happy, if they would but learn how to use her gifts.
February 26 MORNING “Salvation is of the Lord.” — Jonah 2:9 SALVATION is the work of God. It is He alone who quickens the soul “dead in trespasses and sins,” and it is He also who maintains the soul in its spiritual life. He is both “Alpha and Omega.” “Salvation is of the Lord.” If I am prayerful, God makes me prayerful; if I have graces, they are God’s gifts to me; if I hold on in a consistent life, it is because He upholds me with His hand. I do nothing whatever towards my own preservation, except what God Himself first does in me. Whatever I have, all my goodness is of the Lord alone. Wherein I sin, that is my own; but wherein I act rightly, that is of God, wholly and completely. If I have repulsed a spiritual enemy, the Lord’s strength nerved my arm. Do I live before men a consecrated life? It is not I, but Christ who liveth in me. Am I sanctified? I did not cleanse myself: God’s Holy Spirit sanctifies me. Am I weaned from the world? I am weaned by God’s chastisements sanctified to my good. Do I grow in knowledge? The great Instructor teaches me. All my jewels were fashioned by heavenly art. I find in God all that I want; but I find in myself nothing but sin and misery. “He only is my rock and my salvation.” Do I feed on the Word? That Word would be no food for me unless the Lord made it food for my soul, and helped me to feed upon it. Do I live on the manna which comes down from heaven? What is that manna but Jesus Christ himself incarnate, whose body and whose blood I eat and drink? Am I continually receiving fresh increase of strength? Where do I gather my might? My help cometh from heaven’s hills: without Jesus I can do nothing. As a branch cannot bring forth fruit except it abide in the vine, no more can I, except I abide in Him. What Jonah learned in the great deep, let me learn this morning in my closet: “Salvation is of the Lord.
We fail to praise the ceaseless ministry of the great inanimate world around us only because its kindness is unobtrusive. Nature is always noiseless. All her greatest gifts are given in secret. And we forget how truly every good and perfect gift comes from without, and from above, because no pause in her changeless beneficence teaches us the sad lessons of deprivation. Natural Law, p. 274.
Memory is the golden thread linking all the mental gifts and excellencies together.
I favoriti dei grandi oltre all' oro di regali, e l'incenso delle lodi, tocca loro anche la mirra della maldicenza=--The favourites of the great, besides the gold of gifts and the incense of flattery, must also partake of the myrrh of calumny.
Electricity is often called wonderful, beautiful; but it is so only in common with the other forces of nature. The beauty of electricity or of any other force is not that the power is mysterious, and unexpected, touching every sense at unawares in turn, but that it is under law, and that the taught intellect can even now govern it largely. The human mind is placed above, and not beneath it, and it is in such a point of view that the mental education afforded by science is rendered super-eminent in dignity, in practical application and utility; for by enabling the mind to apply the natural power through law, it conveys the gifts of God to man.
What avail the largest gifts of Heaven, / When drooping health and spirits go amiss? / How tasteless then whatever can be given! / Health is the vital principle of bliss, / And exercise of health.
Aristodemus, a friend of Antigonus, supposed to be a cook's son, advised him to moderate his gifts and expenses. "Thy words," said he, "Aristodemus, smell of the apron."
To the noble mind / Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind.
Of all the gods, Death only craves not gifts: Nor sacrifice, nor yet drink-offering poured Avails; no altars hath he, nor is soothed By hymns of praise. From him alone of all The powers of heaven Persuasion holds aloof.
Only he can be trusted with gifts who can present a face of bronze to expectations.
Great men or men of great gifts you will easily find, but symmetrical men never.
Favour and gifts disturb justice.
Among the gifts of grace which the soul receives in holy communion there is one that must be numbered among the highest. It is, that holy communion does not permit the soul to remain long in sin, nor to obstinately persevere in it.--ST. IGNATIUS.
When each comes forth from his mother's womb, the gate of gifts closes behind him.
The gifts of a bad man bring no good with them.
God hands gifts to some, whispers them to others.
The more numerous the gifts we have received from God, the greater the account we must render to Him.--ST. GREGORY THE GREAT.
I fully take in the real death (of my child), I know I shall follow and die the same real death, and through that same real death I trust the spirit of Christ will be my guide and helper, and bring me to a better life, and unite me again with those whom I have loved, and whom I love still, and those who have loved me and love me still. God is no giver of imperfect gifts, and He has given me life, but life on earth is imperfect. He has given me love, but love on earth is imperfect. I believe, I must believe in perfection, and therefore I believe in a life perfected and in a love perfected. 'Hier stehe ich, ich kann nicht anders--Gott helfe mich Amen.'
Dadivas quebrantan penas=--Gifts dissolve rocks.
