Laurence Sterne Quotes

" — I won't go about to argue the point with you, — 'tis so, — and I am persuaded of it, madam, as much as can be, "That both man and woman bear pain or sorrow, (and, for aught I know, pleasure too) best in a horizontal position.

Of all the cants which are canted in this canting world, — though the cant of hypocrites may be the worst, — the cant of criticism is the most tormenting!

o si existiera la certeza de que el amor propio jamás puede ejercer la menor influencia sobre el juicio;

Ho! 'tis the time of salads.

That grave people hate love for the name’s sake;—</br>That selfish people hate it for their own;—</br>Hypocrites for heaven’s;—

Shall we for ever make new books, as apothecaries make new mixtures, by pouring only out of one vessel into another?

el trote vivaz y el lento raciocinio eran, como el ingenio y el juicio[44], movimientos incompatibles.

Mi padre comenzaba apoyándose en la fuerza de los dos axiomas siguientes: Primero: que, para un hombre, una onza de su propia inteligencia valía por una tonelada de la de cualquier otra persona; y Segundo (el cual, por cierto, era el fundamento del primer axioma — aunque viniera después): que la inteligencia de todo hombre debía necesariamente provenir de su propia alma — y jamás de la de ninguna otra persona.

For every ten jokes, thou hast got a hundred enemies.

Great wits jump

The Accusing Spirit which flew up to heaven's chancery with the oath, blush'd as he gave it in; and the Recording Angel as he wrote it down, dropp'd a tear upon the word, and blotted it out forever.

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As far as my observation has reached, and the circle of it is by no means, a narrow one — an hard heart is always a cowardly heart. — Generosity and courage are associate virtues; and the character which possesses the former, must, in the nature of mental arrangements, be adorned with the latter. If I perceive a man to be capable of doing a mean action, — if I see him imperious and tyrannical; if he takes advantage of the weak to oppress, or of the poor to grind, or of the downcast to insult, — or is continually on the hunt after excuses not to do what he ought, — I determine such a man, though he may have fought fifty duels, to be a coward. — It is by no means a proof that a man is brave because he does not refuse to fight; — for we all know that cowards have fought, nay, — that cowards have conquered, — but a coward never performed a generous or a noble action: — and thou hast my authority to say, — and thou mightest find a worse, that a hard-hearted character never was a brave one. I say, thou mayst justly call such a man a coward, — and, if he should be spirited into a resentment of thy words — fear him not. — Tristram shall brighten his armour, and scour the rust from off his spear, and aid thee in the combat.

First, Whenever a man talks loudly against religion, always suspect that it is not his reason, but his passions, which have got the better of his Creed. A bad life and a good belief are disagreeable and troublesome neighbours, and where they separate, depend upon it, ’tis for no other cause but quietness sake.

It is the nature of an hypothesis, when once a man has conceived it, that it assimulates every thing to itself as proper nourishment; and, from the first moment of your begetting it, it generally grows the stronger by every thing you see, hear, read, or understand.