There is a vast world of reality into which science can no more enter than an elf can be Santa Claus. We regret to observe that rather than face it, and confess its inability to measure it, science turns its back upon it. Life is not always every-day life, and the insolvable mysteries are correlated not to formal rules but to spirit and inspiration.

Are bits of wisdom liable to dwarf the subject? Indeed-and rightly James Howell described the ingredients of a good proverb to be "sense, shortness, and salt." May Howell's cry resound through this present present collection of maxims on...