George Herbert: "The Church-porch"

Day 17: Morning

32

In clothes, inexpensive handsomeness is the best. Wisdom is a smarter thing than any shop can give. Do not say then, "This with that lace will do well;" but "This with my discretion will be effective." Much novelty is a perpetual wooing, nothing with labor, continuous folly.      If you seek novelty, you will always be seeking something different, stranger, more exciting. There is always another fad, another gimmick, a later model. The chase never ends. There is more and still more expense for the newest advance on the market. It is just another curiousness, another expense, another folly. A salesman wants to sell you the latest model, the up-to-date fad, the top of the line, the cutting edge technology. They can not sell you style.      Wisdom, which is not taught in the shops and fashionable boutiques, improves your wallet, closets and living space. It sees good looking styles and combinations without the cutting edge expense. It knows that cost and fashion channel the rut deeper. It is not preset, already complete in its fashion concept. It is contrary to fashion which is off the rack, prefabricated and changes the minute you buy it. Insight requires consideration, information and, most important, evaluation of all factors. It needs decisions that are different each time because the conditions are different each time. It develops you more because you put more of yourself into it. Wisdom grows with you and makes valuable decisions last.

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