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A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith

This book provides a comprehensive look at the life of Sydney Smith, a prominent figure in 19th-century English society. It delves into his career as a clergyman, his contributions to literature, and his personal life, offering readers a detailed portrait of this influential figure. more

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Sydney Smith
Sydney Smith

Sydney Smith was a British writer celebrated for his wit and humor. Born on June 3, 1771, he was a prominent figure in the literary world of his time. His writing spanned various genres, including essays, letters, and poetry. Smith was a regular contributor to The Edinburgh Review and The Edinburgh Magazine, where his insightful and witty prose was highly esteemed. He passed away on February 22, 1845, leaving behind a rich literary legacy. more

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“I lost the conviction that lights would always turn green for me, the pleasant certainty that those rather passive virtues which had won me approval as a child automatically guaranteed me not only Phi Beta Kappa keys but happiness, honor, and the love of a good man; lost a certain touching faith in the totem power of good manners, clean hair, and a proven competence on the Stanford-Binet scale. To such doubtful amulets had my self-respect been pinned, and I faced myself that day with the non-plused apprehension of someone who has come across a vampire and has no crucifix at hand.”

“You will notice that what we are aiming at when we fall in love is a very strange paradox. The paradox consists of the fact that, when we fall in love, we are seeking to re-find all or some of the people to whom we were attached as children. On the other hand, we ask our beloved to correct all of the wrongs that these early parents or siblings inflicted upon us. So that love contains in it the contradiction: The attempt to return to the past and the attempt to undo the past.”

“Now at this very moment I knew that the United States was in the war, up to the neck and in to the death. So we had won after all! ... How long the war would last or in what fashion it would end no man could tell, nor did I at this moment care ... We should not be wiped out. Our history would not come to an end ... Hitler's fate was sealed. Mussolini's fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to a powder. All the rest was merely the proper application of overwhelming force.”