Oh! it is worse than mockery to list the flatt'rer's tone,

To lend a ready ear to thoughts the cheek must blush to own,—

To hear the red lip whisper'd of, and the flowing curl, and eye,

Made constant theme of eulogy extravagant and high

And the charm of person worshipp'd, in an homage offer'd not

To the perfect charm of virtue, and the majesty of

thought.

Prayer; see Deity and Religion.

Whittier.

My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:
Words, without thoughts, never to heaven go.

We, ignorant of ourselves,

Shakespeare: Hamlet.

Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers
Deny us for our good; so find we profit,

By losing of our prayers.

Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra.

A good man's prayers

Will from the deepest dungeon climb Heaven's

height

And bring a blessing down.

Joanna Baillie: Ethwald.

Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,

The Christian's native air;

His watchword at the gates of death,

He enters heaven with prayer.

James Montgomery: What is Prayer?

He prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.

Coleridge: Ancient Mariner.

Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by

prayer

Than this world dreams of.

voice

Wherefore let thy

Rise like a fountain for me night and day.
For what are men better than sheep or goats
That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them friend?
For so the whole round earth is every way

Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.

Tennyson: Morte d'Arthur.

Present, The; see Time, Futurity, and The Past.
But what are past or future joys?
The present is our own;

And he is wise who best employs

The passing hour alone.

Heber: From Pindar.

This narrow isthmus 'twixt two boundless seas,
The Past, the Future-two eternities.

Moore.

The Present, the Present is all thou hast

For thy sure possessing;

Like the patriarch's angel hold it fast

Till it gives its blessing.

Whittier: My Soul and I.

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Tennyson: Ulysses.

Challenge the passing hour like guards that keep Their solitary watch on tower and steep.

Longfellow: To-morrow.

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!

Let the dead Past bury its dead!

Act, act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Longfellow: A Psalm of Life.

Pride, Arrogance, Haughtiness; see Humility.
Pride hath no other glass

To show itself, but pride; for supple knees
Feed arrogance, and are the proud man's fees.
Shakespeare: Troilus and Cressida.

You speak o' the people as if you were a god
To punish: not a man of their infirmity.

Shakespeare: Coriolanus.

'Tis pride, rank pride, and haughtiness of soul:
I think the Romans call it stoicism.

Addison: Cato.

Whatever Nature has in worth denied,

She gives in large recruits of needful pride;

For as in bodies, thus in souls, we find,

What wants in blood and spirits, swell'd with wind:
Pride, where wit fails, steps in to our defence,

And fills up all the mighty void of sense.

Pope: Essay on Criticism.

In pride, in reas'ning pride, our error lies;
All quit their sphere, and rush into the skies;
Pride still is aiming at the blest abodes,
Men would be angels, angels would be gods.

Pope: Essay on Man.

Prosperity; see Wealth and Happiness.

Prosperity doth bewitch men, seeming clear;

As seas do laugh, show white, when rocks are near.

Webster: White Devil.

O how portentous is prosperity!

How, comet-like, it threatens, while it shines!

Young: Night Thoughts.

Prosperity's the very bond of love;

Whose fresh complexion, and whose heart together
Affliction alters.

Shakespeare: Winter's Tale.

He that holds fast the golden mean,

And lives contentedly between

The little and the great,

Feels not the wants that pinch the poor,
Nor plagues that haunt the rich man's door,
Embitt'ring all his state.

Prudence, Discretion.

Cowper: Horace.

For my means, I'll husband them so well,
They shall go far with little.

Shakespeare: Hamlet.

It shewed discretion, the best part of valor.
Beaumont and Fletcher: King and No King.

Fast bind, fast find;

A proverb never stale in thrifty mind.

Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice.

When desperate ills demand a speedy cure,
Distrust is cowardice, and prudence folly.

Dr. Johnson: Irene.

You should have feared false times, when you did

feast;

Suspect still comes where an estate is least.

Shakespeare: Timon of Athens.