Quotes by Sydney Smith

Sydney Smith

Sydney Smith

English writer and cleric

Lived from: 1856 - 1934

Category: Writers (Contemporary)

Born: 11 april 1856 Died: 21 february 1934

Quotes 1 till 20 of 38.

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  • All this class of pleasures inspires me with the same nausea as I feel at the sight of rich plum-cake or sweetmeats; I prefer the driest bread of common life.
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  • Correspondences are like small clothes before the invention of suspenders; it is impossible to keep them up.
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  • Heat, ma am! It was so dreadful here that I found there was nothing left for it but to take off my flesh and sit in my bones.
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  • His enemies might have said before that he talked rather too much; but now he has occasional flashes of silence, that make his conversation perfectly delightful.
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  • A comfortable house is a great source of happiness. It ranks immediately after health and a good conscience.
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  • A great deal of talent is lost in the world for want of courage.
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  • A nation grown free in a single day is a child born with the limbs and the vigor of a man, who would take a drawn sword for his rattle, and set the house in a blaze that he might chuckle over the splendor.
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  • Among the smaller duties of life I hardly know any one more important than that of not praising where praise is not due.
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  • Avoid shame but do not seek glory - nothing so expensive as glory.
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  • Bishop Berkeley destroyed this world in one volume octavo; and nothing remained, after his time, but mind; which experienced a similar fate from the hand of Mr. Hume in 1737.
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  • Find fault when you must find fault in private, and if possible sometime after the offense, rather than at the time.
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  • Great men hallow a whole people, and lift up all who live in their time.
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  • Have the courage to be ignorant of a great number of things, in order to avoid the calamity of being ignorant of everything.
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  • He had occasional flashes of silence that made his conversation perfectly delightful.
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  • How can a bishop marry? How can he flirt? The most he can say is ''I will see you in the vestry after service.''
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  • I have, alas, only one illusion left, and that is the Archbishop of Canterbury.
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  • I never read a book before reviewing it; it prejudices a man so.
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  • It is always right that a man should be able to render a reason for the faith that is within him.
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  • It is safest to be moderately base - to be flexible in shame, and to be always ready for what is generous, good and just, when anything is to be gained by virtue.
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  • It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can do only a little. Do what you can.
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Questions and Answers

What are the most famous quotes from Sydney Smith?

The two most famous quotes from Sydney Smith are:

  • "All this class of pleasures inspires me with the same nausea as I feel at the sight of rich plum-cake or sweetmeats; I prefer the driest bread of common life."
  • "Correspondences are like small clothes before the invention of suspenders; it is impossible to keep them up."

When did Sydney Smith live?

Sydney Smith was born in 1856 and died in the year 1934.