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| Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922. |
| Superstition |
| Foul Superstition! howsoe’er disguised, Idol, saint, virgin, prophet, crescent, cross, For whatsoever symbol thou art prized, Thou sacerdotal gain, but general loss! Who from true worship’s gold can separate thy dross? Byron—Childe Harold. Canto II. St. 44. | 1 |
| Superstitione tollenda religio non tollitur. Religion is not removed by removing superstition. Cicero—De Divinatione. II. 72. | 2 |
| Accedit etiam mors, quæ quasi saxum Tantalo semper impendit: tum superstitio, qua qui est imbutus quietus esse numquam potest. Death approaches, which is always impending like the stone over Tantalus: then comes superstition with which he who is imbued can never have peace of mind. Cicero—De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum. I. 8. | 3 |
| Superstitio, in qua inest inanis timor Dei; religio, quæ dei pio cultu continetur. There is in superstition a senseless fear of God; religion consists in the pious worship of Him. Cicero—De Natura Deorum. I. 42. | 4 |
| My right eye itches, some good luck is near. Dryden—Paraphrase of Amaryllis. Third Idyllum of Theocritus. L. 86. | 5 |
| Alas! you know the cause too well; The salt is spilt, to me it fell. Then to contribute to my loss, My knife and fork were laid across; On Friday, too! the day I dread; Would I were safe at home, in bed! Last night (I vow to Heaven ’tis true) Bounce from the fire a coffin flew. Next post some fatal news shall tell: God send my Cornish friends be well! Gay—Fables. Pt. I. Fable 37. | 6 |
| Dish yer rabbit foot’ll gin you good luck. De man w’at tote it mighty ap’fer ter come out right en’ up wen deys any racket gwine on in de neighborhoods, let ’er be whar she will en w’en she may; mo’ espeshually ef de man w’at got it know ’zactly w’at he got ter do. Joel Chandler Harris—Brother Rabbit and his famous Foot. | 7 |
| Minimis etiam rebus prava religio inserit deos. A foolish superstition introduces the influences of the gods even in the smallest matters. Livy—Annales. XXVII. 23. | 8 |
| Why is it that we entertain the belief that for every purpose odd numbers are the most effectual? Pliny—Natural History. Bk. XXVIII. Ch. V. | 9 |
| Midnight hags, By force of potent spells, of bloody characters, And conjurations horrible to hear, Call fiends and spectres from the yawning deep, And set the ministers of hell at work. Nicholas Rowe—Jane Shore. Act IV. Sc. 1. L. 240. | 10 |
| Some devils ask but the parings of one’s nail, A rush, a hair, a drop of blood, a pin, a nut, a cherry stone; But she, more coveteous, would have a chain. Master, be wise: an if you give it her, The devil will shake her chain and fright us with it. Comedy of Errors. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 72. | 11 |
| I pull in resolution, and begin To doubt the equivocation of the fiend That lies like truth: “Fear not, till Birnam wood Do come to Dunsinane.” Macbeth. Act V. Sc. 5. L. 42. | 12 |
| Number three is always fortunate. Smollett—Peregrine Pickle. Quoted as a well-known proverb. | 13 |
| Superstition is related to this life, religion to the next; superstition is allied to fatality, religion to virtue; it is by the vivacity of earthly desires that we become superstitious; it is, on the contrary, by the sacrifice of these desires that we become religious. Madame de Staël. See Abel Stevens’ Life of Madame de Staël. Ch. XXXIV. | 14 |
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