Irish Australian author & journalist (1861-1934)
Tact is not a small thing; in the battle of life it is more powerful than a bludgeon.
ARTHUR ALFRED LYNCH
Moods of Life
Pessimism is carefully cultivated in some intellectual circles, as if it were a precious plant that the human race could not afford to lose.
ARTHUR ALFRED LYNCH
Moods of Life
Intuition is the soul within the soul.
ARTHUR ALFRED LYNCH
Moods of Life
Life asks for a preparation as complete as we can afford; the great contest should be fought with spirit but with good temper always; we should never think the game lost while it is still going; and finally we should have the satisfaction of quitting the field able to say: I did my best.
ARTHUR ALFRED LYNCH
Moods of Life
The accumulation of facts, even if interesting in themselves, should not constitute the main part of education; these facts, whether they be of classical learning or knick-knacks of history, will be of little use unless the mind has been trained to see them in proper perspective.
ARTHUR ALFRED LYNCH
Moods of Life
To any mental state there corresponds a physical condition.
ARTHUR ALFRED LYNCH
Moods of Life
Vanity is apt to inspire contempt, but that becomes immediately tempered by a gentler and more gracious feeling; for the vain man desires to win our approbation, and in this way he flatters us.
ARTHUR ALFRED LYNCH
Moods of Life
Life is magical. There is something wonderful in being alive, in having within one's self all sorts of possibilities.
ARTHUR ALFRED LYNCH
Moods of Life
Every anxiety is a mild form of premonition, and from that point the shade deepens till we get the forebodings and hauntings that merge into lunacy.
ARTHUR ALFRED LYNCH
Moods of Life
Wit is something more than a gymnastic trick of the intellect; true wit implies a beam of thought into the essence of a question, a flash that lights up a situation. Wit suggests the delicate but delightful play of a rapier in the hands of a master.
ARTHUR ALFRED LYNCH
Moods of Life
Pessimism is a product of our civilization. It is not natural to the savage; he feels pain, or discomfort, and suffers from these palpable conditions, but when he recovers from wounds he forgets the torments, and when he is well fed he is joyous in the light of day.
ARTHUR ALFRED LYNCH
Moods of Life
Those who have suffered, who have known poverty or oppression, are generally the most prone to kindness. Perhaps it is well to endure some misery if only to learn this lesson.
ARTHUR ALFRED LYNCH
Moods of Life
Truth is the one thing in nature always consistent with itself, and it is the one guide given to us in steering on the ocean of fate.
ARTHUR ALFRED LYNCH
Moods of Life
The test of education, apart from the accomplishments that secure places in an artificial system, should be this: Let the man be thrown naked on an unknown shore, and be forced to win his way amidst a new people. It may then be of little use to play cricket or to mishandle Tschaikowsky on a piano, but good physique, intelligence, and will power make their way infallibly.
ARTHUR ALFRED LYNCH
Moods of Life
Jealousy is one of the wickedest of all the passions. It is that which has been the most fruitful mother of tragedies, murders, and wars. But reprehensible though it is, jealousy is almost rather to be pitied than blamed--its first victims are those who harbour the feeling.
ARTHUR ALFRED LYNCH
Moods of Life
True love survives all shocks: an affection originally produced by admiration for unusual beauty may not only survive the loss of that beauty, but may become more intense if the beauty has changed into ugliness through causes that bind the lovers together in tender associations.
ARTHUR ALFRED LYNCH
Moods of Life
The future seems a little gloomy! Go to bed early, sleep well, eat moderately at breakfast; the future looks brighter. The world's outlook may not have changed, but our capacity for dealing with it has. Happiness, or unhappiness, depends to some extent on external conditions, but also, and in most cases chiefly, on our own physical and mental powers. Some people would be discontented in Paradise, others ... are cheerful in a graveyard.
ARTHUR ALFRED LYNCH
Moods of Life
Optimism will grow like a flower if the soil be properly prepared.
ARTHUR ALFRED LYNCH
Moods of Life
Intuition without reason is the fertile mother of blunders and wrongs.
ARTHUR ALFRED LYNCH
Moods of Life
Jealousy, in spite of the mad frenzy of its most splendid displays, is a vice of weakness; it arises from a mind whose aspirations and desires are inferior to its accomplishments; it is the child of baulked vanity and failure of courage.
ARTHUR ALFRED LYNCH
Moods of Life