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Sydney Smith
86 quotes
“When I hear any man talk of an unalterable law, the only effect it produces upon me is to convince me that he is an unalterable fool.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) first seen 1808 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Peter Plymley's Letters (1808), Letter IV
“But now persecution is good, because it exists; every law which originated in ignorance and malice, and gratifies the passions from whence it sprang, we call the wisdom of our ancestors: when such laws are repealed, they will be cruelty and madness; till they are repealed, they are policy and caution.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) first seen 1808 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Peter Plymley's Letters (1808), Letter V
“Manners are the shadows of virtues; the momentary display of those qualities which our fellow creatures love, and respect.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) first seen 1809 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sermon XII, Sermons (1809)
“In fact, when a nation has become free, it is extremely difficult to persuade them that their freedom is only to be preserved by perpetual and minute jealousy. They do not observe that there is a constant, perhaps an unconscious, effort on the part of their governors to diminish, and so ultimately to destroy, that freedom.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) first seen 1809 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Characters of Mr. Fox" (review of Characters of the late Charles James Fox, edited by Philopatris Varvicensis, 2 vols), in The Edinburgh Review (July 1809)
“It is true that every increase of knowledge may possibly render depravity more depraved, as well as it may increase the strength of virtue. It is in itself only power; and its value depends on its application.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) first seen 1808 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Female Education" (review of Thomas Broadhurst, Advice to Young Ladies on the Improvement of Mind, 1808), in The Edinburgh Review, No. 30 (January 1810), p. 314
“Great men hallow a whole people and lift up all who live in their time.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) first seen 1820 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ireland", published in The Edinburgh Review (1820)
“The object of preaching is, constantly to remind mankind of what mankind are constantly forgetting; not to supply the defects of human intelligence, but to fortify the feebleness of human resolutions.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) first seen 1824 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Judge That Smites Contrary to the Law: A Sermon Preached...March 28, 1824", in The Works of the Rev. Sydney Smith (1860) p. 428
“Magnificent spectacle of human happiness.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) first seen 1824 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: America", published in The Edinburgh Review (July 1824)
“Every rock in the ocean where a cormorant can perch is occupied by our troops — has a governor, deputy-governor, storekeeper, and deputy-storekeeper — and will soon have an archdeacon and a bishop. Military colleges, with thirty-four professors, educating seventeen ensigns per annum, being half an ensign for each professor, with every species of nonsense, athletic, sartorial, and plumigerous.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) first seen 1827 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Catholics", published in The Edinburgh Review (1827). See
“It is the 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.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) first seen 1827 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Catholics", published in The Edinburgh Review (1827). See
“Dean Swift's rule is as good for women as for men — never to talk above a half minute without pausing, and giving others an opportunity to strike in.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) first seen 1843 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Parisian Morals and Manners", published in The Edinburgh Review (1843)
“[M]en who prefer any load of infamy, however great, to any pressure of taxation, however light.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) first seen 1843 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Humble Petition of the Rev. Sydney Smith to the House of Congress at Washington" (May 18, 1843), in Letters on American Debts (London: Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans, 1843), p. 9
“I never read a book before reviewing it: it prejudices a man so.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reported in Bon-Mots of Sydney Smith and R. Brinsley Sheridan, edited by Walter Jerrold with grotesques by Aubrey Beardsley (London: J. M. Dent and Company, 1893), p. 24
“He not only overflowed with learning but stood in the slops.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Macaulay; reported in Hesketh Pearson, The Smith of Smiths (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1934), p. 180
“My idea of heaven is, eating pâté de foie gras to the sound of trumpets.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: View ascribed by Smith to his friend Henry Luttrell; reported in Hesketh Pearson, The Smith of Smiths (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1934), p. 236
“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.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Have the courage to be ignorant of a great number of things, in order to avoid the calamity of being ignorant of everything.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A great deal of talent is lost to the world for the want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves a number of obscure men who have only remained obscure because their timidity has prevented them from making a first effort.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Among the smaller duties of life I hardly know any one more important than that of not praising where praise is not due.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The truth is, that most men want knowledge, not for itself, but for the superiority which knowledge confers; and the means they employ to secure this superiority, are as wrong as the ultimate object, for no man can ever end with being superior, who will not begin with being inferior.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The fact is that in order to do any thing in this world worth doing, we must not stand shivering on the bank thinking of the cold and the danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It requires a surgical operation to get a joke well into a Scotch understanding.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That knuckle-end of England—that land of Calvin, oatcakes, and sulphur.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No one minds what Jeffrey says:[…] it is not more than a week ago that I heard him speak disrespectfully of the Equator.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We cultivate literature on a little oatmeal.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Truth is its [justice's] handmaid, freedom is its child, peace is its companion, safety walks in its steps, victory follows in its train; it is the brightest emanation from the Gospel; it is the greatest attribute of God.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Preaching has become a byword for long and dull conversation of any kind; and whoever wishes to imply, in any piece of writing, the absence of everything agreeable and inviting, calls it a sermon.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The English, generally remarkable for doing very good things in a very bad manner, seem to have reserved the maturity and plenitude of their awkwardness for the pulpit.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is always right that a man should be able to render a reason for the faith that is within him.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Avoid shame, but do not seek glory: nothing so expensive as glory.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Take short views, hope for the best, and trust in God.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The fox, when caught, is worth nothing: he is followed for the pleasure of following.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let every man be occupied, and occupied in the highest employment of which his nature is capable, and die with the consciousness that he has done his best.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She looked as if she had walked straight out of the ark.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Economy, in the estimation of common minds, often means the absence of all taste and comfort.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No furniture so charming as books.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Smiths never had any arms, and have invariably sealed their letters with their thumbs.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Madam, I have been looking for a person who disliked gravy all my life; let us swear eternal friendship.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How can a bishop marry? How can he flirt? The most he can say is, "I will see you in the vestry after service.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[He] has not body enough to cover his mind decently with; his intellect is improperly exposed.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have, alas, only one illusion left, and that is the Archbishop of Canterbury.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He has spent all his life in letting down empty buckets into empty wells; and he is frittering away his age in trying to draw them up again.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You find people ready enough to do the Samaritan, without the oil and twopence.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ah, you flavour everything; you are the vanilla of society.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My living in Yorkshire was so far out of the way, that it was actually twelve miles from a lemon.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As the French say, there are three sexes — men, women, and clergymen.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To take Macaulay out of literature and society and put him in the House of Commons, is like taking the chief physician out of London during a pestilence.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Praise is the best diet for us, after all.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Daniel Webster struck me much like a steam-engine in trousers.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source