Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding
Henry Fieldingwas an English novelist and dramatist best known for his rich, earthy humour and satirical prowess, and as the author of the novel Tom Jones. Additionally, he holds a significant place in the history of law enforcement, having used his authority as a magistrate to foundwhat some have called London's first police force, the Bow Street Runners. His younger sister, Sarah, also became a successful writer...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth22 April 1707
Henry Fielding quotes about
reality cold violent
He that dies before sixty, of a cold or consumption, dies, in reality, by a violent death.
character vanity order
Affectation proceeds from one of these two causes,--vanity or hypocrisy; for as vanity puts us on affecting false characters, in order to purchase applause; so hypocrisy sets us on an endeavor to avoid censure, by concealing our vices under an appearance of their opposite virtues.
faults vices ridiculous
Great vices are the proper objects of our detestation, smaller faults of our pity, but affectation appears to be the only true source of the ridiculous.
eye nine lasts
A wonder lasts but nine days, and then the puppy's eyes are open.
heart men two
There are two considerations which always imbitter the heart of an avaricious man--the one is a perpetual thirst after more riches, the other the prospect of leaving what he has already acquired.
sex men
A beau is everything of a woman but the sex, and nothing of a man beside it.
men example world
As it often happens that the best men are but little known, and consequently cannot extend the usefulness of their examples a great way, the biographer is of great utility, as, by communicating such valuable patterns to the world, he may perhaps do a more extensive service to mankind than the person whose life originally afforded the pattern.
writing sides ridiculous
What caricature is in painting, burlesque is in writing; and in the same manner the comic writer and painter correlate to each other; as in the former, the painter seems to have the advantage, so it is in the latter infinitely on the side of the writer. For the monstrous is much easier to paint than describe, and the ridiculous to describe than paint.
men judging benches
Conscience is a judge in every man's breast, which none can cheat or corrupt, and perhaps the only incorrupt thing about him; yet, inflexible and honest as this judge is (however polluted the bench on which he sits), no man can, in my opinion, enjoy any applause which is not there adjudged to be his due.
wit good-humor
Good-humor will even go so far as often to supply the lack of wit.
love quality may
Beauty may be the object of liking--great qualities of admiration--good ones of esteem--but love only is the object of love.
jealousy blood gout
It is with jealousy as with the gout. When such distempers are in the blood, there is never any security against their breaking out, and that often on the slightest occasions, and when least suspected.
men numbers design
The man who is wantonly profuse of his promises ought to sink his credit as much as a tradesman would by uttering a great number of promissory notes payable at a distant day. The truest conclusion in both cases is, that neither intend or will be able to pay. And as the latter most probably intends to cheat you of your money, so the former at least designs to cheat you of your thanks.
doe charity may
Though we may sometimes unintentionally bestow our beneficence on the unworthy, it does not take from the merit of the act. For charity doth not adopt the vices of its objects.