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Quotes of the Day for 24 September 2003 - Horace Walpole

Horatio Walpole was born at London, England on this day in 1717, fourth son of the prime minister Robert Walpole. He was an indifferent student at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge and soon entered into the first of several government sinecures his father arranged for him. He served as a member of parliament for three different ridings, but showed little political ambition. He had two passions, writing and his "Strawberry Hill" home. He spent a quarter century adding gothic decoration to the house, and filled it with oddities from around the world, giving tours of the house for a fee while complaining about the invasion of his privacy. Along with several novels, he left behind a chest of memoirs totaling some three million words, mostly still unpublished, and over three thousand letters which Yale has now published in 48 volumes.

In all science error precedes the truth, and it is better it should go first than last.

The whole secret of life is to be interested in one thing profoundly and in a thousand things well.

This world is a comedy for those who think but a tragedy for those who feel.

The sure way of judging whether our first thoughts are judicious, is to sleep on them. If they appear of the same force the next morning as they did over night, and if good nature ratifies what good sense approves, we may be pretty sure we are in the right.

Poetry is a beautiful way of spoiling prose, and the laborious art of exchanging plain sense for harmony.

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he isn't. A sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is.
     - All from Horace Walpole, 1717 - 1797

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