William Shenstone
42 quotes
Biography
"The best time to frame an answer to the letters of a friend, is the moment you receive them. Then the warmth of friendship, and the intelligence received, most forcibly cooperate."
"Her cap, far whiter than the driven snow, Emblem right meet of decency does yield."
"Pun-provoking thyme."
"Love is a pleasing, but a various clime!"
"I trimm'd my lamp, consumed the midnight oil."
"For seldom shall she hear a tale So sad, so tender, yet so true."
"Whoe'er has travell'd life's dull round, Where'er his stages may have been, May sigh to think he still has found The warmest welcome, at an inn."
"She pleas'd while distant, but, when near, she charm'd."
"Theirs is the present who can praise the past."
"Let us be careful to distinguish modesty, which is ever amiable, from reserve, which is only prudent."
"A large, branching, aged oak, is perhaps the most venerable of all inanimate objects."
"A man of remarkable genius may afford to pass by a piece of wit, if it happens to border on abuse. A little genius is obliged to catch at every witticism indiscriminately."
"Laws are generally found to be nets of such a texture, as the little creep through, the great break through, and the middle size are alone entangled in."
"It is a miserable thing to love where one hates; and yet it is not inconsistent."
"Love can be founded upon nature only; or the appearance of it."
"Every good poet includes a critic; the reverse will not hold."
"Necessity may be the mother of lucrative invention, but it is the death of poetical invention."
"Zealous men are ever displaying to you the strength of their belief, while judicious men are shewing you the grounds of it."
"A fool and his words are soon parted; a man of genius and his money."
"Some men are called sagacious, merely on account of their avarice: whereas a child can clench its fist the moment it is born."
"There seem near as many people that want passion as want reason."
"Independency may be found in comparative, as well as absolute abundance: I mean when a person contracts his desires within the limits of his fortune."
"Second thoughts are oftentimes the very worst of all thoughts."
"The fund of sensible discourse is limited; that of jest and badinerie is infinite."
"Prudent men should lock up their motives, giving only their intimates a key."