It is a noble and great thing to cover the blemishes and excuse the failings of a friend; to draw a curtain before his weaknesses and to display his perfections; to bury his shortcomings in silence but to proclaim his virtues on the housetop.
Robert SouthThe grateful person fears no court or judge, no sentence or executioner, but what he carries about him in his own breast: and being still the most severe exactor of himself, not only confesses but proclaims his debts.
Robert SouthHe that tears away a man's good name tears his flesh from his bones, and, by letting him live, gives him only a cruel opportunity of feeling his misery, of burying his better part, and surviving himself.
Robert SouthThere is not the least flower but seems to hold up its head, and to look pleasantly, in the secret sense of the goodness of its Heavenly Maker.
Robert SouthGod expects from men something more than at such times, and that it were much to be wished for the credit of their religion as well as the satisfaction of their conscience that their Easter devotions would in some measure come up to their Easter dress.
Robert SouthLet a man be but in earnest in praying against a temptation as the tempter is in pressing it, and he needs not proceed by a surer measure.
Robert SouthThat in all these worldly Things, that a Man pursues with the greatest Eagerness and Intention of Mind imaginable, he finds not half the Pleasure in the actual Possession of them, that he proposed to himself in the Expectation.
Robert SouthMost of the appearance of mirth in the world is not mirth, it is art. The wounded spirit is not seen, but walks under a disguise.
Robert SouthGod afflicts with the mind of a father, and kills for no other purpose but that he may raise again.
Robert SouthThe seven wise men of Greece, so famous for their wisdom all the world over, acquired all that fame, each of them, by a single sentence consisting of two or three words.
Robert SouthFlints may be melted - we see it daily - but an ungrateful heart cannot be; not by the strongest and noblest flame.
Robert SouthAristotle was but a wreck of an Adam, and Athens but the rubbish of an Eden. How completely sin has defaced the divine image in man! That man has lost his righteousness and happiness is clearly evident as we look at the state of the world today!
Robert SouthAction is the highest perfection and drawing forth of the utmost power, vigor, and activity of man's nature.
Robert SouthSo he that despairs, limits an Infinite Power to a Finite Apprehension, and measures Providence by his own little, contracted Model.
Robert SouthIt is the work of fancy to enlarge, but of judgment to shorten and contract; and therefore this must be as far above the other as judgment is a greater and nobler faculty than fancy or imagination.
Robert SouthHe who does a kindness to an ungrateful person, sets his seal to a flint and sows his seed upon the sand; on the former he makes no impression, and from the latter finds no product.
Robert SouthGuilt upon the conscience, like rust upon iron, both defiles and consumes it, gnawing and creeping into it, as that does which at last eats out the very heart and substance of the metal.
Robert South