Home / Authors / Horace Walpole

Horace Walpole Quotes

Politician

Horace Walpole was an English politician, writer, and critic, born on September 24, 1717, and died on March 2, 1797. He is best known for his contributions to literature and the arts, particularly for his role in the revival of Gothic novels.

Filter quotes by topic

All Ifs Age World Comedy Men Thinking Doe Said Should Taste Tragedy May Passion Way England Half Has Beens Knows Life Persons

Famous Horace Walpole Quotes

“What is called chance is the instrument of Providence and the secret agent that counteracts what men call wisdom, and preserves order and regularity, and continuation in the whole, for ... I firmly believe, notwithstanding all our complaints, that almost every person upon earth tastes upon the totality more happiness than misery; and therefore if we could correct the world to our fancies, and with the best intentions imaginable, probably we should only produce more misery and confusion.”

Source: The letters of Horace Walpole: fourth earl of Orford

“This world is a comedy, not Life.”

World Life Comedy This World

Author:Horace Walpole

“Nothing has shown more fully the prodigious ignorance of human ideas and their littleness, than the discovery of [Sir William] Herschell, that what used to be called the Milky Way is a portion of perhaps an infinite multitude of worlds!”

World Way Humans Ideas Used Ignorance Discovery Infinite Used To Be Portions Multitudes Milky Way Prodigious

Author:Horace Walpole

“Exercise is the worst thing in the world and as bad an invention as gunpowder.”

World Worst Exercise Invention Worst Things Gunpowder

Book:The Letters of Horace Walpole: Earl of Orford

Source: The Letters of Horace Walpole: Earl of Orford

“This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.”

Thinking World Love Feels Comedy This World Failure Tragedy Tragedy And Comedy Writing Comedy

Author:Horace Walpole

“Alexander at the head of the world never tasted the true pleasure that boys of his own age have enjoyed at the head of a school.”

World Age School Pleasure Boys Power Enjoyed

Author:Horace Walpole

“Men are often capable of greater things than they perform - They are sent into the world with bills of credit, and seldom draw to their full extent.”

Men World Greater Greatness Future Capable Draws Bills Credit Greater Things

Book:The Works of Horatio Walpole, Earl of Orford ...

Source: The Works of Horatio Walpole, Earl of Orford ...

“I have often said, and oftener think, that this world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel - a solution of why Democritus laughed and Heraclitus wept.”

Thinking World Feels Said Comedy This World Solutions Tragedy Laughed

Author:Horace Walpole

“The best philosophy is to do one's duties, take the world as it comes, submit respectfully to one's lot; bless the goodness that has given us so much happiness with it.”

World Philosophy Given Duty Goodness Respect Bless Submit

Book:The Yale Edition of Horace Walpole's Correspondence

Source: The Yale Edition of Horace Walpole's Correspondence

“One's mind suffers only when one is young and while one is ignorant of the world. When one has lived for some time, one learns that the young think too little and the old too much, and one grows careless about both.”

Thinking World Mind Littles Age Young Suffering Grows Too Much Ignorant Careless

Book:The letters of Horace Walpole, earl of Orford

Source: The letters of Horace Walpole, earl of Orford

About the Author

Born: September 24, 1717
Died: March 2, 1797
Known for: Politician
Quotes: 119

Books & Sources

The letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford: including numerous letters now first published from the original manuscriptsRelated source material

The Letters of Horace Walpole: Earl of OrfordRelated source material

The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of OxfordRelated source material

The castle of OtrantoRelated source material

The letters of Horace Walpole, earl of OrfordRelated source material

Delphi Complete Works of Horace Walpole (Illustrated)Related source material

The Works of Horatio Walpole, Earl of Orford ...Related source material

The Yale Edition of Horace Walpole's CorrespondenceRelated source material

Memoires of the Last Ten years of the Reign of George the SecondRelated source material

Horace Walpole: Memoirs and PortraitsRelated source material

Similar Authors

Joseph ChenierBrowse related quotes
Jean de la BruyereBrowse related quotes
Lord ChesterfieldBrowse related quotes
William HazlittBrowse related quotes
Samuel JohnsonBrowse related quotes
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheBrowse related quotes
Joseph AddisonBrowse related quotes
Michel de MontaigneBrowse related quotes
Charles Caleb ColtonBrowse related quotes
Gilbert K. ChestertonBrowse related quotes