Jeremy Collier

thumb|Goodness is generous and diffusive; it is largeness of mind, and sweetness of temper, — balsam in the blood, and justice sublimated to a richer spirit. Jeremy Collier (23 September 1650 – 26 April 1726) was an English bishop and theatre critic. Quotes This is brave Bear-Garden language! A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage (1698), p 232. Note: See John Ray for explanation of Bear Garden. Miscellanies upon Moral Subjects (1685) Miscellanies upon Moral Subjects (London: Sam Keeble and Jo. Hindmarsh, 1695) By reading a man does as it were antedate his life, and makes himself contemporary with the ages past. And this way of running up beyond one's nativity is much better than Plato's pre-existence, because here a man knows something of the state, and is the wiser for it, which he is not in the other. "Of the Entertainment of Books", pp. 92–93 A man may as well expect to grow stronger by always eating, as wiser by always reading. Too much over-charges nature, and turns more into disease than nourishment. 'Tis thought and digestion which makes books serviceable, and gives health and vigour to the mind. "Of the Entertainment of Books", p. 94 People's opinions of themselves are commonly legible in their countenances. "Of Confidence", p. 97 Envy [...], like a cold poison, [...] benumbs and stupefies. And thus conscious as it were of its own impotence, it folds its arms in despair, and sits cursing in a corner. "Of Envy", pp. 107–108 Everyone has a fair turn to be as great as he pleases. "Of Envy", p. 112 To believe a business impossible is the way to make it so. How many feasible projects have miscarried by despondency, and been strangled in the birth by a cowardly imagination? "Against Despair", p. 121 Knowledge is the consequence of time, and multitude of days are fittest to teach wisdom. "Of Old Age", pp. 155–156 A brave mind is always impregnable. True courage is the result of reasoning. "Of Old Age", p. 161 Treasury of Thought (1881) Reported reported in Maturin M. Ballou (ed.) Treasury of Thought, 7th ed. (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co, 1881) thumb|A poet's mind should be clear and unsullied; and the muses being virgins, their performances should agree with their condition. Avoid all affectation and singularity. What is according to nature is best, and what is contrary to it is always distasteful. Nothing is graceful that is not our own. p. 10, Affectation Thoughts take up no room. When they are right, they afford a portable pleasure, which one may travel with, without any trouble or encumbrance. p. 27, Apothegms The lower your senses are kept, the better you may govern them. Appetite and reason are commonly like two buckets, — when one is at the top, the other is at the bottom. Now of the two, I had rather the reason-bucket be uppermost. p. 29, Appetite A man that loves to be peevish and paramount, and to play the sovereign at every turn, does but blast the blessings of life, and swagger away his own enjoyments; and not to enlarge upon the folly, not to mention the injustice of such a behavior, it is always the sign of a little, unbenevolent temper. It is disease and discredit all over, and there is no more greatness in it, than in the swelling of a dropsy. p. 32, Arrogance Atheism is the result of ignorance and pride, of strong sense and feeble reasons, of good eating and ill-living. It is the plague of society, the corrupter of manners, and the underminer of property. p. 38, Atheism Books are a guide in youth, and an entertainment for age. They support us under solitude, and keep us from becoming a burden to ourselves. They help us to forget the crossness of men and things, compose our cares and our passions, and lay our disappointments asleep. When we are weary of the living, we may repair to the dead, who have nothing of peevishness, pride, or design in their conversation. p. 59, Books Remorse of conscience is like an old wound; a man is in no condition to fight under such circumstances. The pain abates his vigor and takes up too much of his attention. p. 90, Conscience Conscience and covetousness are never to be reconciled; like fire and water they always destroy each other, according to the predominancy of the element. p. 91, Conscience True courage is the result of reasoning. A brave mind is always impregnable. Resolution lies more in the head than in the veins, and a just sense of honor and of infamy, of duty and of religion, will carry us farther than all the force of mechanism. p. 99, Courage Not that the moderns are born with more wit than their