C.N. Douglas, comp. Forty Thousand Quotations: Prose and Poetical. 1917.
Esteem
Esteem all things that are good.
Esteem never makes ingrates.
I will never pretend esteem for a man whose principles I detest.
We should esteem a person according to his actions, not his nationality.
To be loved, we should merit but little esteem; all superiority attracts awe and aversion.
Prefer not the esteem of men to the approbation of God.
It is common to esteem most what is most unknown.
Our esteem is apt to be given where we know the least.
Esteem cannot be where there is no confidence, and there can be no confidence where there is no respect.
Esteem incites friendship, but not love; the former is the twin brother of Reverence; the latter is the child of Equality.
Many men and many women enjoy popular esteem, not because they are known, but because they are not.
No man can have much kindness for him by whom he does not believe himself esteemed, and nothing so evidently proves esteem as imitation.
Esteem has more engaging charms than friendship, and even love. It captivates hearts better, and never makes ingrates.
As love without esteem is volatile and capricious, so esteem without love is languid and cold.
There is no rapture in the love which is prompted by esteem; such affection is lasting, not passionate.
Under the assumption of profound esteem, the flatterer wears an outward expression of fidelity, as foreign to his heart as the smile upon the face of the dead.
By virtue, integrity, perseverance and true modesty it is possible for all men to win the esteem of their fellow beings.
There is graciousness and a kind of urbanity in beginning with men by esteem and confidence. It proves, at least, that we have long lived in good company with others and with ourselves.
We have so exalted a notion of the human soul that we cannot bear to be despised by it, or even not to be esteemed by it. Man, in fact, places all his happiness in this esteem.
We esteem in the world those who do not merit our esteem, and neglect persons of true worth; but the world is like the ocean—the pearl is in its depths, the seaweed swims.
The chief ingredients in the composition of those qualities that gain esteem and praise are good nature, truth, good sense, and good breeding.
The esteem of wise and good men is the greatest of all temporal encouragements to virtue; and it is a mark of an abandoned spirit to have no regard to it.
We acquire the love of people who, being in our proximity, are presumed to know us; and we receive reputation or celebrity, from such as are not personally acquainted with us. Merit secures to us the regard of our honest neighbors, and good fortune that of the public. Esteem is the harvest of a whole life spent in usefulness; but reputation is often bestowed upon a chance action, and depends most on success.
Local esteem is far more conducive to happiness than general reputation. The latter may be compared to the fixed stars which glimmer so remotely as to afford little light and no warmth. The former is like the sun, each day shedding his prolific and cheering beams.