Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
It is sweet to feel by what fine spun threads our affections are drawn together.
Is this a fit time, said my father to himself, to talk of Pensions and Grenadiers?
Digressions incontestably are the sunshine; they are the life, the soul of reading.
I begin with writing the first sentence—and trusting to Almighty God for the second.
Only the brave know how to forgive... a coward never forgave; it is not in his nature.
'Tis known by the name of perseverance in a good cause,-and of obstinacy in a bad one.
'Tis known by the name of perseverance in a good cause, and of obstinacy in a bad one.
If ever I do a mean action, it must be in some interval betwixt one passion and another.
Disguise thyself as thou wilt, still, Slavery," said I, "still thou art a bitter draught.
When the heart flies out before the understanding, it saves the judgment a world of pains.
For I begin with writing the first sentence, — and trusting to Almighty God for the second.
Did ever woman, since the creation of the world, interrupt a man with such a silly question?
An atheist is more reclaimable than a papist, as ignorance is sooner cured than superstition.
The desire of knowledge, like the thirst of riches, increases ever with the acquisition of it.
The chaste mind, like a polished plane, may admit foul thoughts, without receiving their tincture.
But this is neither here nor there why do I mention it? Ask my pen, it governs me, I govern not it.
A man who values a good night's rest will not lie down with enmity in his heart, if he can help it.
We lose the right of complaining sometimes, by denying something, but this often triples its force.
Keyholes are the occasions of more sin and wickedness, than all other holes in this world put together.
Any one may do a casual act of good-nature; but a continuation of them shows it a part of the temperament.
Our passion and principals are constantly in a frenzy, but begin to shift and waver, as we return to reason.
People who overly take care of their health are like misers. They hoard up a treasure which they never enjoy.
Writing, when properly managed, (as you may be sure I think mine is) is but a different name for conversation.
One may as well be asleep as to read for anything but to improve his mind and morals, and regulate his conduct.
Before an affliction is digested, consolation ever comes too soon; and after it is digested, it comes too late.
Whatever stress some may lay upon it, a death-bed repentance is but a weak and slender plank to trust our all on.
Go, poor devil, get thee gone! Why should I hurt thee? This world surely is wide enough to hold both thee and me.
Only the brave know how to forgive; it is the most refined and generous pitch of virtue human nature can arrive at.
Shall we for ever make new books, as apothecaries make new mixtures, by pouring only out of one vessel into another?
The more tickets you have in a lottery, the worse your chance. And it is the same of virtues, in the lottery of life.
Courtship consists in a number of quiet attentions, not so pointed as to alarm, nor so vague as not to be understood.
Titles of honor are like the impressions on coins, which add no value to gold or silver, but only render brass current.
A dwarf who brings a standard along with him to measure his own size, take my word, is a dwarf in more articles than one.
The most affluent may be stripped of all, and find his worldly comforts, like so many withered leaves, dropping from him.
Titles of honour are like the impressions on coin; — which add no value to gold and silver, but only render brass current.
There is one sweet lenitive at least for evils, which nature holds out; so I took it kindly at her hands, and fell asleep.
A large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life, by him who interests his heart in everything.
I am persuaded that every time a man smiles - but much more so when he laughs - it adds something to this fragment of life.
So much of motion, is so much of life, and so much of joy, and to stand still, or get on but slowly, is death and the devil.
We are born to trouble; and we may depend upon it, whilst we live in this world, we shall have it, though with intermissions.
Religion which lays so many restraints upon us, is a troublesome companion to those who will lay no restraints upon themselves.
When the precipitancy of a man's wishes hurries on his ideas ninety times faster than the vehicle he rides in--woe be to truth!
Every thing in this world, said my father, is big with jest,--and has wit in it, and instruction too,--if we can but find it out.
I am positive I have a soul; nor can all the books with which materialists have pestered the world ever convince me to the contrary.
I am persuaded ... that both man and woman bear pain or sorrow, (and, for aught I know, pleasure too) best in a horizontal position.
When a man is discontented with himself, it has one advantage - that it puts him into an excellent frame of mind for making a bargain.
Positiveness is a most absurd foible. If you are in the right, it lessens your triumph; if in the wrong, it adds shame to your defeat.
Simplicity is the great friend to nature, and if I would be proud of anything in this silly world, it should be of this honest alliance.
My father, whose way was to force every event in nature into an hypothesis, by which means never man crucified TRUTH at the rate he did.
Lessons of wisdom have the most power over us when they capture the heart through the groundwork of a story, which engages the passions.