Quote

As the flint contains the spark, unknown to itself, which the steel alone can awaken to life, so adversity often reveals to us hidden gems, which prosperity or negligence would forever have hidden.

Josh Billings

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Josh Billings
Age: 67 †
Born: 1818
Born: April 21
Died: 1885
Died: October 14
Humorist
Writer
Lanesboro
Massachusetts
Henry Wheeler Shaw
Life
Hidden
Negligence
Unknown
Gems
Adversity
Awaken
Prosperity
Spark
Alone
Reveals
Forever
Contains
Often
Sparks
Would
Steel
Flint

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The nearest we can come to) perfect happiness is to cheat ourselves with the belief that we have got it.
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I don't never have any trouble in regulating my own conduct, but to keep other folks' straight is what bothers me.
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I do not know of a better cure for sorrow than to pity somebody else.
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Opinions should be formed with great caution, and changed with greater.
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Shame is the dying embers of virtue.
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It's not ignorance does so much damage it's knowin' so derned much that ain't so.
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Theory looks well on paper, but does not amount to anything without practice.
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People travel to learn most of them before they start should learn to travel.
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It is a statistical fact that the wicked work harder to reach hell than the righteous do to enter heaven
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Theres not a lot of good humor in medicine, but theres a lot of medicine in good humor.
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Titles are valuable they make us acquainted with many persons who otherwise would be lost among the rubbish.
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Lying is like trying to hide in a fog: If you move about you're in danger of bumping your head against the truth, and as soon as the fog blows off, you are gone anyhow.
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Reason often makes mistakes, but conscience never does.
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To enjoy a good reputation, give publicly, and steal privately.
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Adversity has the same effect on a man that severe training has on the pugilist: it reduces him to his fighting weight.
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Stupidity,--unconscious ignorance.
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Silence is one of the hardest kind of arguments to refute. There is no good substitute for wisdom but silence is the best that has yet been discovered.
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I think when the full horror of being fifty hits you, you should stay home and have a good cry.
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I have never known a person to live to be one hundred and be remarkable for anything else.
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True valor is like honesty it enters into all that a man sees and does.
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