I have observed, that a Reader seldom peruses a Book with Pleasure, 'till he knows whether the Writer of it be a black or a fair M...an, of a mild or cholerick Disposition, Married or a Batchelor, with other Particulars of the like nature, that conduce very much to the right understanding of an Author.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
There is no kind of false Wit which has been so recommended by the Practice of all Ages, as that which consists in a Jingle of Wor...ds, and is comprehended under the general Name of Punning. It is indeed impossible to kill a Weed, which the Soil has a natural Disposition to produce. The seeds of Punning are in the Minds of all Men, and tho' they may be subdued by Reason, Reflection, and good Sense, they will be very apt to shoot up in the greatest Genius, that is not broken and cultivated by the Rules of Art. Imitation is natural to us, and when it does not raise the Mind to Poetry, Painting, Musick, or other more noble Arts, it often breaks out in Punns and Quibbles.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
In all cases, excepting those of the bear and leopard, the female is less spirited than the male; in regard to the two exceptional... cases, the superiority in courage rests with the female. With all other animals the female is softer in disposition than the male, is more mischievous, less simple, more impulsive, and more attentive to the nurture of the young; the male, on the other hand, is more spirited than the female, more savage, more simple and less cunning. The traces of these differentiated characteristics are more or less visible everywhere, but they are especially visible where character is the more developed, and most of all in man.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Excellence or virtue is a settled disposition of the mind that determines our choice of actions and emotions and consists essentia...lly in observing the mean relative to us ... a mean between two vices, that which depends on excess and that which depends on defect.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It is the nature of our desires to be boundless, and many live only to gratify them. But for this purpose the first object is, not... so much to establish an equality of fortune, as to prevent those who are of a good disposition from desiring more than their own, and those who are of a bad one from being able to acquire it; and this may be done if they are kept in an inferior station, and not exposed to injustice.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It is clearly better that property should be private, but the use of it common; and the special business of the legislator is to c...reate in men this benevolent disposition.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
What the statesman is most anxious to produce is a certain moral character in his fellow citizens, namely a disposition to virtue ...and the performance of virtuous actions.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I am pleased that you have learned to love a hyacinth. The mere habit of learning to love is the thing; and a teachableness of dis...position in a young lady is a great blessing.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy;Mit is disposition alone. Seven years would be insufficient to make so...me people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
A submissive spirit might be patient, a strong understanding would supply resolution, but here was something more; here was that e...lasticity of mind, that disposition to be comforted, that power of turning readily from evil to good, and of finding employment which carried her out of herself, which was from Nature alone. It was the choicest gift of heaven.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »