My Mind's My Kingdom.

Afflictions Clarify The Soul.

Sin Is A Basilisk Whose Eyes Are Full Of Venom. If The Eye Of Thy Soul See Her First, It Reflects Her Own Poison And Kills Her; If She See Thy Soul, Unseen, Or Seen Too Late, With Her Poison, She Kills Thee: Since Therefore Thou Canst Not Escape Thy Sin, Let Not Thy Sin Escape Thy Observation.

If Thou Desire To See Thy Child Virtuous, Let Him Not See His Father's Vices: Thou Canst Not Rebuke That In Them, That They Behold Practised In Thee; Till Reason Be Ripe, Examples Direct More Than Precepts: Such As Thy Behaviour Is Before Thy Children's Faces, Such Commonly Is Theirs Behind Their Parents' Backs.

A Despairing Heart Is The True Prophet Of Approaching Evil; His Actions May Weave The Webs Of Fortune, But Not Break Them.

Read Not Books Alone, But Men, And Amongst Them Chiefly Thyself. If Thou Find Anything Questionable There, Use The Commentary Of A Severe Friend, Rather Than The Gloss Of A Sweet-lipped Flatterer There Is More Profit In A Distasteful Truth Than In Deceitful Sweetness.