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An instinct is a blind tendency to some mode of action, independent of any consideration, on the part of the agent, of the end to which the action leads.

Richard Whately

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Richard Whately
Age: 76 †
Born: 1787
Born: February 1
Died: 1863
Died: October 8
Economist
Philosopher
Priest
Theologian
London
England
Independent
Agent
Action
Tendency
Ends
Consideration
Part
Tendencies
Agents
Leads
Instinct
Blind
Mode

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Falsehood is difficult to be maintained. When the materials of a building are solid blocks of stone, very rude architecture will suffice but a structure of rotten materials needs the most careful adjustment to make it stand at all.
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Happiness is no laughing matter.
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When men have become heartily wearied of licentious anarchy, their eagerness has been proportionately great to embrace the opposite extreme of rigorous despotism.
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Lose an hour in the morning, and you will spend all day looking for it.
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It is worth noticing that those who assume an imposing demeanor and seek to pass themselves off for something beyond what they are, are not unfrequently as much underrated by some as overrated by others.
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It may be worth noticing as a curious circumstance, when persons past forty before they were at all acquainted form together a very close intimacy of friendship. For grafts of old wood to take, there must be a wonderful congeniality between the trees.
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Nothing but the right can ever be expedient, since that can never be true expediency which would sacrifice a great good to a less.
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Proverbs accordingly are somewhat analogous to those medical Formulas which, being in frequent use, are kept ready-made-up in the chemists’ shops, and which often save the framing of a distinct Prescription.
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A man is called selfish not for pursuing his own good, but for neglecting his neighbor's.
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Though not always called upon to condemn ourselves, it is always safe to suspect ourselves.
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He that is not open to conviction is not qualified for discussion.
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The power of duly appreciating little things belongs to a great mind.
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Some men's reputation seems like seed-wheat, which thrives best when brought from a distance.
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The word of knowledge, strictly employed, implies three things: truth, proof, and conviction.
Richard Whately
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Christianity, contrasted with the Jewish system of emblems, is truth in the sense of reality, as substance is opposed to shadows, and, contrasted with heathen mythology, is truth as opposed to falsehood.
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The best security against revolution is in constant correction of abuses and the introduction of needed improvements. It is the neglect of timely repair that makes rebuilding necessary.
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The Eastern monarch who proclaimed a reward to him who should discover a new pleasure, would have deserved well of mankind had he stipulated that it should be blameless.
Richard Whately
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Woman is like the reed which bends to every breeze, but breaks not in the tempest.
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He who is not aware of his ignorance will be only misled by his knowledge.
Richard Whately
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As the flower is before the fruit, so is faith before good works.
Richard Whately