Quote#World
But for that blindness which is inseparable from malice, what…
Quote byWilliam Gilmore Simms · 1806–1870
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Egeria, p. 80.
English (original)
But for that blindness which is inseparable from malice, what terrible powers of evil would it possess! Fortunately for the world, its venom, like that of the rattlesnake, when most poisonous, clouds the eye of the reptile, and defeats its aim.
— William Gilmore Simms
More from William Gilmore Simms
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The true law of the race is progress and development. Whenever civilization pauses in the march of conquest, it is overthrown by the barbarian.
Vanity is so constantly solicitous of self, that even where its own claims are not interested, it indirectly seeks the aliment which it loves, by showing how little is deserved by others.
Vanity may be likened to the smooth-skinned and velvet-footed mouse, nibbling about for ever in expectation of a crumb; while Self-Esteem is too apt to take the likeness of the huge butcher's dog, who carries off your steaks, and growls at …
... the proverb answers where the sermon fails, as a well-charged pistol will do more execution than a whole barrel of gunpowder idly expended in the air.
Our possessions are wholly in our performances. He owns nothing to whom the world owes nothing.