predecessors, but, finding the world better furnished at their coming into it, they have more leisure for new thoughts, more light to direct them, and more hints to work upon. p. 108, Cultivation The more we sink into the infirmities of age, the nearer we are to immortal youth. All people are young in the other world. That state is an eternal spring, ever fresh and flourishing. Now, to pass from midnight into noon on the sudden, to be decrepit one minute and all spirit and activity the next, must be a desirable change. To call this dying is an abuse of language. p. 115, Death Dependence goes somewhat against the grain of a generous mind; and it is no wonder that it should do so, considering the unreasonable advantage which is often taken of the inequality of fortune. p. 122, Dependence Despair makes a despicable figure, and descends from a mean original. It is the offspring of fear, of laziness, of impatience; it argues a defect of spirit and resolution, and oftentimes of honesty too. p. 123, Despair I would not despair unless I knew the irrevocable decree was passed; saw my misfortune recorded in the book of fate, and signed and sealed by necessity. p. 123, Despair To believe a business impossible is the way to make it so. How many feasible projects have miscarried through despondency, and been strangled in their birth by a cowardly imagination! p. 124, Despondency Without discretion, people may be overlaid with unreasonable affection, and choked with too much nourishment. p. 128, Discretion Emulation is a handsome passion; it is enterprising, but just withal. It keeps a man within the terms of honor, and makes the contest for glory just and generous. He strives to excel, but it is by raising himself, not by depressing others. p. 143, Emulation Envy, like a cold prison, benumbs and stupefies; and, conscious of its own impotence, folds its arms in despair. p. 147, Envy Envy is of all others the most ungratifying and disconsolate passion. There is power for ambition, pleasure for luxury, and pelf even for covetousness; but envy gets no reward but yexation. p. 149, Envy Envy is an ill-natured vice, and is made up of meanness and malice. It wishes the force of goodness to be strained, and the measure of happiness abated. It laments over prosperity, and sickens at the sight of health. It oftentimes wants spirit as well as good-nature. p. 149, Envy As the language of the face is universal, so is it very comprehensive. No laconism can reach it. It is the short-hand of the mind, and crowds a great deal in a little room. A man may look a sentence as soon as speak a word. The strokes are small, but so masterly drawn that you may easily collect the image and proportions of what they resemble. p. 165, Face Those who despise fame seldom deserve it. We are apt to undervalue the purchase we can-not reach, to conceal our poverty the better. It is a spark which kindles upon the best fuel, and burns brightest in the bravest breast. p. 168, Fame Flattery is an ensnaring quality, and leaves a very dangerous impression. It swells a man's imagination, entertains his vanity, and drives him to a doting upon his own person. p. 178, Flattery Fortitude implies a firmness and strength of mind, that enables us to do and suffer as we ought. It rises upon an opposition, and, like a river, swells the higher for having its course stopped. p. 184, Fortitude A man that is fit to make a friend of must have conduct to manage the engagement, and resolution to maintain it. He must use freedom without roughness, and oblige without design. Cowardice will betray friendship, and covetousness will starve it. Folly will be nauseous, passion is apt to ruffle, and pride will fly out into contumely and neglect. p. 192, Friendship Goodness is generous and diffusive; it is largeness of mind, and sweetness of temper, — balsam in the blood, and justice sublimated to a richer spirit. p. 208, Goodness If wrecks and ruins and desolation of kingdoms are marks of greatness, why do we not worship a tempest, and erect a statue to the plague? A panegyric upon an earthquake is every jot as reasonable as upon such conquests as these. p. 218, Greatness It were well if there were fewer heroes; for I scarcely ever heard of any, excepting Her-cules, but did more mischief than good. These overgrown mortals commonly use their will with their right hand, and their reason with their left. p. 233, Hero Hope is a vigorous principle; it is furnished with light and heat to advise and execute; it sets the head and heart to work, and animates a man to do his utmost. And thus, by perpetually pushing