Sydney Smith
Sydney Smith
Sydney Smithwas an English wit, writer and Anglican cleric...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionClergyman
Date of Birth3 June 1771
greatest mistakes
It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little. Do what you can.
bread class common inspires pleasures prefer rich sight
All this class of pleasures inspires me with the same nausea as I feel at the sight of rich plum-cake or sweetmeats; I prefer the driest bread of common life.
desert intended line nature thousand whatever worse
Whatever you are from nature, keep to it; never desert your own line of talent. Be what nature intended you for, and you will succeed; be anything else, and you will be ten thousand times worse than nothing.
existence greatest happiness love loved
To love and be loved is the greatest happiness of existence
cute-love great happiness love loved sweet-love
To love and be loved is the great happiness of existence.
army views trust-in-god
Take short views, hope for the best and trust in God.
cold jump scramble stand thinking worth
To do anything in this world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in, and scramble through as well as we can.
man
I never read a book before previewing it; it prejudices a man so.
french men sexes women
As the French say, there are three sexes - men, women, and clergymen.
constantly human mankind object preaching remind supply
The object of preaching is to constantly remind mankind of what they keep forgetting; not to supply the intellect, but to fortify the feebleness of human resolutions.
invention
Correspondences are like small clothes before the invention of suspenders; it is impossible to keep them up.
chance half join minute others
Never talk for half a minute without pausing and giving others a chance to join in.
illusion
I have, alas, only one illusion left, and that is the Archbishop of Canterbury.
religion vice
What a pity it is that we have no amusements in England but vice and religion!