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Quote by Charles Lamb

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Charles Lamb: Selected Writings

Charles Lamb: Selected Writings is a compilation of the notable works of the English essayist and writer Charles Lamb. The volume offers a comprehensive look at Lamb's diverse writing, featuring his famous essays, personal correspondence, and other pieces that have cemented his reputation as a master of the English language. The collection provides readers with a glimpse into Lamb's unique perspective on life, literature, and society, highlighting his ability to blend humor with profound observations. more

Author

Charles Lamb
Charles Lamb

Charles Lamb (February 10, 1775 - December 27, 1834) was an English writer known for his essays and literary criticism. Lamb is celebrated for his unique sense of humor and profound insights into everyday life. His most famous works include 'Elias Ward' and 'The Tales of a Grandfather'. more

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“I grow ominously tired of official confinement. Thirty years have I served the Philistines, and my neck is not subdued to the yoke. You don't know how wearisome it is to breathe the air of four pent walls without relief day after day, all the golden hours of the day between ten and four without ease or interposition ... these pestilential clerk-faces always in one's dish. O for a few years between the grave and the desk!”

KnowsYearsFacesGrowsHoursKnow HowFourAirWallTenTiredBreatheGravesGoldenEaseThirtyOfficialsNecksReliefDishesDesksThirty YearsClerksYokeConfinementPhilistinesGolden Hour
Book:The letters of Charles Lamb, with a sketch of his life. The poetical works
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“Men marry for fortune, and sometimes to please their fancy; but, much oftener than is suspected, they consider what the world will say of it--how such a woman in their friends' eyes will look at the head of a table. Hence we see so many insipid beauties made wives of, that could not have struck the particular fancy of any man that had any fancy at all.”

MenWorldLooksMadeSometimesEyeWifeParticularPleaseTablesFortuneFancyInsipid
Book:Miscellaneous prose (1798-1834)
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“It is rather an unpleasant fact, that the ugliest and awkwardest of brute animals have the greatest resemblance to man: the monkey and the bear. The monkey is ugly too (so we think) because he is like man--as the bear is awkward, because the cumbrous action of its huge paws seems to be a preposterous imitation of the motions of human hands. Men and apes are the only animals that have hairs on the under eye-lid. Let kings know this.”

ThinkingKnowsMenHumansFactsHandsSeemsEyeActionAnimalHugeHairBearsKingsUglyAwkwardImitationMonkeysBrutesApesResemblancePawsHuman Hands
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Charles and Mary Lamb (Illustrated)
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“I conceive disgust at those impertinent and misbecoming familiarities, inscribed upon your ordinary tombstones. Every dead man must take upon himself to be lecturing me with his odious truism, that "such as he now is, I must shortly be." Not so shortly, friend, perhaps, as thou imaginest. In the meantime I am alive. I move about. I am worth twenty of thee. Know thy betters!”

KnowsMenMovingAliveOrdinaryTwentiesTheeDisgustingFamiliarityDead ManTombstoneTruismI Am AliveLecturing
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Charles and Mary Lamb (Illustrated)
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“Shut not thy purse-strings always against painted distress. Act a charity sometimes. When a poor creature (outwardly and visibly such) comes before thee, do not stay to inquire whether the "seven small children," in whose name he implores thy assistance, have a veritable existence. Rake not into the bowels of unwelcome truth, to save a halfpenny. It is good to believe him.”

BelieveChildrenSometimesNamesPoorExistenceCreaturesCharitySevenTheeStringsDistressAssistancePursesSmall ChildUnwelcomeBowelsRakes
Book:The Essays of Elia
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