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When he said we were trying to make a fool out of him, I could only say that the Creator had beat us to it. Ilka Chase		Thursday May 07, 2026
		Quotes: 53419 Authors: 9969

About Laurence Sterne

Laurence Sterne

Laurence Sterne

Laurence Sterne (November 24, 1713 - March 18, 1768) was an Irish-born English novelist and an Anglican clergyman. He is best known for his novels The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman , and A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy ; but he also published sermons, wrote memoirs, and was involved in local politics. Sterne died in London after years of fighting tuberculosis.

Popular Laurence Sterne Quotes

Positiveness is a most absurd foible. If you are in the right, it lessens your triumph; if in the wrong, it adds shame to your defeat.

Go, poor devil, get thee gone! Why should I hurt thee? This world surely is wide enough to hold both thee and me.

The sad vicissitude of things.

Trust that man in nothing who has not a conscience in everything.

God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb.

'Our armies swore terribly in Flanders,' cried my Uncle Toby, 'but nothing to this.'

'Disguise thyself as thou wilt, still, Slavery,' said I, 'still thou art a bitter draught.'

I am sick as a horse.

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.

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

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

Great wits jump.

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!

'They order,' said I, 'this matter better in France.'

I pity the man who can travel from Dan to Beersheba and cry, 'Tis all barren!'

The accusing spirit, which flew up to heaven's chancery with the oath, blushed as he gave it in; and the recording angel as he wrote it down dropped a tear upon the word and blotted it out forever.

Algebra is the metaphysics of arithmetic.

There is no disputing about taste.

You forget the great Lipsius, quoth Yorick, who composed a work the day he was born - They should have wiped it up, said my uncle Toby, and said no more about it.

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

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.

The nonsense of the old women (Of both sexes).

A man should know something of his own country, too, before he goes abroad.

Said my mother, 'What is all this story about?' 'A Cock and a Bull', said Yorick.

Solitude is the best nurse of wisdom.

People who are always taking care of their health are like misers, who are hoarding a treasure which they have never spirit enough to enjoy.

Pain and pleasure, like light and darkness, succeed each other.

Learning is the dictionary, but sense the grammar of science

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

And of obstinacy in a bad one.

A man who values a good night's rest will not lie down with enmity in his heart, if he can help it.

So that when I stretched out my hand, I caught hold of the fille de chambre's.

The excellency of this text is that it will suit any sermon - and of this sermon - that it will suit any text.

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