Jeremy Collier Quotes

People's opinions of themselves are legible in their countenances.

As the language of the face is universal, so 'tis very comprehensive; no laconism can reach it: 'Tis the short hand of the mind, and crowds a great deal in a little room

Everyone has a fair turn to be as great as he pleases.

Fortitude implies a firmness and strength of mind, that enables us to do and suffer as we ought. It rises upon an opposition, and, like a river, swells the higher for having its course stopped.

Passing too eagerly upon a provocation loses the guard and lays open the body; calmness and leisure and deliberation do the business much better.

Atheism is the result of ignorance and pride; of strong sense and feeble reasons; of good eating and ill-living. It is the plague of society, the corrupter of manners, and the underminer of property.

A man may as well expect to grow stronger by always eating as wiser by always reading.

Patient waiting is often the highest way of doing God's will.

Books support us in our solitude and keep us from being a burden to ourselves.

Perpetual pushing and assurance put a difficulty out of countenance and make a seeming difficulty gives way.

Envy, like a cold prison, benumbs and stupefies; and, conscious of its own impotence, folds its arms in despair.

Goodness is generous and diffusive; it is largeness of mind, and sweetness of temper,--balsam in the blood, and justice sublimated to a richer spirit.

Rhetoric is nothing but reason well dressed and argument put in order.

The end of pleasure is to support the offices of life, to relieve the fatigues of business, to reward a regular action, and to encourage the continuance.

A man by tumbling his thoughts, and forming them into expressions, gives them a new fermentation, which works them into a finer body.

True courage is the result of reasoning. A brave mind is always impregnable.

Vanity is a strong temptation to lying; it makes people magnify their merit, over flourish their family, and tell strange stories of their interest and acquaintance.

There are few things reason can discover with so much certainty and ease as its own insufficiency.

The road to heaven lies as near by water as by land.

Flattery is an ensnaring quality, and leaves a very dangerous impression. It swells a man's imagination, entertains his vanity, and drives him to a doting upon his own person.

Learning gives us a fuller conviction of the imperfections of our nature; which one would think, might dispose us to modesty.

Conscience and covetousness are never to be reconciled; like fire and water they always destroy each other, according to the predominancy of the element.

It is a difficult task to talk to the purpose, and to put life and perspicuity into our discourse.

Self-conceit is a weighty quality, and will sometimes bring down the scale when there is nothing else in it. It magnifies a fault beyond proportion, and swells every omission into an outrage.

Remorse of conscience is like an old wound; a man is in no condition to fight under such circumstances. The pain abates his vigor and takes up too much of his attention.

Envy lies between two beings equal in nature though unequal in circumstances.

By reading a man does, as it were, antedate his life, and make himself contemporary with the ages past; and this way of running up beyond one's nativity is better than Plato's pre-existence.

I would not despair unless I knew the irrevocable decree was passed; saw my misfortune recorded in the book of fate, and signed and sealed by neces-sity.

To believe a business impossible is the way to make it so. How many feasible projects have miscarried through despondency, and been strangled in their birth by a cowardly imagination.

People that have nothing to do are quickly tired of their own company.

The abuse of a thing is no argument against the use of it.

Knowledge is the consequence of time, and multitude of days are fittest to teach wisdom.

Confidence, as opposed, to modesty and distinguished from decent assurance, proceeds from self-opinion, and is occasioned by ignorance and flattery.

Prudence is a necessary ingredient in all the virtues, without which they degenerate into folly and excess.

Without discretion, people may be overlaid with unreasonable affection, and choked with too much nourishment.

Envy is of all others the most ungratifying and disconsolate passion. There is power for ambition, pleasure for luxury, and pelf even for covetousness; but envy gets no reward but vexation.

Thoughts take up no room. When they are right, they afford a portable pleasure, which one may travel with, without any trouble or encumbrance.

Books are a guide in youth, and an entertainment for age.

Dependence goes somewhat against the grain of a generous mind; and it is no wonder that it should do so, considering the unreasonable advantage which is often taken of the inequality of fortune.

Heroes are a mischievous race.

Avoid all affectation and singularity. What is according to nature is best, and what is contrary to it is always distasteful. Nothing is graceful that is not our own.

Truth is the band of union and the basis of human happiness. Without this virtue there is no reliance upon language, no confidence in friendship, no security in promises and oaths.

What can be more honorable than to have courage enough to execute the commands of reason and conscience,--to maintain the dignity of our nature, and the station assigned us?

Dangerous principles impose upon our understanding, emasculate our spirits, and spoil our temper.

We must not let go manifest truths because we cannot answer all questions about them.

He that would be a master must draw from the life as well as copy from originals, and join theory and experience together.

True courage is a result of reasoning. A brave mind is always impregnable.

Hope is a vigorous principle ... it sets the head and heart to work and animates a man to do his utmost.

How many feasible projects have miscarried through despondency and been strangled in their birth by a cowardly imagination?