The customs and fashions of men change like leaves on the bough, some of which go and others come. The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis. We must overact our part in some measure, in order to produce any effect at all. Let us not speak of them; but look, and pass on. O conscience, upright and stainless, how bitter a sting to thee is a little fault! Do ye not comprehend that we are worms born to bring forth the angelic butterfly that flieth unto judgment without screen? A great flame follows a little spark. All hope abandon, ye who enter here! Consider your origin; you were not born to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge. He listens well who takes notes. |