Christian Nestell Bovee
Christian Nestell Bovee was an epigrammatic New York writer.
53 quotes.
Quotes by Christian Nestell Bovee
- A failure establishes only this, that our determination to succeed was not strong enough.
- A sound discretion is not so much indicated by never making a mistake, as by never repeating it.
- Affliction, like the iron-smith, shapes as it smites.
- All men are alike in their lower natures; it is in their higher characters that they differ.
- Books are embalmed minds.
- Courage enlarges, cowardice diminishes resources.
- Difficulties, by bracing the mind to overcome them, assist cheerfulness, as exercise assists digestion.
- Dishonesty is a forsaking of permanent for temporary advantages.
- Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.
- Earnestness is the cause of patience; it gives endurance, overcomes pain, strengthens weakness, braves dangers, sustains hope, makes light of difficulties, and lessens the sense of weariness in overcoming them.
- Example has more followers than reason.
- Example has more followers than reason. We unconsciously imitate what pleases us, and insensibly approximate to the characters we most admire. In this way, a generous habit of thought and of action carries with it an incalculable influence.
- Examples are few of men ruined by giving. Men are heroes in spending, very cravens in what they give.
- False friends are like our shadow, keeping close to us while we walk in the sunshine, but leaving us the instant we cross into the shade.
- Few minds wear out; more rust out.
- Genius makes its observations in shorthand; talent writes them out at length.
- Great designs are not accomplished without enthusiasm of some sort. It is the inspiration of everything great. Without it, no man is to be feared, and with it none despised.
- Haste turns usually upon a matter of ten minutes too late, and may be avoided by a habit like that of Lord Nelson, to which he ascribed his success in life, of being ten minutes too early.
- He has but one great fear that fears to do wrong.
- Honesty is not only “the first step toward greatness,” – it is greatness itself.
- Hope is the best part of our riches.
- It is not the number of facts he knows, but how much of a fact he is himself, that proves the man.
- It is only an error in judgment to make a mistake, but it shows infirmity of character to adhere to it when discovered.
- It is our relation to circumstances that determines their influence over us. The same wind that carries one vessel into port may blow another off shore.
- Kindness is a language the dumb can speak, and the deaf can hear and understand.
- Life, like some cities, is full of blind alleys, leading nowhere; the great art is to keep out of them.
- Loss of sincerity is loss of vital power.
- One who is contented with what he has done will never become famous for what he will do. He has lain down to die. The grass is already growing over him.
- Self-distrust is the cause of most of our failures. In the assurance of strength there is strength, and they are the weakest, however strong, who have no faith in themselves or their powers.
- Successful minds work like a gimlet,--to a single point.
- The best evidence of merit is a cordial recognition of it whenever and wherever it may be found.
- The busiest of living agents are certain dead men's thoughts.
- The cheerful live longest in years, and afterwards in our regards. Cheerfulness is the offshoot of goodness.
- The dreariest poverty is that of the heart. Banish this, and we shall all be rich.
- The first step toward greatness is to be honest, says the proverb; but the proverb fails to state the case strong enough. Honesty is not only "the first step toward greatness," — it is greatness itself.
- The glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time you fall.
- The greatest events of an age are its best thoughts. It is the nature of thought to find its way into action.
- The legitimate aim of criticism is to direct attention to the excellent. The bad will dig its own grave, and the imperfect may be safely left to that final neglect from which no amount of present undeserved popularity can rescue it.
- The method of the enterprising is to plan with audacity and execute with vigor; to sketch out a map of possibilities, and then to treat them as probabilities.
- The pleasantest things in the world are pleasant thoughts, and the great art in life is to have as many of them as possible.