Elements of Moral Science, Volume 1

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T. Cadell, 1790 - Ethics - 688 pages
 

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Page 315 - ... it does not give the mind such an exquisite gladness, prevents us from falling into any depths of sorrow. Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of day-light in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.
Page 99 - Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts: others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly and with diligence and attention.
Page 301 - External evils, which we cannot prevent, or could not avoid without a breach of duty, it is manly and honourable to bear with fortitude.
Page 3 - ... what ought to be done and what ought not to be done...
Page 306 - ... in far lefs danger of infelicity ; and has before him the animating hope of victory and honour. So in life : the man of true fortitude is in lefs danger of...
Page 101 - We would preserve the doctrines, sentiments, or facts, that occur in reading, it will be prudent to lay the book aside, and put them in writing in our own words. This practice will give accuracy to our knowledge, accustom us to recollection, improve us in the use of language, and enable us so thoroughly to comprehend the thoughts of other men, as to make them in some measure our own.
Page 221 - A not altogether satisfactory definition, as it assumes something concerning the animal which it would be hard to prove. Here is a more recent definition. ' Instinct is action taken in pursuance of an end, but without conscious perception of what that end is.' 6 This again does not quite satisfy me...
Page 176 - By attention and exercise it may be improved in every man. It prepares the mind for receiving the impressions of virtue; and. without it there can be no true politeness. Nothing is more odious, than that insensibility which wraps a man up in himself and his own concerns, and prevents his being moved with either the joys or the sorrows of another.
Page 306 - ... danger of infelicity, and has before him the animating hope of victory and honour. So, in life, the man of true fortitude is in less danger of disappointment than others are, because his understanding is clear, and his mind disencumbered. He is prepared to meet calamity without the fear of sinking...

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