This page has been validated.
16
Of Superfluous Words.

cease to adhere to our own opinion for the sake of peace.

Who is so wise than he can know fully all things?

Be not therefore confident in thine own opinion; but be willing to hear the judgment of others.

If thy thought be good, and yet thou partest with it for God, and followest the opinion of another, it shall turn to thy good.

3. I have often heard, that it is safer to hear and to take counsel, than to give it.

It may also happen, that a man's opinion may be good; yet to refuse to yield to others when reason or a special cause requireth it, is a mark of stiffness and pride.


CHAPTER X.

OF SUPERFLUOUS WORDS.

WHENSOEVER a man desireth anything inordinately, he is presently disquieted in himself.

The proud and covetous can never rest.

The poor and humble in spirit dwell in peace.

Oftentimes I could wish that I had held my peace when I had spoken; and that I had not been in company.

Why do we so willingly speak and talk one with another, when notwithstanding we seldom cease our converse before we have hurt our conscience?