Here are additional selected citations in chronological order. When crushed beneath some rude and careless tread,īreathes forth its fragrance on the balmy air, “Father, forgive them!” As a floweret fair, The overall context of the work was Christian: 1845 August 2, The Literary Museum: A Repository of the Useful and Entertaining, Volume 2, Number 15, “Father! Forgive Them!”, (Acknowledgement: From “The Covenant”), Quote … Continue reading In 1845 a poem titled “Father! Forgive Them!” used the symbol of a “floweret” which had been crushed beneath a foot to represent forgiveness. Some through their tortured trunks a balm supply, Perfumes the axe that fells it to the ground The falling Sandal-Tree sheds fragrance round, Colton (Charles Caleb Colton), Quote to 237, Printed and Sold by T. Colton presented a “sandal-tree” as an example of a plant which had been “wronged” but reacted with “forgiveness” and “kindness”: 1812, Hypocrisy: A Satire, in Three Books: Book the First by Rev. …the beautiful Aryá couplet, which was written at least three centuries before our era, and which pronounces the duty of a good man, even in the moment of his destruction to consist not only in forgiving, but even in a desire of benefiting, his destroyer, as the Sandal-tree, in the instant of its overthrow, sheds perfume on the axe, which fells it…Īn 1812 a book by Reverend Charles Colton discussed forgiveness and employed the same metaphor while citing the words of Sir William Jones in a footnote. In the following passage the destructive force was provided by an axe and not a foot: 1807, The Works of Sir William Jones in Thirteen Volumes, Volume 3, Discourse The Eleventh on The Philosophy of the Asiaticks, (Lecture delivered on February 20, 1794), Start, Quote Page … Continue reading The sandalwood tree has a close-grained wood that is prized for its long-lasting fragrance. Jones discussed the topic of forgiveness and its figurative representation in a work he credited to a pandit. In 1794 a prominent scholar of ancient India and languages named Sir William Jones delivered a lecture titled “The Philosophy of the Asiaticks”. This metaphor does have a very long history and a variety of plants with aromas have been substituted into its framework. The unsupported linkage to Twain was printed in newspapers by the 1970s. Also, it does not appear in the large compilation “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips”. It is not listed on the website edited by Barbara Schmidt, an important reference tool for checking expressions ascribed to the humorist. Quote Investigator: There is no substantive evidence that Mark Twain said or wrote this statement. Is the ascription to Twain accurate? Would you explore the history of this type of saying? I find this example of figurative speech fascinating. Giles? Elizabeth Reeves Humphreys? Apocryphal?ĭear Quote Investigator: The following evocative metaphorical definition of forgiveness is often attributed to Mark Twain:įorgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.īut I have seen the quotation below credited to someone named George Roemisch in the popular advice column “Dear Abby”:įorgiveness is the fragrance of the violet which still clings fast to the heel that crushed it. The passage reads : Happy is the person who meditates on Sophia, who reflects in one's heart on Sophia's ways and ponders her secrets, pursuing her like a hunter, and lying in wait on her paths. With this broad knowledge I would make the fields bloom again, and in that way save us all from the auctions and separation, from a descent into the darkness of Natchez, which was the coffin, which was all that awaited, I knew, under the rule of Maynard.Mark Twain? George Roemisch? Sophia May Eckley? Ella A. In an article titled, Desperately Seeking Sophia, Sister Joyce Rupp quotes the Book of Sirach, a portion of the Christian canon included in some denominations. I imagined that my own quality might someday be recognized and then, perhaps, I, one who understood the workings of the house, the workings of the field, and the span of the larger world, might be deemed the true heir, the rightful heir, of Lockless. It occurred to me then that even my own intelligence was unexceptional, for you could not set eyes anywhere on Lockless and not see the genius in its makers-genius in the hands that carved out the columns of the portico, genius in the songs that evoked, even in the whites, the deepest of joys and sorrows, genius in the men who made the fiddle strings whine and trill at their dances, genius in the bouquet of flavors served up from the kitchen, genius in all our lost, genius in Big John.
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