Part 7 (1/2)

”Anger is like A full-hot horse; who being allow'd his way Self-mettle tires him.”

”Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind.”

”All things that are, Are with more spirit chased than enjoy'd.”

”Celerity is never more admir'd Than by the negligent.”

”Strong reasons make strong actions.”

”The whiteness in thy cheek Is apter than thy tongue to tell thy errand.”

”The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.”

”Sweet love, I see, changing his property, Turns to the sourest and most deadly hate.”

”Love is a smoke rais'd with the fume of sighs.”

”I do not know the man I should avoid So soon as that spare Ca.s.sius; he reads much; He is a great observer....”

And so on.

We all know it, and we know it so well and feel so much with Caesar or with Lear or with Oth.e.l.lo or with Macbeth, that we instinctively take it all for true psychology, while it after all covers just the exceptional cases of the dramatic situation.

No! If we are to seek real generalities, we must not consult the playwright. Perhaps we may find the best conditions for general statement where we do not even have to deal with an individual, but can listen to the mind of the race and can absorb its wisdom from its proverbs. Let us take the word proverb in its widest sense, including popular sayings which have not really the stamp of the proverb. There is surely no lack of sharply coined psychology. This is true of all countries. I find the harvest richest in the field of the German proverbs, but almost as many in the field of the English, and a large number of sayings are common to the two countries. Very characteristic psychological remarks can be found among the Russian proverbs, and not a few among those in Yiddish. But this type of psychology is sufficiently characterized, if we confine ourselves here to the English proverbial phrases. Often they need a commentary in order to be understood in their psychological truth. We hear in almost all countries: ”Children and fools speak the truth.” As a matter of course we all know that their chance of speaking the objective truth is very small. What is psychologically tenable is only that they are unable to hide the subjective truth. Many such phrases are simply epigrams where the pleasure in the play of words must be a subst.i.tute for the psychological truth; for instance: ”Long hair and short wit.”

Not a few contradict one another, and yet there is not a little wisdom in sayings like these: ”Beware of a silent dog and still water”; ”Misery loves company”; ”Hasty love is soon hot and soon cold”; ”Dogs that put up many hares kill none”; ”He that will steal an egg will steal an ox”; ”Idle folks have the least leisure”; ”Maids say no and take”; ”A boaster and a liar are cousins german”; ”A young twig is easier twisted than an old tree”; ”Imitation is the sincerest flattery”; ”Pride joined with many virtues chokes them all”; ”Offenders never pardon”; ”The more wit, the less courage”; ”We are more mindful of injuries than of benefits”; ”Where there's a will, there's a way”; ”An idle brain is the devil's workshop”; ”Anger and haste hinder good counsel”; ”Wise men change their minds, fools never”; ”Sudden joy kills sooner than excessive grief”; ”Lazy folks take the most pains”; ”Nature pa.s.ses nurture”; ”Necessity is the mother of invention”; ”We are apt to believe what we wish for”; ”Where your will is ready, your foot is light.”