Sydney Smith
Sydney Smith
Sydney Smithwas an English wit, writer and Anglican cleric...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionClergyman
Date of Birth3 June 1771
children men water
He who drinks a tumbler of London water has literally in his stomach more animated beings than there are men, women, and children on the face of the globe.
loyalty imagination people
People who love only once in their lives are shallow people. What they call their loyalty, and their fidelity, I call either the lethargy of custom, or their lack of imagination
faults offense ifs
Find fault when you must find fault in private, and if possible sometime after the offense, rather than at the time.
important praise duty
Among the smaller duties of life I hardly know any one more important than that of not praising where praise is not due.
love respect quality
Manners are like the shadows of virtues, they are the momentary display of those qualities which our fellow creatures love and respect.
beauty running trying
Do not try to push your way through to the front ranks of your profession; do not run after distinctions and rewards; but do your utmost to find an entry into the world of beauty.
scotland looks switzerland
I look upon Switzerland as an inferior sort of Scotland.
giving way melancholy
Never give way to melancholy; resist it steadily, for the habit will encroach.
mistake errors alliances
Errors, to be dangerous, must have a great deal of truth mingled with them. It is only from this alliance that they can ever obtain an extensive circulation.
together done dean
Let the Dean and Canons lay their heads together and the thing will be done.
sarcastic
He not only overflowed with learning, but stood in the slop.
reputation shame glory
Avoid shame, but do not seek glory; nothing so expensive as glory.
believe facts canning
Oh, don't tell me of facts, I never believe facts; you know, [George] Canning said nothing was so fallacious as facts, except figures.
hate science ease
[T]he 47th proposition in Euclid might now be voted down with as much ease as any proposition in politics; and therefore if Lord Hawkesbury hates the abstract truths of science as much as he hates concrete truth in human affairs, now is his time for getting rid of the multiplication table, and passing a vote of censure upon the pretensions of the hypotenuse.