Laurence Sterne
Laurence Sterne
Laurence Sternewas an Irish novelist and an Anglican clergyman. He wrote the novels The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman and A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy, and also published many sermons, wrote memoirs, and was involved in local politics. Sterne died in London after years of fighting consumption...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth24 November 1713
CountryIreland
sweet sleep hands
There is one sweet lenitive at least for evils, which nature holds out; so I took it kindly at her hands, and fell asleep.
sleep exercise thinking
There are many ways of inducing sleep--the thinking of purling rills, or waving woods; reckoning of numbers; droppings from a wet sponge fixed over a brass pan, etc. But temperance and exercise answer much better than any of these succedaneums.
cutting weapons scandal
So fruitful is slander in variety of expedients to satiate as well as disguise itself. But if these smoother weapons cut so sore, what shall we say of open and unblushing scandal, subjected to no caution, tied down to no restraints?
honesty integrity men
How frequently is the honesty and integrity of a man disposed of by a smile or shrug! How many good and generous actions have been sunk into oblivion by a distrustful look, or stamped With the imputation of proceeding from bad motives, by a mysterious and seasonable whisper!
wisdom science intelligence
Sciences may be learned by rote, but wisdom not.
inward influence sincerity
An inward sincerity will of course influence the outward deportment; but where the one is wanting, there is great reason to suspect the absence of the other.
pride men done
If a man has a right to be proud of anything, it is of a good action done as it ought to be, without any base interest lurking at the bottom of it.
country men should
A man should know something of his own country too, before he goes abroad.
mean passion action
If ever I do a mean action, it must be in some interval betwixt one passion and another.
horse sick
I am sick as a horse.
now-or-never
Now or never was the time.
adversity comfort may
The most affluent may be stripped of all, and find his worldly comforts, like so many withered leaves, dropping from him.
daughter son vanity
Vanity bids all her sons be brave, and all her daughters chaste and courteous.
men ill-health evil
I live in a constant endeavor to fence against the infirmities of ill health, and other evils of life, by mirth; being firmly persuaded that every time a man smiles, but much more when he laughs, it adds some thing to his fragment of life.