Laurence Sterne

“Of all the cants which are canted in this canting world, tho' the cant of hypocrites may be the worst, the cant of criticism is the most tormenting.”

“Only the brave know how to forgive. ... A coward never forgave; it is not in his nature.”

“God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb.”

“Philosophy has a fine saying for everything - for Death it has an entire set.”

“Writing, when properly managed (as you may be sure I think mine is) is but a different name for conversation.”

“What a large volume of adventures may be grasped within the span of his little life by him who interests his heart in everything.”

“If death, said my father, reasoning with himself, is nothing but the separation of the soul from the body;--and if it is true that people can walk about and do their business without brains,...”

“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.”

“I have undertaken, you see, to write not only my life, but my opinions also; hoping and expecting that your knowledge of my character, and of what kind of a mortal I am, by the one, would gi...”

“Digressions, incontestably, are the sunshine, the life, the soul of reading! Take them out and one cold eternal winter would reign in every page. Restore them to the writer - he steps forth...”

“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.”

“Digressions, incontestably, are the sunshine; they are the life, the soul of reading! - take them out of this book, for instance, - you might as well take the book along with them”

“The most accomplished way of using books is to serve them as some people do lords; learn their titles and then brag of their acquaintance.”

“The desire of knowledge, like the thirst of riches, increases ever with the acquisition of it.”

“Courtship consists in a number of quiet attentions, not so pointed as to alarm, nor so vague as not to be understood.”

“'Tis known by the name of perseverance in a good cause, and of obstinacy in a bad one.”

“When a man is discontented with himself, it has one advantage - that it puts him into an excellent frame of mind for making a bargain.”

“Titles of honor are like the impressions on coins, which add no value to gold or silver, but only render brass current.”

“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!”

“There have been no sects in the Christian world, however absurd, which have not endeavoured to support their opinions by arguments drawn from Scripture.”