WISE man is a great monarch; he hath an

empire within himself; reason commands in chief, and possesses the throne and sceptre. All his passions, like obedient subjects, do obey. Though the territories seem but small and narrow, yet the command and royalty are great, and reach farther than he that wears the moon for his crest, or the other that wears the sun for his helmet.

Passion and reason are a kind of civil war within us, and as the one or the other hath dominion, we are either good or bad.

If you can but turn your passions, and reduce them. to harmony by reason, you will render yourself as pleasant and easy as the birds and beasts were in Orpheus's theatre, when they listened to his harp.

I fear unruly passions more than the arrows of an enemy, and the slavery of them more than the fetters of a conqueror.

If you be naturally disposed to anger, frequent the company of the patient. By these means, without any labour, you will attain a fit temper, for conversation is of great moment: manners, humours, nay opinions, are hereby insensibly communicated.

He who commands himself commands the world too; and the more authority you have over others, the more command you must have over yourself.

It is more prudent to pass by trivial offences than to quarrel for them: by the last you are even with your adversary, but by the first above him.

Passion is a sort of fever in the mind, which always leaves us weaker than it found us.

As the entire conquest of our passions appears so difficult a work to some, I would advise those who despair of it to attempt a less difficult task, and only do their endeavours to regulate them.

Accustom not yourself to speaking overmuch, and before you speak, consider. Let not your tongue run, before reason and judgment bid it go: if the heart doth not premeditate, the tongue must necessarily precipitate.

Some persons are above our anger, others below it: to contend with our superiors is indiscretion, and with our inferiors, an indignity.

Passions are a great deal older than our reason: they come into the world with us, but our reason follows a long time after.

Conquer your passions: it will be more glorious for you to triumph over your own heart, than it would be to take a citadel.

Defile not your mouth with swearing, neither use yourself to the naming of the Holy One.

He is wealthy enough that wanteth not. He is great enough that is his own master. He is happy enough that lives to die well. Other things I will not care for, says Judge Hale, nor too much for these, save only for the last, which alone can admit of no immoderation.

Obviate the first motion of passion: if you cannot resist the first, you will far less resist the second, and it still grows worse and worse; for the same difficulty, which, in the beginning, might have been surmounted, is greater in the end.

Quietness and peace flourish where reason and justice govern; and true joy reigneth where modesty directeth.

A mediocrity of fortune, with a gentleness of mind, will preserve us from fear or envy; which is a desirable condition, for few men want power to do mischief.

Restrain yourself from being too fiery and flaming in matter of argument. Truth often suffers more from the heat of its defenders than from the arguments of its opposers. And nothing does reason more right than the coolness of those that offer it.

Sertorius was highly commended by Plutarch, because he was slow in counsel, grave in his understanding, and quick in his executions.

True quietness of heart is got by resisting our passions, not by obeying them.

It is not treasure or power that lays either the head or the heart at rest; but a quiet conscience, and the candid simplicity of a tender mind.

Youth should enter upon no enterprise without the advice of age; for though youth is fittest for action, yet age is best for counsel.

The love of God and the world are two different things. If the love of this world dwell in you, the love of God forsakes you. Renounce that, and receive this; it is fit the more noble love should have the best place and acceptance.

The Holy Spirit is an antidote against seven poisons. It is wisdom against folly; quickness of apprehension against dulness; faithfulness of memory against forgetfulness; fortitude against fear; knowledge against ignorance; piety against profaneness; and humility against pride.

Vex not yourself when ill spoken of. Contumelies not regarded, vanish; but repined at, argue either a puny soul or a guilty conscience. The best answer to a slander, is to answer nothing; and so to carry it, as though the adversary were rather to be despised than minded.

There is no contending with the orders and decrees of Providence. He that made us, knows what is fittest for us; and every man's own lot (well understood and managed) is undoubtedly the best.

Let us rather consider what we ought to do ourselves, than hearken after the doings of others. The stories of our neighbour's errors tend but little to the reformation of our own.

Youth is full of heat and vigour, of courage and resolution to enterprise and effect difficult things, which makes them very fit for practice and action; for though they are bad at counsel, they are admirable at execution, when their heart is well directed.