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Sydney Smith

86 quotes

“Heat, ma'am!" I said; "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.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Live always in the best company when you read.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Never give way to melancholy; resist it steadily, for the habit will encroach.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He was a one-book man. Some men have only one book in them; others, a library.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Did you ever hear my definition of marriage? It is, that it resembles a pair of shears, so joined that they can not be separated; often moving in opposite directions, yet always punishing anyone who comes between them.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Macaulay is like a book in breeches...He has occasional flashes of silence, that make his conversation perfectly delightful.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let onion atoms lurk within the bowl And, scarce suspected, animate the whole.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Serenely full, the epicure would say, Fate cannot harm me, I have dined today.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You remember Thurlow's answer to some one complaining of the injustice of a company. "Why, you never expected justice from a company, did you? they have neither a soul to lose, nor a body to kick.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ah! what you don't know would make a great book.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In composing, as a general rule, run your pen through every other word you have written; you have no idea what vigour it will give your style.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea? how did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am old, but I certainly have not that sign of old age, extolling the past at the expense of the present.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We know nothing of tomorrow; our business is to be good and happy today.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you could be alarmed into the semblance of modesty, you would charm everybody; but remember my joke against you about the Moon and the Solar System;—"Damn the solar system! bad light — planets too distant — pestered with comets — feeble contriviance; — could make a better with great ease.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) first seen 1806 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Vol. II, letter to Lord Jeffrey (1806), p. 23
“I look upon Switzerland as an inferior sort of Scotland.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) first seen 1815 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Vol. II, letter to Lord Holland (1815), p. 126
“What would life be without arithmetic, but a scene of horrors?”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) first seen 1835 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Vol. II, letter to Miss Lucie Austin (22 July 1835), p. 364
“I have no relish for the country; it is a kind of healthy grave.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) first seen 1838 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Vol. II, letter to Miss Georgiana Harcourt (1838), p. 410
“Correspondences are like small clothes before the invention of suspenders; it is impossible to keep them up.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) first seen 1841 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Vol. II, letter to Catherine Crowe (31 January 1841), pp. 441–442
“A comfortable house is a great source of happiness. It ranks immediately after health and a good conscience.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) first seen 1843 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Vol. II, letter to Lord Murray (29 September 1843), p. 501
“I do not mean to be disrespectful, but the attempt of the Lords to stop the progress of reform reminds me very forcibly of the great storm at Sidmouth, and of the conduct of the excellent Mrs Partington on that occasion. In the winter of 1824 there set in a great flood upon that town — the tide rose to an incredible height — the waves rushed in upon the houses, and everything was threatened with destruction. In the midst of this sublime and terrible storm, Dame Partington, who lived upon the beach, was seen at the door of her house with mop and pattens, trundling her mop, squeezing out the sea-water, and vigorously pushing away the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic was roused; Mrs. Partington's spirit was up. But I need not tell you that the contest was unequal. The Atlantic Ocean beat Mrs. Partington.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) first seen 1813 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at Taunton (1813)
“We can inform Jonathan what are the inevitable consequences of being too fond of glory;—TAXES upon every article which enters into the mouth, or covers the back, or is placed under the foot—taxes upon every thing which it is pleasant to see, hear, feel, smell, or taste—taxes upon warmth, light, and locomotion—taxes on every thing on earth, and the waters under the earth—on every thing that comes from abroad, or is grown at home—taxes on the raw material—taxes on every fresh value that is added to it by the industry of man—taxes on the sauce which pampers man's appetite, and the drug that restores him to health—on the ermine which decorates the judge, and the rope which hangs the criminal—on the poor man's salt, and the rich man's spice—on the brass nails of the coffin, and the ribands of the bride—at bed or board, couchant or levant, we must pay:—The schoolboy whips his taxed top—the beardless youth manages his taxed horse, with a taxed bridle on a taxed road:—and the dying Englishman pouring his medicine, which has paid 7 per cent., into a spoon that has paid 15 per cent.—flings himself back upon his chintz-bed which has paid 22 per cent.—makes his will on an eight pound stamp, and expires in the arms of an apothecary who has paid a license of an hundred pounds for the privilege of putting him to death. His whole property is then immediately taxed from 2 to 10 per cent. Besides the probate, large fees are demanded for burying him in the chancel; his virtues are handed down to posterity on taxed marble; and he is then gathered to his fathers,—to be taxed no more.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) first seen 1820 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Review of Seybert's Annals of the United States", The Edinburgh Review (1820), pp. 77-78
“In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book? Or goes to an American play? or looks at an American picture or statue? What does the world yet owe to American physicians or surgeons? What new substances have their chemists discovered? Or what old ones have they advanced? What new constellations have been discovered by the telescopes of Americans? Who drinks out of American glasses? Or eats from American plates? Or wears American coats or gowns? or sleeps in American blankets? Finally, under which of the old tyrannical governments of Europe is every sixth man a slave, whom his fellow-creatures may buy and sell and torture?”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) first seen 1820 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Referring to the lack of established culture and the established institution of slavery in the United States, in "Review of Seybert's Annals of the United States", The Edinburgh Review (1820), pp. 79-80
