MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 47 



Imprisonment. 



Throwing people, in certain circumstances, into 

 prison is doing them a favour. 



Fasting. 



Fasting is the proper chastisement for profligacy; 

 not any punishment that is merely attended with 

 shame. 



Wine and Sobriety. 



If we consult experience, the cheapness of wine 

 seems to be the cause, not of drunkenness, but of 

 sobriety. 



It is almost proverbial in all trades, that clever 

 workmen are hard drinkers. 



Opportunity. 



Time is a never-failing friend to those who have 

 discernment to profit by the opportunities it offers. 



The lucky have whole days, and those they choose ; 

 the unlucky have but hours, and those they lose. 



Cannibals. 



Benevolent philosophers, who argue against the 

 existence of cannibals, might as well deny the exist- 

 ence of savages ; but nothing is more absurd than a 

 wise theory of human affairs, which are neither wise 

 nor theoretical. 



Men of Business. 



Some decide sagaciously enough on what ought 

 ultimately to be done, but blunder most egregiously 

 as to the means and method of accomplishing the 

 object they have in view ; others have not sufficient 

 powers of mind to foresee the result of any measure, 

 yet will immediately hit upon the means of carrying 

 it into effect, good or bad. The last generally ruin 

 themselves by a superfluous activity; the first dream 



