Owen Feltham Quotes

Every man should study conciseness in speaking; it is a sign of ignorance not to know that long speeches, though they may please the speaker, are the torture of the hearer.

He who would be singular in his apparel had need have something superlative to balance that affectation.

Meditation is the soul's perspective glass.

Negligence is the rust of the soul that corrodes through all her best resolves.

The greatest results in life are usually attained by simple means and the exercise of ordinary qualities. These may for the most part be summed up in these two - common sense and perseverance.

Promises may get friends, but it is performance that must nurse and keep them.

It is much safer to reconcile an enemy than to conquer him; victory may deprive him of his poison, but reconciliation of his will.

To trust God when we have securities in our iron chest is easy, but not thankworthy; but to depend on him for what we cannot see, as it is more hard for man to do, so it is more acceptable to God.

There is no belittling worse than to over praise a man.

Where there is plenty, charity is a duty, not a courtesy

Virtue is the truest liberty.

Praise has different effects, according to the mind it meets with; it makes a wise man modest, but a fool more arrogant, turning his weak brain giddy.

Truth and fidelity are the pillars of the temple of the world; when these are broken, the fabric falls, and crushes all to pieces.

Works without faith are like a fish without water, it wants the element it should live in. A building without a basis cannot stand; faith is the foundation, and every good action is as a stone laid.

I love the man that is modestly valiant; that stirs not till he most needs, and then to purpose. A continued patience I commend not.

Perfection is immutable. But for things imperfect, change is the way to perfect them.

Virtue were a kind of misery if fame were all the garland that crowned her.

It is to be doubted whether he will ever find the way to heaven who desires to go thither alone.

Riches, though they may reward virtues, yet they cannot cause them; he is much more noble who deserves a benefit than he who bestows one.

Meditation is the soul's perspective glass, whereby, in her long remove, she discerneth God, as if He were nearer at hand.

The boundary of man is moderation. When once we pass that pale our guardian angel quits his charge of us.

We pick our own sorrows out of the joys of other men, and from their sorrows likewise we derive our joys.

Honesty is a warrant of far more safety than fame.

If ever I should affect injustice, it would be in this, that I might do courtesies and receive none.

He that despairs degrades the Deity, and seems to intimate that He is insufficient, or not just to His word; and in vain hath read the scriptures, the world, and man.

A sentence well couched takes both the sense and understanding. I love not those cart-rope speeches that are longer than the memory of man can fathom.

Contemplation is necessary to generate an object, but action must propagate it.

There is no detraction worse than to overpraise a man, for if his worth proves short of what report doth speak of him, his own actions are ever giving the lie to his honor.

Gold is the fool's curtain, which hides all his defects from the world.

The greatest results in life are usually attained by common sense and perseverance.

It is rare to see a rich man religious; for religion preaches restraint, and riches prompt to unlicensed freedom.

Pleasures can undo a man at any time, if yielded to.

Virtue dwells at the head of a river, to which we cannot get but by rowing against the stream.

When two friends part they should lock up one another's secrets, and interchange their keys.

Zeal without humanity is like a ship without a rudder, liable to be stranded at any moment

Take heed of a speedy professing friend; love is never lasting which flames before it burns.

Show me the man who would go to heaven alone if he could, and in that man I will show you one who will never be admitted into heaven.

Men are like wine,--not good before the lees of clownishness be settled.

Discontent is like ink poured into water, which fills the whole fountain full of blackness.

Knowledge is the treasure of the mind, but discretion is the key to it, without which it is useless. The practical part of wisdom is the best.

Time is like a ship which never anchors; while I am on board, I had better do those things that may profit me at my landing, than practice such as shall cause my commitment when I come ashore.

It is a most unhappy state to be at a distance with God: man needs no greater infelicity than to be left to himself.

He that, when he should not, spends too much, shall, when he would not, have too little to spend.

He that always waits upon God is ready whenever He calls. Neglect not to set your accounts even; he is a happy man who to lives as that death at all times may find him at leisure to die.

All men will be Peters in their bragging tongue, and most men will be Peters in their base denial; but few men will be Peters in their quick repentance.

Shall I speak truly what I now see below? The World is all a carkass, smoak and vanity, The shadow of a shadow, a play And in one word, just Nothing.

The irresolute man flecks from one egg to another, so hatches nothing.

A combed writing will cost both sweat and the rubbing of the brain. And combed I wish it, not frizzled or curled.

There is no one subsists by himself alone.

Reason and right give the quickest despatch.