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It is a great pity but tis certain from every day's observation of man, that he may be set on fire like a candle, at either end provided there is a sufficient wick standing out.

Laurence Sterne

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Laurence Sterne
Age: 54 †
Born: 1713
Born: November 24
Died: 1768
Died: March 18
Autobiographer
Novelist
Religious
Writer
Men
Either
Like
Fire
Wick
Literature
Candle
Ends
Provided
Certain
Observation
May
Sufficient
Great
Pity
Every
Standing

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There is one sweet lenitive at least for evils, which nature holds out so I took it kindly at her hands, and fell asleep.
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A large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life, by him who interests his heart in everything.
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Did ever woman, since the creation of the world, interrupt a man with such a silly question?
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An actor should be able to create the universe in the palm of his hand.
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Tis no extravagant arithmetic to say, that for every ten jokes, thou hast got an hundred enemies and till thou hast gone on, and raised a swarm of wasps about thine ears, and art half stung to death by them, thou wilt never be convinced it is so.
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Learning is the dictionary, but sense the grammar of science.
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Upon looking back from the end of the last chapter and surveying the texture of what has been wrote, it is necessary, that upon this page and the five following, a good quantity of heterogeneous matter be inserted, to keep up that just balance betwixt wisdom and folly, without which a book would not hold together a single year.
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I once asked a hermit in Italy how he could venture to live alone, in a single cottage, on the top of a mountain, a mile from any habitation? He replied, that Providence was his next-door neighbor.
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Most of us are aware of and pretend to detest the barefaced instances of that hypocrisy by which men deceive others, but few of us are upon our guard or see that more fatal hypocrisy by which we deceive and over-reach our own hearts.
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...beauty, like truth, never is so glorious as when it goes the plainest.
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The best hearts are ever the bravest.
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A good simile,--as concise as a king's declaration of love.
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Nothing is so perfectly amusing as a total change of ideas.
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In all unmerciful actions, the worst of men pay this compliment at least to humanity, as to endeavour to wear as much of the appearance of it, as the case will well let them.
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Human nature is the same in all professions.
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To write a book is for all the world like humming a song—be but in tune with yourself, madam, 'tis no matter how high or how low you take it.
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Precedents are the disgrace of legislation. They are not wanted to justify right measures, are absolutely insufficient to excuse wrong ones. They can only be useful to heralds, dancing masters, and gentlemen ushers.
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There are few instances of the exercise of particular virtues which seem harder to attain to, or which appear more amiable and engaging in themselves, than those of moderation and the forgiveness of injuries.
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There is nothing so awkward as courting a woman whilst she is making sausages.
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The best friends in the world may differ sometimes.
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