The best gifts find the fewest admirers, and most men mistake the bad for the good.
Genius in poverty is never feared, because Nature, though liberal in her gifts in one instance, is forgetful in another.
Seven hundred pounds and possibilities is good gifts.
Ingeniis patuit campus, certusque merenti / Stat favor: ornatur propriis industria donis=--The field is open to talent and merit is sure of its reward. The gifts with which industry is crowned are her own.
Two gifts are indispensable to the dramatic poet; one is the power of forgetting himself, the other is the power of remembering his characters.
Fiction gives us empathy: it puts us inside the minds of other people, gives us the gifts of seeing the world through their eyes.
For Pope Pius XI, the theory of justice is based squarely on the dignity of the human personality. His position is that charity regulates our actions toward the human personality itself, that Image of God which is the object of love because it mirrors forth the Divine Perfections, and in the supernatural order shares those perfections. The human personality, however, because it is a created personality, needs certain “props” for the realization of its dignity. These “props” or supports of human dignity, which includes such things as property, relatives and friends, freedom and responsibility, are all objects of justice. To attack a human person in his personality itself, as by hatred, is a failure against charity; but to attack him be undermining the supports of his human dignity, as by robbery, is a failure against justice. The same thing is true in the field of social morality. The human community, as such, shows forth the perfections of God in ways that are not open to individuals. This fact is very clearly stated in paragraph 30 of the Encyclical Divini Redemptoris : “In a further sense it is society which affords the opportunity for the development of all the individuals and social gifts bestowed on human nature. These natural gifts have a value surpassing the immediate interests of the moment, for in society the reflect a Divine Perfection, which would not be true were man to live alone.” Society itself, therefore, as thus revealing further the perfection of God in His creatures, is worthy of love: of a love directed not only towards the individuals who compose the society, but also toward their union with each other. This love is social charity. Moreover, as society thus makes available to man the further perfection of his potentialities of mirroring the Divine Perfection, it is also a support for these perfections, and hence is an object of the virtue of justice. This justice, Social Justice, which is directed at the Common Good itself, requires that the society be so organized as to be in fact a vehicle for human perfection. [“The Dignity of the Human Personality: Basis of a Theory of Justice,” Chapter III of Introduction to Social Justice , Paulist Press, 1948, pp. 24-25.]
The history of the Church is a history of the invisible as well as of the visible Church; which latter, if disjoined from the former, is but a vacant edifice; gilded, it may be, and overhung with old votive gifts, yet useless, nay, pestilentially unclean; to write whose history is less important than to forward its downfall.
One of the most singular gifts, or, if abused, most singular weaknesses, of the human mind, is its power of persuading itself to see whatever it chooses; a great gift if directed to the discernment of the things needful and pertinent to its own work and being; a great weakness if directed to the discovery of things profitless or discouraging.
Timeo Danaos, et dona ferentes=--I distrust the Greeks, even when they bring gifts.
SALVATION BELONGS TO THE LORD! — JONAH 2:9 Salvation is the work of God. It is He alone who quickens the soul “dead in . . . trespasses and sins,”1 and He it is who maintains the soul in its spiritual life. He is both “Alpha and Omega.” “Salvation belongs to the LORD!” If I am prayerful, God makes me prayerful; if I have graces, they are God’s gifts to me; if I hold on in a consistent life, it is because He upholds me with His hand. I do nothing whatever toward my own preservation, except what God Himself first does in me. Whatever I have, all my goodness is of the Lord alone. Whenever I sin, that is my own doing; but when I act correctly, that is wholly and completely of God. If I have resisted a spiritual enemy, the Lord’s strength nerved my arm. Do I live before men a consecrated life? It is not I, but Christ who lives in me. Am I sanctified? I did not cleanse myself: God’s Holy Spirit sanctifies me. Am I separated from the world? I am separated by God’s chastisements sanctified to my good. Do I grow in knowledge? The great Instructor teaches me. All my jewels were fashioned by heavenly art. I find in God all that I want; but I find in myself nothing but sin and misery. “He only is my rock and my salvation.”2 Do I feed on the Word? That Word would be no food for me unless the Lord made it food for my soul and helped me to feed upon it. Do I live on the bread that comes down from heaven? What is that bread but Jesus Christ Himself incarnate, whose body and whose blood I eat and drink? Am I continually receiving fresh supplies of strength? Where do I gather my might? My help comes from heaven’s hills: Without Jesus I can do nothing. As a branch cannot bring forth fruit except it abide in the vine, no more can I, except I abide in Him. What Jonah learned in the ocean, let me learn this morning in my room: “Salvation belongs to the LORD.
Society will pardon much to genius and special gifts; but, being in its nature conventional, it loves what is conventional.
