There are twenty ways of going to a point, and one is the shortest; but set out at once on one. A man who has that presence of min...d which can bring to him on the instant all he knows, is worth for action a dozen men who know as much, but can only bring it to light slowly.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
And no one, it seemed, had had the presence of mind To initiate proceedings or stop the wheel... From the number it was backing away from as it stopped: It was performing prettily; the puncture stayed unseen....LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
These people in high life have too much presence of mind, I believe, to seem disconcerted, or out of humour, however they may feel...: for had I been the person of the most consequence in the room, I could not have met with more attention and respect.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Fearlessness is a more than ordinary strength of mind, which raises the soul above the troubles, disorders, and emotions which the... prospect of great dangers are used to produce. And by this inward strength it is that heroes preserve themselves in a calm and quiet state, and enjoy a presence of mind and the free use of their reason in the midst of those terrible accidents that amaze and confound other people.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
But often the presence of mind and energy of a person remote from the spotlight decide the course of history for centuries to come....LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
When individuals and nations have once got in their heads the abstract concept of full- blown liberty, there is nothing like it in... its uncontrollable strength, just because it is the very essence of mind, and that as its very actuality. Whole continents, Africa and the East, have never had this Idea, and are without it still. The Greeks and Romans, Plato and Aristotle, even the Stoics, did not have it. On the contrary, they saw that it is only by birth or by strength of character, education, or philosophy that the human being is actually free. It was through Christianity that this Idea came into the world. According to Christianity, the individual as such has an infinite value as the object and aim of divine love, destined as mind to live in absolute relationship with God himself, and have God's mind dwelling in him: i.e. man is implicitly destined to supreme freedom.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Pity is the feeling which arrests the mind in the presence of whatsoever is grave and constant in human sufferings and unites it w...ith the human sufferer. Terror is the feeling which arrests the mind in the presence of whatsoever is grave and constant in human sufferings and unites it with the secret cause.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
We are ashamed to seem evasive in the presence of a straightforward man, cowardly in the presence of a brave one, gross in the eye...s of a refined one, and so on. We always imagine, and in imagining share, the judgments of the other mind.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
A lover, when he is admitted to cards, ought to be solemnly silent, and observe the motions of his mistress. He must laugh when sh...e laughs, sigh when she sighs. In short, he should be the shadow of her mind. A lady, in the presence of her lover, should never want a looking-glass; as a beau, in the presence of his looking-glass, never wants a mistress.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.... He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »