Excerpt from Proverbs of the People: A Cento of Aphorisms Reasonably Rhymed
The author of this little booklet has not attempted to rival these later Solomons in their loquacious utterances for the benefit of both the elect and uninstructed. Emerson has stated that Proverbs, like the sacred books of eachnation are the sanctuary of the intuitions. They are also an epigrammatic epitome of the common sense of the people, which neither the wit nor the jester, the satirist nor the sage, can entirely invalidate.
And there are no wiser commentaries to the prosaic tomes of Time than those proverbs which the peoples of all nations have originated. Indeed, many a proverb would serve as a fitting epitaph for mighty empires passed away.
It would be futile therefore for the writer of these pages to claim absolute originality for his production. But by casting them into a rhythmical form, after usages of eastern nations, it is hoped they may be easily memorized, and serve the apter purpose of quotation for the minister, the lecturer, the author, the orator, the lawyer, the publican, and all those wiser Philistines of our day whose modicum of morality is dispensed from their philters of wit one drop at a time.
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