American author (1820-1904)
Elements of the heroic exist in almost every individual: it is only the felicitous development of them all in one that is rare.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
For every great evil, apparently irremediable, there is reserved, it is probable, somewhere in the design of Providence, an effectual remedy.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
Hatreds are the chimneys of the mind, serving to carry off the smoke of its pestilent humors.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
The perfection of dress lies in the union of three requisites: in its being comfortable, inexpensive, and in good taste. It should not be so far removed from the prevailing mode as to excite attention, nor yet so far within the fashion as to imply a weak submission to it.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
Few marry their first loves; fewer ought to. The love of the very young is like the love of children for sweetmeats: they usually outgrow it.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
There are seasons when our passions have slept so long that we know not whether they still exist in us. So does flax forget that it is combustible when the fire is away from it.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
It is not the number of facts he knows, but how much of a fact he is himself, that proves the man.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
It is only an error of judgment to make a mistake, but it argues an infirmity of character to adhere to it when discovered.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
There would not be so much harm in the giddy following the fashions, if somehow the wise could always set them.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
At the best, sarcasms, bitter irony, scathing wit, are a sort of sword-play of the mind. You pink your adversary and he is forthwith dead: and then you deserve to be hung for it.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
In secluding himself too much from society, an author is in danger of losing that intimate acquaintance with life which is the only sure foundation of power in a writer.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
Pride is like the beautiful acacia, that lifts its head proudly above its neighbor plants--forgetting that it too, like them, has its roots in the dirt.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
A particular disappointment is seldom more than an excrescence upon the trunk of a general good--a shower that spoils the pleasure party, but refreshes and enriches the earth.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
If necessity is the mother of invention, it is no less the mother of crime; eternal justice is one thing, eternal love of bread and butter and other good things another; where it is a necessity of our nature to have, it is a weakness of our being to get.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
attributed, Day's Collacon
Home never appears to us so beautiful as when we are remote from it.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
Music lends grace and dignity to life; it softens care, alleviates regrets, refines and enlivens sensibility, links the ideal to the actual, and suggests a flow of life in unison with its harmonies.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
Our opinions partake, more or less, of the prejudices of our class, party, or sect. We are all largely pledged, through interest, affection, or passion, to particular classes of opinion, and the strength of efforts to get released from these pledges, is the measure of our advancement.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
Perhaps the heroic element in our natures is exhibited to the best advantage, not in going from success to success, and so on through a series of triumphs, but in gathering, on the very field of defeat itself, the materials for renewed efforts, and in proceeding, with no abatement of heart or energy, to form fresh designs upon the very ruins and ashes of blasted hopes. Yes, it is this indomitable persistence in a purpose, continued alike through defeat and success, that makes, more than aught else, the hero.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
The use we make of our fortune determines its sufficiency. A little is enough if used wisely, and too much if expended foolishly.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
The wise build their doctrines--theological and philosophical--upon a basis of probabilities, never upon the foundation of absolute certainty.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought