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Quote by Laurence Sterne

“Upon looking back from the end of the last chapter and surveying the texture of what has been wrote, it is necessary, that upon this page and the five following, a good quantity of heterogeneous matter be inserted, to keep up that just balance betwixt wisdom and folly, without which a book would not hold together a single year.”

Book:The Works of Laurence Sterne, in One Volume

Work

The Works of Laurence Sterne, in One Volume

This volume encompasses a selection of Laurence Sterne's writings, showcasing his distinctive style and wit. It includes his satirical novel 'Tristram Shandy', known for its unconventional narrative structure and philosophical musings, as well as other shorter works and correspondence. more

Author

Laurence Sterne

Laurence Sterne, born on November 24, 1713, and died on March 18, 1768, was a prominent English novelist of the 18th century. He is best known for his novel 'Tristram Shandy', which is considered a pioneer of modern fiction and is renowned for its unique narrative style and profound insights into human nature. more

“I know not whether the remark is to our honour or otherwise, that lessons of wisdom have never such power over us, as when they are wrought into the heart, through the ground-work of a story which engages the passions: Is it that we are like iron, and must first be heated before we can be wrought upon?”

Knows Firsts Heart Stories Passion Fiction Lessons Iron Honour Maxims Remarks

Book:The Works of Laurence Sterne ...: With a Life of the Author

Source: The Works of Laurence Sterne ...: With a Life of the Author

“The insolence of base minds in success is boundless; and would scarce admit of a comparison, did not they themselves furnish us with one in the degrees of their abjection when evil returns upon them.”

Mind Success Evil Failure Return Degrees Comparison Boundless Scarce Success Failure Insolence Nastiness Abjection

Book:The Complete Works of Laurence Sterne: With a Life of the Author

Source: The Complete Works of Laurence Sterne: With a Life of the Author

“Ye whose clay-cold heads and luke-warm hearts can argue down or mask your passions--tell me, what trespass is it that man should have them?... If nature has so wove her web of kindness, that some threads of love and desire are entangled with the piece--must the whole web be rent in drawing them out?”

Source: The Works of Laurence Sterne: Containing The Life and Opinions of Tristan Shandy ... [etc.] ; with a Life of the Author Written by Himself

“When a man gives himself up to the government of a ruling passion,--or, in other words, when his HOBBY-HORSE grows head- strong,--farewell cool reason and fair discretion.”

Men Giving Reason Government Passion Strong Grows Fairs Horse Hobbies Farewell Ruling Discretion Ruling Passion

Book:3 Books by Laurence Sterne

Source: 3 Books by Laurence Sterne

“I pity the man who can travel from Dan to Beersheba, and cry, 'Tis all barren--and so it is; and so is all the world to him who will not cultivate the fruits it offers.”

Men World Cry He Man Offers Travel Fruit Pity Barren

Book:A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy: And, Continuation of the Bramine's Journal : with Related Texts

Source: A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy: And, Continuation of the Bramine's Journal : with Related Texts

“Conversation is a traffick; and if you enter into it, without some stock of knowledge, to ballance the account perpetually betwixtyou,--the trade drops at once: and this is the reasonwhy travellers have so little [good] conversation with natives,--owing to their [the natives'] suspicionthat there is nothing to be extracted from the conversationworth the trouble of their bad language.”

Ifs Littles Language Trouble Conversation Travel Accounts Trade Foreigners Traveller Owing Good Conversation Bad Language

Author:Laurence Sterne

“The proper education of poor children [is] the ground-work of almost every other kind of charity.... Without this foundation firstlaid, how much kindnessis unavoidably cast away?”

Kind Children Poor Education Foundation Charity Casts Cast Away Poor Children

Author:Laurence Sterne

“Surely, 'tis one step towards acting well, to think worthily of our nature; and as in common life, the way to make a man honest, is, to suppose him soso here, to set some value upon ourselves, enables us to support the characterof generosity and virtue.”

Thinking Men Way Wells Character Values Common Acting Steps Support Virtue Honest Goodness Charity Generosity Common Life

Author:Laurence Sterne

“[I have] been in love with one princess or another almost all my life, and I hope I shall go on so, till I die, being firmly persuaded, that if ever I do a mean action, it must be in some interval betwixt one passion and another.”

Ifs Men Mean Has Beens Action Motivation Dies Passion Goes On Men And Women Princess Intervals Been In Love

Author:Laurence Sterne

“Certainly it was ordained as a scourge upon the pride of human wisdom, that the wisest of us all, should thus outwit ourselves, and eternally forego our purposes in the intemperate act of pursuing them.”

Should Humans Purpose Pride Ambition Excess Wisest Scourge Human Wisdom

Book:The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. And A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy ... With Life of the Author by Sir Walter Scott, Portrait, and Outline Wood Engravings After Thomas Stothard

Source: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. And A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy ... With Life of the Author by Sir Walter Scott, Portrait, and Outline Wood Engravings After Thomas Stothard

Quote by Laurence Sterne

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