Joseph Hall Quotes

I First Adventure, Follow Me Who List And Be The Second English Satirist

There Is No Word Or Action But May Be Taken With Two Hands,--either With The Right Hand Of Charitable Construction, Or The Sinister Interpretation Of Malice And Suspicion; And All Things Do Succeed As They Are Taken. To Construe An Evil, Action Well Is But A Pleasing And Profitable Deceit To Myself; But To Misconstrue A Good Thing Is A Treble Wrong,--to Myself, The Action, And The Author.

Garments That Have Once One Rent In Them Are Subject To Be Torn On Every Nail, And Glasses That Are Once Cracked Are Soon Broken; Such Is Man's Good Name Once Tainted With Just Reproach.

Our Good Purposes Foreslowed Are Become Our Tormentors Upon Our Deathbed.

And, If I Were So Low That I Accounted Myself The Worst Of All, Yet Some Would Account Themselves In Worse Case.

How Apt Nature Is, Even In Those Who Profess An Eminence In Holiness, To Raise And Maintain Animosities Against Those Whose Calling Or Person They Pretend To Find Cause To Dislike!

We Are Often Infinitely Mistaken, And Take The Falsest Measures, When We Envy The Happiness Of Rich And Great Men; We Know Not The Inward Canker That Eats Out All Their Joy And Delight, And Makes Them Really Much More Miserable Than Ourselves.

Worldly Ambition Is Founded On Pride Or Envy, But Emulation, Or Laudable Ambition, Is Actually Founded In Humility; For It Evidently Implies That We Have A Low Opinion Of Our Present Attainments, And Think It Necessary To Be Advanced.

It Is A Shame For The Tongue To Cast Itself Upon The Uncertain Pardon Of Other's Ears

For Whom He Means To Make An Often Guest, One Dish Shall Serve; And Welcome Make The Rest.

The Blood That Is Once Inflamed With Wine Is Apt To Boil With Rage.

Neutrality In Things Good Or Evil Is Both Odious And Prejudicial; But In Matters Of An Indifferent Nature Is Safe And Commendable. Herein Taking Of Parts Maketh Sides, And Breaketh Unity. In An Unjust Cause Of Separation, He That Favoreth Both Parts May Perhaps Have Least Love Of Either Side, But Hath Most Charity In Himself.