02c. 1804 ADNewspapers always excite curiosity. No one ever lays one down without a feeling of disappointment.Charles Lamb / quote ↗
03c. 1804 ADNo man troubleth the beggar with questioning his religion or politics.Charles Lamb / quote ↗
04c. 1804 ADRags, which are the reproach of poverty, are the beggar's robes and graceful insignia of his profession, his tenure, his full dress, the suit in which he is expected to show himself in public.Charles Lamb / quote ↗
06c. 1804 ADThe beggar is never out of the fashion, or limpeth awkwardly behind it.Charles Lamb / quote ↗
10c. 1804 ADThe beggar is the only man in the universe who is not obliged to study appearances.Charles Lamb / quote ↗
12c. 1804 ADWe gain nothing by being with such as ourselves. We encourage one another in mediocrity. I am always longing to be with men more excellent than myself.Charles Lamb / quote ↗
13c. 1804 ADWhen a poor creature (outwardly and visibly such) comes before thee, do not stay to inquire whether the "seven small children," in whose name he implores thy assistance, have a veritable existence.Charles Lamb / quote ↗
15c. 1804 ADBe not frightened at the hard words "imposition," "imposture;" give and ask no questions. "Cast thy bread upon the waters." Some have, unawares, entertained angels.Charles Lamb / quote ↗
16c. 1804 ADThe greatest pleasure I know is to do a good action by stealth, and to have it found out by accident.Charles Lamb / quote ↗
17c. 1804 ADColeridge, I have not one truly elevated character among my acquaintance: not one Christian: not one but undervalues Christianity—singly, what am I to do? Wesley (have you read his life?) was he not an elevated character? Wesley has said “Religion is not a solitary thing.” Alas! it necessarily is so with me, or next to solitary.Charles Lamb / quote ↗
18c. 1804 ADThe economy of Heaven is dark; And wisest clerks have miss’d the mark, Why human buds, like this, should fall, More brief than fly ephemeral That has his day; while shrivell’d crones Stiffen with age to stocks and stones; And crabbed use the conscience sears In sinners of an hundred years.Charles Lamb / quote ↗
19c. 1804 ADThey eat Their daily bread, and draw the breath of Heaven Without or thought or thanks; Heaven’s roof, to them, Is but a painted ceiling hung with lamps, No more, that lights them to their purposes. They wander loose about; they nothing see, Themselves except, and creatures like themselves, Short-lived, short-sighted, impotent to save. So on their dissolute spirits, soon or late, Destruction cometh, like an armed man, Or like a dream of murder in the night, Withering their mortal faculties, and breaking The bones of all their pride.Charles Lamb / quote ↗
20c. 1804 ADCheap gifts best fit poor givers. We are told Of the lone mite, and cup of water cold, That, in their way, approved the offerer’s zeal. True love shows costliest where the means are scant, And, in her reckoning, they abound who want.Charles Lamb / quote ↗
21c. 1804 ADWhen with deep agony His heart was racked, Not for Himself the tear-drop dewed His cheek, For them He wept, for them to Heaven He prayed,— His persecutors—“Father pardon them; They know not what they do.”Charles Lamb / quote ↗
22c. 1804 ADThe cheerful Sabbath bells, wherever heard, Strike pleasant on the sense, most like the voice Of one who from the far off hills proclaims Tidings of good to Zion.Charles Lamb / quote ↗
23c. 1804 ADHe is never out of the fashion, or limpeth awkwardly behind it. He is not required to put on court mourning. He weareth all colors, fearing none. His costume hath undergone less change than the Quaker's. He is the only man in the universe who is not obliged to study appearances.Charles Lamb / quote ↗
24c. 1804 ADThe good things of life are not to be had singly, but come to us with a mixture; like a schoolboy's holiday, with a task affixed to the tail of it.Charles Lamb / quote ↗
