CHAPTER-5 “Why do you lead such a solitary life?” asked a friend of Michael Angelo. “Art is a jealous mistress,” replied the artist; “she requires the whole man.” During his labours at the Sistine Chapel, according to Disraeli, he refused to meet any one, even at his own house.“That day we sailed westward, which was […]
CHAPTER-4 “I have here three teams that I want to get over to Staten Island,” said a boy of twelve one day in 1806 to the innkeeper at South Amboy, N. J. “If you will put us across, I’ll leave with you one of my horses in pawn, and if I don’t send you back
CHAPTER-3 “As well can the Prince of Orange pluck the stars from the sky, as bring the ocean to the wall of Leyden for your relief,” was the derisive shout of the Spanish soldiers when told that the Dutch fleet would raise that terrible four months’ siege of 1574. But from the parched lips of
CHAPTER-2 “Steady, men! Every man must die where he stands!” said Colin Campbell to the Ninety-third Highlanders at Balaklava, as an overwhelming force of Russian cavalry came sweeping down. “Ay, ay, Sir Colin! we’ll do that!” was the cordial response from men many of whom had to keep their word by thus obeying.“Bring back the
CHAPTER-1 “In a thousand cups of life,” says Emerson, “only one is the right mixture. The fine adjustment of the existing elements, where the well-mixed man is born with eyes not too dull, nor too good, with fire enough and earth enough, capable of receiving impressions from all things, and not too susceptible, then no
Chapter-23 “It is better to get wisdom than gold; for wisdom is better than rubies, and all things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.”“Better a cheap coffin and a plain funeral after a useful, unselfish life, than a grand mausoleum after a loveless, selfish life.”“I don’t want such things,” said
CHAPTER-22 “Do you want to know,” asks Robert Collyer, “how I manage to talk to you in this simple Saxon? I read Bunyan, Crusoe, and Goldsmith when I was a boy, morning, noon, and night. All the rest was task work; these were my delight, with the stories in the Bible, and with Shakespeare, when
CHAPTER-21 “Yes,” said a half-drunken man in a cellar to a parish visitor, a young girl, “I am a tough and a drunkard, and am just out of jail, and my wife is starving; but that doesn’t give you the right to come into my house without knocking to ask questions.”Another zealous girl declared in
CHAPTER-20 “He is as stiff as a poker,” said a friend of a man who could never be coaxed or tempted to smile. “Stiff as a poker,” exclaimed another, “why he would set an example to a poker.”Even Christians are not celebrated for entering into the ‘joy’ of their Lord.We are told that “Pascal would
CHAPTER-19 “I know no such unquestionable badge and ensign of a sovereign mind as that tenacity of purpose which, through all changes of companions, or parties, or fortunes, changes never, bates no jot of heart or hope, but wearies out opposition and arrives at its port.”“Well done, Tommy Brooks!” exclaimed his teacher in pleased surprise
CHAPTER-18 “Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and myself have founded empires,” said Napoleon to Montholon at St. Helena; “but upon what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ alone founded his empire on love, and at this moment millions of men would die for Him. I die before my time and my
CHAPTER-17 “What do you do with all these books?” “Oh, that library is my ‘one cigar a day,’” was the response. “What do you mean?” “Mean! Just this: when you bothered me so about being a man, and learning to smoke, I’d just been reading about a young fellow who bought books with money that
CHAPTER-16 “How long did it take you to learn to play?” asked a young man of Geradini. “Twelve hours a day for twenty years,” replied the great violinist. Layman Beecher’s father, when asked how long it took him to write his celebrated sermon on the “Government of God,” replied, “About forty years.”“If you will study
CHAPTER-15 “Do you know,” asked Balzac’s father, “that in literature a man must be either a king or a beggar?” “Very well,” replied his son, “I will be a king.” After ten years of struggle with hardship and poverty, he won success as an author.“Why do you repair that magistrate’s bench with such great care?”
CHAPTER-14 “Our enemies are before us,” exclaimed the Spartans at Thermopylae. “And we are before them,” was the cool reply of Leonidas. “Deliver your arms,” came the message from Xerxes. “Come and take them,” was the answer Leonidas sent back. A Persian soldier said: “You will not be able to see the sun for flying