--In great affairs it is a work of
difficulty
to please all.
Ben Jonson - Discoveries Made Upon Men, and Some Poems
Contraries are not mixed.
Yet that which happens
to any man may to every man. But it is in his reason, what he accounts
it and will make it.
_Casus_. --Change into extremity is very frequent and easy. As when a
beggar suddenly grows rich, he commonly becomes a prodigal; for, to
obscure his former obscurity, he puts on riot and excess.
_Consilia_. --No man is so foolish but may give another good counsel
sometimes; and no man is so wise but may easily err, if he will take no
others' counsel but his own. But very few men are wise by their own
counsel, or learned by their own teaching. For he that was only taught
by himself {12} had a fool to his master.
_Fama_. --A Fame that is wounded to the world would be better cured by
another's apology than its own: for few can apply medicines well
themselves. Besides, the man that is once hated, both his good and his
evil deeds oppress him. He is not easily emergent.
_Negotia_.
--In great affairs it is a work of difficulty to please all.
And ofttimes we lose the occasions of carrying a business well and
thoroughly by our too much haste. For passions are spiritual rebels, and
raise sedition against the understanding.
_Amor patriae_. --There is a necessity all men should love their country: he
that professeth the contrary may be delighted with his words, but his
heart is there.
_Ingenia_. --Natures that are hardened to evil you shall sooner break than
make straight; they are like poles that are crooked and dry, there is no
attempting them.
_Applausus_. --We praise the things we hear with much more willingness than
those we see, because we envy the present and reverence the past;
thinking ourselves instructed by the one, and overlaid by the other.
_Opinio_. --Opinion is a light, vain, crude, and imperfect thing; settled
in the imagination, but never arriving at the understanding, there to
obtain the tincture of reason. We labour with it more than truth. There
is much more holds us than presseth us. An ill fact is one thing, an ill
fortune is another; yet both oftentimes sway us alike, by the error of
our thinking.
_Impostura_. --Many men believe not themselves what they would persuade
others; and less do the things which they would impose on others; but
least of all know what they themselves most confidently boast.
to any man may to every man. But it is in his reason, what he accounts
it and will make it.
_Casus_. --Change into extremity is very frequent and easy. As when a
beggar suddenly grows rich, he commonly becomes a prodigal; for, to
obscure his former obscurity, he puts on riot and excess.
_Consilia_. --No man is so foolish but may give another good counsel
sometimes; and no man is so wise but may easily err, if he will take no
others' counsel but his own. But very few men are wise by their own
counsel, or learned by their own teaching. For he that was only taught
by himself {12} had a fool to his master.
_Fama_. --A Fame that is wounded to the world would be better cured by
another's apology than its own: for few can apply medicines well
themselves. Besides, the man that is once hated, both his good and his
evil deeds oppress him. He is not easily emergent.
_Negotia_.
--In great affairs it is a work of difficulty to please all.
And ofttimes we lose the occasions of carrying a business well and
thoroughly by our too much haste. For passions are spiritual rebels, and
raise sedition against the understanding.
_Amor patriae_. --There is a necessity all men should love their country: he
that professeth the contrary may be delighted with his words, but his
heart is there.
_Ingenia_. --Natures that are hardened to evil you shall sooner break than
make straight; they are like poles that are crooked and dry, there is no
attempting them.
_Applausus_. --We praise the things we hear with much more willingness than
those we see, because we envy the present and reverence the past;
thinking ourselves instructed by the one, and overlaid by the other.
_Opinio_. --Opinion is a light, vain, crude, and imperfect thing; settled
in the imagination, but never arriving at the understanding, there to
obtain the tincture of reason. We labour with it more than truth. There
is much more holds us than presseth us. An ill fact is one thing, an ill
fortune is another; yet both oftentimes sway us alike, by the error of
our thinking.
_Impostura_. --Many men believe not themselves what they would persuade
others; and less do the things which they would impose on others; but
least of all know what they themselves most confidently boast.