and assurance, it puts a difficulty out of countenance, and makes a seeming im-possibility give way. p. 240, Hope Humility is the hall-mark of wisdom. Socrates, whom the oracle, that is, the united opinion of the world in which he moved, pronounced to be the wisest man, was content with the title of a lover, rather than a professor, of wisdom. p. 244, Humility Idleness is an inlet to disorder, and makes way for licentiousness. People that have nothing to do are quickly tired of their own company. p. 248, Idleness Intemperance is a dangerous companion. It throws people off their guard; betrays them to a great many indecencies, to ruinous passions, to disadvantages in fortune; makes them discover secrets, drive foolish bargains, engage in play, and often to stagger from the tavern to the stews. p. 269, Intemperance Those who come last seem to enter with advantage. They are born to the wealth of antiquity. The materials for judging are prepared, and the foundations of knowledge are laid to their hands. Besides, if the point was tried by antiquity, antiquity would lose it; for the present age is really the oldest and has the largest experience to plead. p. 283, Knowledge Knowledge is the consequence of time, and multitude of days are fittest to teach wisdom. p. 285, Knowledge Learning gives us a fuller conviction of the imperfections of our nature; which one would think, might dispose us to modesty for the more a man knows, the more he discovers his ignorance. p. 293, Learning Modesty was designed by Providence as a guard to virtue, and that it might be always at hand it is wrought into the mechanism of the body. It is likewise proportioned to the occasions of life, and strongest in youth when passion is so too. p. 348, Modesty The end of pleasure is to support the offices of life, to relieve the fatigues of business, to reward a regular action, and to encourage the continuance. p. 396, Pleasure The size of a man's sense and improvement is discovered by his pleasures as much as by anything else. p. 396, Pleasure A poet's mind should be clear and unsullied; and the muses being virgins, their performances should agree with their condition. p. 399, Poetry Of all sorts of flattery, that which comes from a solemn character and stands before a sermon is the worst-complexioned. Such commendation is a satire upon the author, makes the text look mercenary, and disables the discourse from doing service. p. 412, Preaching Prudence is a necessary ingredient in all the virtues, without which they degenerate into folly and excess. p. 426, Prudence By reading a man does, as it were, antedate his life, and make himself contemporary with past ages. p. 433, Reading There are few things reason can discover with so much certainty and ease as its own insufficiency. p. 434, Reason Passing too eagerly upon a provocation loses the guard and lays open the body; calmness and leisure and deliberation do the business much better. p. 448, Retribution Rhetoric is nothing but reason well dressed and argument put in order. p. 451, Rhetoric Self-conceit is a weighty quality, and will sometimes bring down the scale when there is nothing else in it. It magnifies a fault beyond proportion, and swells every omission into an outrage. p. 462, Self-conceit He that would relish success to a good purpose should keep his passions cool, and his expectations low; and then it is possible that his fortune might exceed his fancy; for an advantage always rises by surprise, and is almost always doubled by being unlooked for. p. 499, Success Temperance keeps the senses clear and unembarrassed, and makes them seize the object with more keenness and satisfaction. It appears with life in the face, and decorum in the person; it gives you the command of your head, secures your health, and preserves you in a condition for business. p. 513, Temperance Truth is the band of union and the basis of human happiness. Without this virtue there is no reliance upon language, no confidence in friendship, no security in promises and oaths. p. 429, Truth Power, unless managed with gentleness and discretion, does but make a man the more hated. No intervals of good-humor, no starts of bounty, will atone for tyranny and oppression. p. 534, Tyranny Vanity is a strong temptation to lying; it makes people magnify their merit, over flourish their family, and tell strange stories of their interest and acquaintance. p. 538, Vanity External links Category:People from Cambridge Category:Theatre critics Category:Anglican bishops Category:1650 births Category:1726 deaths Category:University of Cambridge alumni