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It is no very good symptom, either of nations or individuals, that they deal much in vaticination. Happy men are full of the present, for its bounty suffices them; and wise men also, for its duties engage them. Our grand business undoubtedly is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what clearly lies at hand.

It is no very good symptom, either of nations or individuals, that they deal much in vaticination. Happy men are full of the present, for its bounty suffices them; and wise men also, for its duties engage them. Our grand business undoubtedly is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what clearly lies at hand.

Approximate author period: c. 1838 AD · industrial

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Attribution & collection notes
Author or tradition
Thomas Carlyle
Attribution: attributed
Country attributed
Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin.
Historical period
Approximate author period: c. 1838 AD · industrial
author lifetime midpoint (1795–1881)
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken.
Recorded source
Book of Wise Sayings (1893) (1893 AD)

Saying 462 · printed source label: Carlyle · entry translator not specified

A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.