As a leadership coach, one of the questions I always ask myself is, “Does this leader lead in a way that is compatible with humans?” or some version of that. People are designed to function with energy and use their gifts and talents to work toward fruitful outcomes. They do that from the moment they wake up in the morning until they lie down at night. From making the coffee to making computers, people have what it takes to get it done, if the right ingredients are present and the wrong ones are not. The leader’s job is to lead in ways such that people can do what they are best at doing: using their gifts and their brains to get great results.
Of all God's gifts to the sight of man, colour is the holiest, the most divine, the most solemn.
Who God doth late and early pray More of his grace than gifts to lend; And entertains the harmless day With a religious book or friend.
Born for success he seemed, With grace to win, with heart to hold, With shining gifts that took all eyes.
Natura beatis / Omnibus esse dedit, si quis cognoverit uti=--Nature has granted to all to be happy, if we but knew how to use her gifts.
Modern civilisation rests upon physical science; take away her gifts to our own country, and our position among the leading nations of the world is gone to-morrow; for it is physical science only that makes intelligence and moral energy stronger than brute force.
Fortem posce animum mortis terrore carentem, / Qui spatium vit? extremum inter munera ponat / Natur?=--Pray for a strong soul free from the fear of death, which regards the final period of life among the gifts of Nature.
The man who cannot enjoy his natural gifts in silence, and find his reward in the exercise of them, but must wait and hope for their recognition by others, must expect to reap only disappointment and vexation.
~Mother.~--Children, look in those eyes, listen to that dear voice, notice the feeling of even a single touch that is bestowed upon you by that gentle hand! Make much of it while yet you have that most precious of all good gifts, a loving mother. Read the unfathomable love of those eyes; the kind anxiety of that tone and look, however slight your pain. In after life you may have friends, fond, dear friends, but never will you have again the inexpressible love and gentleness lavished upon you which none but a mother bestows.--_Macaulay._
Babies being “given” to women as gifts makes the women sound powerless.
Kleine Geschenke erhalten die Freundschaft=--Little gifts keep friendship green.
There is certainly something of exquisite kindness and thoughtful benevolence in that rarest of gifts--fine breeding.
Spesso i doni sono danni=--Gifts are oftentimes losses.
Wisdom's path is steep; but, gained the height, / The Muse's gifts will fill you with delight.
Men of humour are always in some degree men of genius; wits are rarely so, although a man of genius may, amongst other gifts, possess wit, as Shakespeare.
It is ordained that to the ambitious, who derive no satisfaction from the gifts of life and the beauty of the world, life shall be a cause of suffering, and they shall possess neither the profit nor the beauty of the world.
What can we pray for? Not for special gifts, but only for God's mercy. We do not know what is good for us, and for others. What would become of the world if all our prayers were granted? And yet it is good to pray--that is, to live in all our joys and sorrows with God, that unknown God whom we cannot reason with, but whom we can love and trust. Human misery, outward and inward, is certainly a great problem, and yet one knows from one's own life how just the heaviest burdens have been blessings. The soul must be furrowed if it is to bear fruit.
Whene'er I take my walks abroad, How many poor I see! What shall I render to my God For all his gifts to me?
Scepticism writing about belief may have great gifts; but it is really= _ultra vires_ =there. It is blindness laying down the laws of optics.
He that hateth gifts shall live.
Dona pr?sentis cape l?tus hor?, et / Linque severa=--Gladly enjoy the gifts of the present hour, and banish serious thoughts.
Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind.
Fortune reigns in gifts of the world.
In all faiths there is something true / ... Something that keeps the Unseen in view, / ... And notes His gifts with the worship due.
Great people and champions are special gifts of God, whom He gives and preserves; they do their work and achieve great actions, not with vain imaginations or cold and sleepy cogitations, but by motion of God.
Echo is the voice of a reflection in a mirror.= _Hawthorne._ [Greek: Echthros gar moi keinos, homos Aidao pylesin, / Hos ch' heteron men keuthei eni phresin, allo de bazei]--Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is he who conceals one thing in his mind and utters another. _Hom._ [Greek: Echthron adora dora]--An enemy's gifts are no gifts.
Earthly faithfulness is possible only by the reception of heavenly gifts. As surely as every leaf that grows is mainly water that the plant has got from the clouds, and carbon that it has got out of the atmosphere, so surely will all our good be mainly drawn from heaven and heaven's gifts. As certainly as every lump of coal that you put upon your fire contains in itself sunbeams that have been locked up for all these millenniums that have passed since it waved green in the forest, so certainly does every good deed embody in itself gifts from above. And no man is pure except by impartation; and every good thing and every perfect thing cometh from the Father of lights.--_Alex. McLaren._
Great men are among the best gifts which God bestows upon a people.
Great gifts are for great men.
