"If any one tells you such a one has spoken ill of you, do not refute them in that particular; but answer, had he known all my vices, he had not spoken only of that one." EPICTETUS. Calumny JUNE 8 "I am beholden to calumny that she hath so endeavoured and taken pains to belie me. It shall make me set a surer guard on myself, and keep a better watch upon my actions." BEN JONSON. "As to people saying a few idle words about us, we must not mind that, any more than the old church-steeple minds the rooks cawing about it." GEORGE ELIOT. "The power men possess to annoy me I give them." EMERSON. "Assailed by scandal and the tongue of strife, His only answer was--a blameless life." COWPER. Flattery JUNE 9 "Flattery is a false coinage which would have no currency but for our vanity." LA ROCHEFOUCAULD. "If we did not flatter ourselves, the flattery of others could do us no harm." LA ROCHEFOUCAULD. "Self-love is the greatest Flatterer in the World." LA ROCHEFOUCAULD. "The Devil has no stauncher ally than want of perception." PHILIP H. WICKSTEAD. Pride JUNE 10 "There are two states or conditions of pride. The first is one of self-approval, the second one of self-contempt. Pride is seen probably at its purest in the last." _Amiel's Journal._ "The foundation of pride is the wish to respect one's self, whatever others may think; the mainspring of vanity is the craving for the admiration of others, no matter at what cost to one's self-respect." _The Heart of Rome_, F. MARION CRAWFORD. "Any revelation of greatness overwhelms petty thoughts.... The presence of death turns enemies into friends. In the same way the petty feelings of pride and vanity would lose much of their power if people had the overwhelming feeling which comes from the contemplation of Almightiness, All-goodness, and All-love. There would be a marked change in all human relations if men turned from the presence of the Thrice Holy to face one another; if thoughts of self and for self were driven out of their minds by worship." _The Service of God_, Canon BARNETT. Conceit JUNE 11 "It is indeed a desirable thing to be well descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors." PLUTARCH.