Сидней Смит цитаты

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„Сегодня вечером помолюсь за вас, но на особый успех, признаться, не рассчитываю.“

„Из того, чего вы не знаете, получилась бы грандиозная книга.“

„Всякий закон, замешанный на невежестве и злобе и потворствующий низменным страстям, мы называем мудростью наших предков.“

„Чтобы сделать в мире что-нибудь достойное, нельзя стоять на берегу, дрожа и думая о холодной воде и опасностях, подстерегающих пловцов. Надо прыгать в воду и выплывать как получится.“

„Нет более очаровательной мебели, чем книги.“

„Если вы сочтете меня глупцом на том основании, что я беспечен, то и я, в свою очередь, обязуюсь не считать вас умным только потому, что у вас серьезный вид.“

„В основе всех наиболее значительных изменений лежит компромисс.“

„Превознесение прошлого за счёт настоящего — первый признак старости.“

„Выгоднее всего быть низким человеком, способным на широкий жест.“

„Какая жалость, что в Англии нет иных развлечений, кроме греха и религии.“

„Острослова все хвалят за удовольствие, которое он доставляет, но редко уважают за те качества, которыми он наделён.“

„За исключением цифр, нет ничего более обманчивого, чем факты.“

„Когда творишь, вычёркивай каждое второе слово, стиль от этой операции только выиграет.“

„Найдётся немного людей, для которых ненависть хуже насмешки.“

“It is always right that a man should be able to render a reason for the faith that is within him.”

“Among the smaller duties of life I hardly know any one more important than that of not praising where praise is not due.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“"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."”

“Magnificent spectacle of human happiness.”

“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.”

“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."”

“Looked as if she had walked straight out of the ark.”

“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."”

“That knuckle-end of England—that land of Calvin, oatcakes, and sulphur.”

“Life is to be fortified by many friendships. To love, and to be loved, is the greatest happiness of existence.”

“Praise is the best diet for us, after all.”

“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.”

“Macaulay is like a book in breeches…He has occasional flashes of silence, that make his conversation perfectly delightful.”

“Marriage 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.”

“Manners are the shadows of virtues; the momentary display of those qualities which our fellow creatures love, and respect.”

“Have the courage to be ignorant of a great number of things, in order to avoid the calamity of being ignorant of everything.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Let onion atoms lurk within the bowl
And, scarce suspected, animate the whole.”

“No one minds what Jeffrey says:… it is not more than a week ago that I heard him speak disrespectfully of the equator.”

“Men who prefer any load of infamy, however great, to any pressure of taxation, however light.”

“As the French say, there are three sexes, — men, women, and clergymen.”

“Great men hallow a whole people and lift up all who live in their time.”

“Not body enough to cover his mind decently with; his intellect is improperly exposed.”