If a man, notoriously and designedly, insults and affronts you, knock him down; but if he only injures you, your best revenge is t...o be extremely civil to him in your outward behaviour, though at the same time you counterwork him, and return him the compliment, perhaps with interest.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The profession of a prostitute is the only career in which the maximum income is paid to the newest apprentice. It is the one call...ing in which at the beginning the only exertion is that of self-indulgence; all the prizes are at the commencement. It is the ever-new embodiment of the old fable of the sale of the soul to the Devil. The tempter offers wealth, comfort, excitement, but in return the victim must sell her soul, nor does the other party forget to exact his due to the uttermost farthing.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
In masturbation there is nothing but loss. There is no reciprocity. There is merely the spending away of a certain force, and no r...eturn. The body remains, in a sense, a corpse, after the act of self-abuse. There is no change, only deadening. There is what we call dead loss. And this is not the case in any act of sexual intercourse between two people. Two people may destroy one another in sex. But they cannot just produce the null effect of masturbation.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
At daybreak, watched by the red and vigilant eye of the sun, before she sowed the corn, she called on the Lord Jesus Christ, turni...ng to the east, called on the Angels of Guinea, turning to the south, called on the Spirits of the Dead, turning to the South, and she called on the Saints, turning to the north; she told them all, throwing the seeds in the four sacred directions: Jesus Christ, the Angels, the Dead, the Saints, here is the corn I give you, give me in return the courage to work and the satisfaction of reaping.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
In our daily intercourse with men, our nobler faculties are dormant and suffered to rust. None will pay us the compliment to expec...t nobleness from us. Though we have gold to give, they demand only copper.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
A Friend is one who incessantly pays us the compliment of expecting from us all the virtues, and who can appreciate them in us.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I have often wondered how they manage to get return envelopes which miss, by one-quarter of an inch, fitting the blank you are sup...posed to return. They say, "Please fill out and return the enclosed envelope," and the enclosed envelope is always one-quarter of an inch too small.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The telephone conversation is, by its very nature, reactive, not reflective. Immediacy is its prime virtue. The immediacy delivers... quick company, instant stimulation; the stimulation is cathartic; catharsis pushes back anxiety; into open space flows the kind of thought generated by electric return. The letter, written in absorbed solitude, is an act of faith; it assumes the presence of humanity; world and self are generated from within; loneliness is courted, not feared. To write a letter is to be alone with my thoughts in the conjured presence of another person. I keep myself imaginative company. I occupy the empty room. I alone infuse the silence.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
In addition to my other numerous acquaintances, I have one more intimate confidant.... My depression is the most faithful mistress... I have known--no wonder, then, that I return the love.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Compassion is frequently a sense of our own misfortunes, in those of other men; it is an ingenious foresight of the disasters that... may fall upon us hereafter. We relieve others, that they may return the like when our occasions call for it; and the good offices we do them are, in strict speaking, so many kindnesses done to ourselves beforehand.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »