"The true felicity of life is to be free from perturbations; to understand our duties towards God and man; to enjoy the present without any serious dependence upon the future. Not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears, but to rest satisfied with what we have. The great blessings of mankind are within our reach; but we shut our eyes, and, like people in the dark, we fall foul upon the very thing we search for, without finding it. Tranquillity is the state of human perfection, it raises us as high as we can go, and makes every man his own supporter; whereas he that is borne up by anything else may fall. He that judges right and perseveres in it, enjoys a perpetual calm; he takes a true prospect of things; he observes an order, measure, a decorum in all his actions; he has a benevolence in his nature; and squares his life according to reason, and draws to himself love and admiration. Without a certain and unchangeable judgment, all the rest is but fluctuation. Liberty and serenity of mind must necessarily ensue upon the mastering of those things which either allure or affright us, when, instead of those flashy pleasures we shall find ourselves possessed of joys transporting and everlasting." SENECA. "Nothing can bring you peace but yourself, nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principle." EMERSON. Discontent NOVEMBER 16 "Discontent is want of self-reliance; it is infirmity of will." EMERSON. "To repel one's cross is to make it heavier." _Amiel's Journal._ "She had that rare sense which discerns what is unalterable; and submits to it without murmuring." GEORGE ELIOT. "But for me, What good I see, humbly I seek to do, And live obedient to the Law, in trust That what will come and shall come, must come well." _The Light of Asia_, E. ARNOLD. Magnifying Troubles NOVEMBER 17 "Another weight is the cares of life. We keep so many which we might shake off, that it is more than pitiful. We encourage fears for our life, our future, our wealth, till all our days are harassed out of peace, till the very notion of trust in God is an absurdity. We waste life away in petty details, spending infinite trouble on transient things, magnifying the gnats of life into elephants, tormenting ourselves and others over household disturbances, children, servants, little losses, foolish presentiments, our state of health, our finances,--till every one around us is infected with our disease of fret and worry. This is indeed to weight our soul. Our life with God, our work for man, are dragged to earth." _The Gospel of Joy_, STOPFORD BROOKE.