text,updated_at,metaphor,created_at,context,theme,reviewed_on,dictionary,comments,provenance,id,work_id
"Thus Cynical Men, who out of Pride of their own Parts disdain Company, and can no more endure Conversation than Owls the Day-Light, like Gold in the Bowels of the Earth, their Parts are useless and good for nothing, who cannot without Offence walk the Publick Ways; they are Saints indeed in private, and live only to God and to themselves; but being call'd forth into common Life, they are like Bats in the Sun, and utterly ignorant of Publick Affairs. And the Conversation and Friendship of those whose End is only Civility and mutual Visits, like Leaf-Gold they are blown away with every little Wind of Distaste, or Neglect of Ceremony; and in an equal Degree to these are they to be reckon'd, who are Amici inter prandium & sartaginem, ad ostium tabernae fratres & amici, ad ostium carceris neque fratres neque amici: But the useful and profitable Conversations which give a right Stamp and Impression to our Minds, are those Friends that will be Supporters to us in our Prosperities, Safeguards in our Difficulties, Counsellors in our Doubts, and Comforts in our Adversities. With these we ought to contract a strict Acquaintance and Inwardness, and to embrace their Company upon all fitting Opportunities, using herein a wise Moderation, which carries with it both an Honour and Grace of Manners; for to seek Company and to fly it, are two Extreams to be blamed; to shun all Company argues a Contempt of others, and makes us generally hated; and to seek too much after them, is a sign of Idleness in our selves, and makes us slighted: We must love our Neighbours as our selves; and to shew that we love them, we must not avoid their Company; and to shew that we love our selves, we must sometimes be alone, and take Pleasure in our selves. The Italians have a very significant Proverb, which says, Measure it a hundred Times before you cut it off; meaning you should stand upon your Guard, till you discover the Inclinations of those you converse with, and therefore we should be careful of laying out our Friendship too lavishly at first, since like other Things it will be so much the sooner spent: Neither should it be of too quick a Growth, for the Plants which shoot up too fast, are not of that Continuance as those which take more Time for it: We shall see some who have hot and cold Fits of Friendship, that shall hug you one Day, and not know you the next; this Unevenness of Temper is by all Means to be avoided in Conversation; a good Man will always keep a steddy Course of Friendship, which may run like a smooth Stream, and never change, but be a perpetual Spring; for we cannot find the Gust and Relish of a true and fixed Conversation, till we come to a great Freedom with each other; for they that converse only as Strangers, are always under some Restraints and Uneasiness, and do never open themselves freely the one to the other.
(pp. 68-71)",2013-09-22 21:13:48 UTC,"""Thus Cynical Men, who out of Pride of their own Parts disdain Company, and can no more endure Conversation than Owls the Day-Light, like Gold in the Bowels of the Earth, their Parts are useless and good for nothing, who cannot without Offence walk the Publick Ways; they are Saints indeed in private, and live only to God and to themselves; but being call'd forth into common Life, they are like Bats in the Sun, and utterly ignorant of Publick Affairs.""",2013-09-22 21:13:48 UTC,Essay I,"",,Metal,"",Searching in ECCO-TCP,22817,7686
"In the long Experience I have had in the World, I have seldom, if ever, found any Man's Company worth enjoying, that did not begin with some Difficulty, if not Prejudice; for Conversation, like Oysters, is nothing the better for opening so easie, and so soon. Neither is there any more dangerous Acquaintance, than that over-hasty Familiarity contracted betwixt good Fellows, as we call them in England, who usually begin their Friendship in the Entry, and strike it up in the Cellar, where Servants are disciplin'd to be the Ministers of their Masters Luxuries, whose Vices seldom miss to be taken up by them, as if they were the Badges to witness to whom they belonged. There is no greater Mark nor Discovery of a Man, than to judge him by the Company he keeps, it being impossible but that he shall much resemble them, and partake some of their Qualities. Si juxta claudum habites, sub claudicare disces, says Plutarch: Bad Company is very contagious to the wisest and best settled Men. What befel Joseph was out of Contagion, frequenting the Egytian Court learnt him to Swear by the Life of Pharoah. Dum spectant oculi laesos, laeduntur & ipsi, Multaque corporibus transitione nocent. I remember Aristotle in his Problems makes a Question, Why Health does not infect as well as Sickness, a diseased Person often communicating his Infirmity, never his Health; the Reason is, says he, because the Health of the Body hath no transient Force on others, and is personal and not communicative. But Malvezzi tell us, it is, for that Nature in Providence drives away the Evil from it self, and thriftily reserves that which is Good; and for this Reason it is, says he, that those who have the Plague are desirous to come into Company, that they may give it to others; and by the same Reason, those who have ill Qualities in them, will be sure to work and apply their Vices, like Rust, into the nearest and purest Mind.
(pp. 71-72)",2013-09-22 21:16:20 UTC,"""But Malvezzi tell us, it is, for that Nature in Providence drives away the Evil from it self, and thriftily reserves that which is Good; and for this Reason it is, says he, that those who have the Plague are desirous to come into Company, that they may give it to others; and by the same Reason, those who have ill Qualities in them, will be sure to work and apply their Vices, like Rust, into the nearest and purest Mind.""",2013-09-22 21:16:20 UTC,Essay 1,"",,Metal,"",Searching ECCO-TCP,22819,7686