God sometimes bestows gifts just that love may have something to renounce. The things that He puts into our hands are possibly put there that we may have the opportunity of showing what is in our heart. Oh, that there were in us a fervor of love that would lead us to examine everything that belongs to us, to ascertain how it might be made a means of showing our affection to Christ!--_George Bowen._
Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind.
Non possidentem multa vocaveris / Recte beatum. Rectius occupat / Nomen beati, qui Deorum / Muneribus sapienter uti, / Duramque callet pauperiem pati, / Pejusque leto flagitium timet=--You would not justly call him blessed who has great possessions; more justly does he claim the title who knows how to use wisely the gifts of the gods and to bear the hardships of poverty, and who fears disgrace worse than death.
Hence it comes that play and the society of women, war, and offices of state, are so sought after. Not that there is in these any real happiness, or that any imagine true bliss to consist in the money won at play, or in the hare which is hunted; we would not have these as gifts. We do not seek an easy and peaceful lot which leaves us free to think of our unhappy condition, nor the dangers of war, nor the troubles of statecraft, but seek rather the distraction which amuses us, and diverts our mind from these thoughts.
Now, the typical way to measure your potential is to compare the size of the problem to your natural gifts and your track record so far. No, it’s not irrational to measure your potential this way, but for the believer in Christ Jesus, it simply isn’t enough. By grace, God doesn’t leave you on your own. He doesn’t leave you with the tool box of your own strength, righteousness, and wisdom. No, he invades you with his presence, power, wisdom, and grace. Paul captures this reality with these life-altering words: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).
On ne doit pas juger du merite d'un homme par ses grandes qualites, mais par l'usage qu'il en sait faire=--We should not judge of the merit of a man by his great gifts, but by the use he makes of them.
When pious frauds and holy shifts Are dispensations and gifts.
It was out of the common thing that the precious thing was brought; and it is out of the common things of daily life, presented obediently to Jesus and laid at His feet, that He brings His own glorious gifts, so that our whole lives become one great sacrament.--_W. Hay Aitken._
~Gifts.~--One must be poor to know the luxury of giving!--_George Eliot._
Men of great gifts you will easily find, but symmetrical men never.
To receive gifts is to lose liberty.
Liberty is one of the most precious gifts that Heaven has bestowed on man, and captivity is the greatest evil that can befall him.
She that takes gifts herself she sells, / And she that gives them does nothing else.
Humour has justly been regarded as the finest perfection of poetic genius. He who wants it, be his other gifts what they may, has only half a mind; an eye for what is above him, not for what is about him or below him.
O munera nondum / Intellecta Deum=--Oh, that the gifts of the gods should not yet be understood.
It is neither talent, nor power, nor gifts that do the work of God, but it is that which lies within the power of the humblest; it is the simple, earnest life hid with Christ in God.--_F. W. Robertson._
Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes=--Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts with them.
It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes. Distinctions in society will always exist under every just government. Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth can not be produced by human institutions. In the full enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the fruits of superior industry, economy, and virtue, every man is equally entitled to protection by law; but when the laws undertake to add to these natural and just advantages artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society \x97 the farmers, mechanics, and laborers \x97 who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their government.
Liberty is of more value than any gifts; and to receive gifts is to lose it. Be assured that men most commonly seek to oblige thee only that they may engage thee to serve them.
If nature has been frugal in her gifts and endowments, there is the more need of art to supply her defects. If she has been generous and liberal, know that she still expects industry and application on our part, and revenges herself in proportion to our negligent ingratitude. The richest genius, like the most fertile soil, when uncultivated, shoots up into the rankest weeds; and instead of vines and olives for the pleasure and use of man, produces, to its slothful owner, the most abundant crop of poisons.
Genius is to other gifts what the carbuncle is to the precious stones. It sends forth its own light, whereas other stones only reflect borrowed light.
The year of jubilee has come; Gather the gifts of Earth with equal hand; Henceforth ye too may share the birthright soil, The corn, drink the wine and all the harvest-home.
We are to earn the joys of a higher existence, not by scorning, but by using, all the gifts of God in this.
We hold from God the gift which includes all others. This gift is life — physical, intellectual, and moral life. But life cannot maintain itself alone. The Creator of life has entrusted us with the responsibility of preserving, developing, and perfecting it. In order that we may accomplish this, He has provided us with a collection of marvelous faculties. And He has put us in the midst of a variety of natural resources. By the application of our faculties to these natural resources we convert them into products, and use them. The process is necessary in order that life may run its appointed course. Life, faculties, production — in other words, individuality, liberty, property — this is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these three gifts from God precede all human legislation, and are superior to it. Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed before-hand that caused men to make laws in the first place. [ The Law . Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc., 1974, pp. 5-6.]