It is easy to lose important opportunities, and difficult to regain them; therefore when they present themselves it is the more necessary to make every effort to retain them. _Guicciardini._ 421. Among wonderful things is a sore-eyed man who is an oculist. _Arabic._ 422. Gold gives the appearance of beauty even to ugliness; but everything becomes frightful with poverty. _Boileau._ 423. When the scale of sensuality bears down that of reason, the baseness of our nature conducts us to most preposterous conclusions. _R. Chamberlain._ 424. Idleness is a great enemy to mankind. There is no friend like energy, for, if you cultivate that, it will never fail. _Bhartrihari._ 425. The greatest difficulties lie where we are not looking for them. _Goethe._ 426. We must oblige everybody as much as we can; we have often need of assistance from those inferior to ourselves. _La Fontaine._ 427. We magnify the wealthy man, though his parts be never so poor. The poor man we despise, be he never so well qualified. Gold is the coverlet of imperfections. It is the fool’s curtain, which hides all his defects from the world. _Feltham._ 428. There is nothing more operative than sedulity and diligence. A man would wonder at the mighty things which have been done by degrees and gentle augmentations. Diligence and moderation are the best steps whereby to climb to any excellence, nay, it is rare that there is any other other way. _Feltham._ 429. In sooth, it is a shame to choose rather to be still borrowing in all places, from everybody, than to work and win. _Rabelais._ 430. Behaviour is a mirror in which every one shows his image. _Goethe._ 431. There is nothing more daring than ignorance. _Menander._ 432. It is not easy to stop the fire when the water is at a distance; friends at hand are better than relations afar off. _Chinese._ 433. The lustre of a virtuous character cannot be defaced, nor can the vices of a vicious man ever become lucid. A jewel preserves its lustre, though trodden in the mud, but a brass pot, though placed upon the head, is brass still. _Panchatantra._ 434. Noble birth is an accident of fortune, noble actions characterise the great.