He who rides in the carriage may yet have to clean it.
Sawyers change-places, and he who is up aloft may have to take his turn
in the pit. In less than a thousand years we shall all be bald and poor
too, and who knows what he may come to before that? The thought that we
may ourselves be one day under the window, should make us careful when
we are throwing out our dirty water. With what measure we mete, it shall
be measured to us again, and therefore let us look well to our dealings
with the unfortunate.
Nothing makes me more sick of human nature than to see the way in which
men treat others when they fall down the ladder of fortune: "Down with
him," they cry, "he always was good for nothing."
"Down among the dead men, down, down, down,
Down among the dead men, there let him lie."
Dog won't eat dog, but men will eat each other up like cannibals, and
boast of it too. There are thousands in this world who fly like vultures
to feed on a tradesman or a merchant as soon as ever he gets into
trouble. Where the carcass is thither will the eagles be gathered
together. Instead of a little help, they give the sinking man a great
deal of cruelty, and cry, "Serves him right." All the world will beat
the man whom fortune buffets. If providence smites him, all men's whips
begin to crack. The dog is drowning, and therefore all his friends empty
their buckets over him. The tree has fallen, and every body runs for his
hatchet.
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