“It is a very wise rule in the conduct of the understanding, to acquire early a correct notion of your own peculiar constitution of mind, and to become well acquainted, as a physician would say, with your idiosyncrasy. Are you an acute man, and see sharply for small distances? or are you a comprehensive man, and able to take in, wide and extensive views into your mind? Does your mind turn its ideas into wit? or are you apt to take a common-sense view of the objects presented to you? Have you an exuberant imagination, or a correct judgment? Are you quick, or slow? accurate, or hasty? a great reader, or a great thinker? It is a prodigious point gained if any man can find out where his powers lie, and what are his deficiencies, — if he can contrive to ascertain what Nature intended him for: and such are the changes and chances of the world, and so difficult is it to ascertain our own understandings, or those of others, that most things are done by persons who could have done something else better. If you choose to represent the various parts in life by holes upon a table, of different shapes, — some circular, some triangular, some square, some oblong, — and the persons acting these parts by bits of wood of similar shapes, we shall generally find that the triangular person has got into the square hole, the oblong into the triangular, and a square person has squeezed himself into the round hole. The officer and the office, the doer and the thing done, seldom fit so exactly, that we can say they were almost made for each other.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The history of the world shows us that men are not to be counted by their numbers, but by the fire and vigour of their passions; by their deep sense of injury; by their memory of past glory; by their eagerness for fresh fame; by their clear and steady resolution of ceasing to live, or of achieving a particular object, which, when it is once formed, strikes off a load of manacles and chains, and gives free space to all heavenly and heroic feelings. All great and extraordinary actions come from the heart. There are seasons in human affairs, when qualities fit enough to conduct the common business of life, are feeble and useless; and when men must trust to emotion, for that safety which reason at such times can never give. These are the feelings which led the ten thousand over the Carduchian mountans; these are the feelings by which a handful of Greeks broke in pieces the power of Persia: they have, by turns, humbled Austria, reduced Spain; and in the fens of the Dutch, and on the mountains of the Swiss, defended the happiness, and revenged the oppressions, of man! God calls all the passions out in their keenness and vigour, for the present safety of mankind. Anger, and revenge, and the heroic mind, and a readiness to suffer;— all the secret strength, all the invisible array, of the feelings,— all that nature has reserved for the great scenes of the world. For the usual hopes, and the common aids of man, are all gone! Kings have perished, armies are subdued, nations mouldered away! Nothing remains, under God, but those passions which have often proved the best ministers of His vengeance, and the surest protectors of the world.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) first seen 1804 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lecture XXVIL: On Habit - Part II, in “Elementary Sketches of Moral Philosophy”, delivered at The Royal Institution in the years 1804, 1805, and 1806 by the late Rev. Sydney Smith, M.A. (Spottiswoodes and Shaw (London: …
“Life is to be fortified by many friendships. To love, and to be loved, is the greatest happiness of existence. If I lived under the burning sun of the equator, it would be a pleasure to me to think that there were many human beings on the other side of the world who regarded and respected me; I could and would not live if I were alone upon the earth, and cut off from the remembrance of my fellow-creatures. It is not that a man has occasion often to fall back upon the kindness of his friends; perhaps he may never experience the necessity of doing so; but we are governed by our imaginations, and they stand there as a solid and impregnable bulwark against all the evils of life.”
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, oat-cakes, and sulphur.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest bartlett, Public domain 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 attribute of God.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Looked as if she had walked straight out of the ark.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Not body enough to cover his mind decently with; his intellect is improperly exposed.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Serenely full, the epicure would say, Fate cannot harm me,--I have dined to-day.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“If you choose to represent the various parts in life by holes upon a table, of different shapes,--some circular, some triangular, some square, some oblong,--and the persons acting these parts by bits of wood of similar shapes, we shall generally find that the triangular person has got into the square hole, the oblong into the triangular, and a square person has squeezed himself into the round hole. The officer and the office, the doer and the thing done, seldom fit so exactly that we can say they were almost made for each other.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“The schoolboy whips his taxed top; the beardless youth manages his taxed horse with a taxed bridle on a taxed road; and the dying Englishman, pouring his medicine, which has paid seven per cent, into a spoon that has paid fifteen per cent, flings himself back upon his chintz bed which has paid twenty-two per cent, and expires in the arms of an apothecary who has paid a license of a hundred pounds for the privilege of putting him to death.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book, or goes to an American play, or looks at an American picture or statue?”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“In the midst of this sublime and terrible storm [at Sidmouth], Dame Partington, who lived upon the beach, was seen at the door of her house with mop and pattens, trundling her mop, squeezing out the sea-water, and vigorously pushing away the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic was roused; Mrs. Partington's spirit was up. But I need not tell you that the contest was unequal; the Atlantic Ocean beat Mrs. Partington.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Men who prefer any load of infamy, however great, to any pressure of taxation, however light.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source