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Quote by Horace Walpole

“I have sometimes seen women, who would have been sensible enough, if they would have been content not to be called women of sense--but by aiming at what they had not, they only proved absurd--for sense cannot be counterfeited.”

Quote by Horace Walpole

Author

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. more

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“Lord Bath used to say of women, who are apt to say that they will follow their own judgment, that they could not follow a worse guide.”

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“Dr. Calder [a Unitarian minister] said of Dr. [Samuel] Johnson on the publications of Boswell and Mrs. Piozzi, that he was like Actaeon, torn to pieces by his own pack.”

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“Shakespeare had no tutors but nature and genius. He caught his faults from the bad taste of his contemporaries. In an age still less civilized Shakespeare might have been wilder, but would not have been vulgar.”

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“Ponder, your comedies are woeful chaff: Write tragedies, when you would make us laugh.”

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“When Shakespeare copied chroniclers verbatim, it was because he knew they were good enough for his audiences. In a more polished age he who could so move our passions, could surely have performed the easier task of satisfying our taste.”

Enough Age Moving Passion Audience Easier Taste Tasks Good Enough Satisfying Polished

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“Shakespeare, with an improved education and in a more enlightened age, might easily have attained the purity and correction of Racine; but nothing leads one to suppose that Racine in a barbarous age would have attained the grandeur, force and nature of Shakespeare.”

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“The best sun we have is made of Newcastle coal, and I am determined never to reckon upon any other.”

Made Sun England Determined Fuel Coal I Am Determined Newcastle

Book:The Correspondence of Horace Walpole, with George Montagu, Esq., [and Others].: 1760-1769

Source: The Correspondence of Horace Walpole, with George Montagu, Esq., [and Others].: 1760-1769

“A man of sense, though born without wit, often lives to have wit. His memory treasures up ideas and reflections; he compares themwith new occurrences, and strikes out new lights from the collision. The consequence is sometimes bons mots, and sometimes apothegms.”

Men Ideas Sometimes Light Born Memories Reflection Consequence Strikes Wit Treasure Compare Collision

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“When the Prince of Wales [later King George IV] and the Duke of York went to visit their brother Prince William [later William IV]at Plymouth, and all three being very loose in their manners, and coarse in their language, Prince William said to his ship's crew, "now I hope you see that I am not the greatest blackguard of my family.”

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Author:Horace Walpole