Sydney Smith
Sydney Smith
Sydney Smithwas an English wit, writer and Anglican cleric...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionClergyman
Date of Birth3 June 1771
cannot dined fate harm today
Serenely full, the epicure would say, Fate cannot harm me, I have dined today
fool fools-and-foolishness law man talks
The man who talks of an unalterable law is probably an unalterable fool
courage deal great lost talent
A great deal of talent is lost in the world for want of courage.
blaze born child chuckle drawn free grown house limbs might nation revolutions-and-revolutionaries single sword vigor
A nation grown free in a single day is a child born with the limbs and the vigor of a man, who would take a drawn sword for his rattle, and set the house in a blaze that he might chuckle over the splendor.
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.
army views trust-in-god
Take short views, hope for the best and trust in God.
again age-and-aging capital close cured daily expecting left meet nervous nights pains past shall
It is a bore, I admit, to be past seventy, for you are left for execution, and are daily expecting the death-warrant; but it is not anything very capital we quit. We are, at the close of life, only hurried away from stomach-aches, pains in the joints, from sleepless nights and unamusing days, from weakness, ugliness, and nervous tremors; but we shall all meet again in another planet, cured of all our defects.
false honor human man natural obscurity patience praise spite sweet wish
It is natural to every man to wish for distinction, and the praise of those who can confer honor by their praise, in spite of all false philosophy, is sweet to every human heart; but as eminence can be but the lot of a few, patience of obscurity is a
Poverty us no disgrace to a man, but it is confoundedly inconvenient.
cannot joined pair punishing resembles
It resembles a pair of shears, so joined that they cannot be separated, often moving in opposite directions, yet always punishing anyone who comes between them.