Sydney Smith Quotes

It is always right that a man should be able to render a reason for the faith that is within him.

I never read a book before reviewing it; it prejudices a man so.

Take short views,
Hope for the best,
and Trust in God.

What you don’t know would make a great book.

Macaulay is like a book in breeches...He has occasional flashes of silence, that make his conversation perfectly delightful.

Manners are the shadows of virtues; the momentary display of those qualities which our fellow-creatures love and respect. If we strive to become, then, what we strive to appear, manners may often be rendered useful guides to the performance of our duties.

In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book? Or goes to an American play? or looks at an American picture or statue? What does the world yet owe to American physicians or surgeons? What new substances have their chemists discovered? Or what old ones have they advanced? What new constellations have been discovered by the telescopes of Americans? Who drinks out of American glasses? Or eats from American plates? Or wears American coats or gowns? or sleeps in American blankets? Finally, under which of the old tyrannical governments of Europe is every sixth man a slave, whom his fellow-creatures may buy and sell and torture?

Madam, I have been looking for a person who disliked gravy all my life; let us swear eternal friendship.

Praise is the best diet for us, after all.

He was a one-book man. Some men have only one book in them; others, a library.

You remember Thurlow's answer to some one complaining of the injustice of a company. "Why, you never expected justice from a company, did you? they have neither a soul to lose, nor a body to kick."

Married couples resemble a pair of scissors,
often moving in opposite directions,
yet punishing anyone who gets in between them

Whatever you are by nature, keep to it; never desert your line of talent. Be what nature intended you for, and you will succeed.

Take short views, hope for the best, and trust in God.

A comfortable house is a great source of happiness. It ranks immediately after health and a good conscience.