WIST Quotations

Smith, Sydney -- “Ireland,” The Edinburgh Review (1820-11)

Dave — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 10:20:05 +0000

Great men hallow a whole people and lift up all who live in their time.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
“Ireland,” The Edinburgh Review (1820-11)
(Source)

Review of Whitewlaw's History off the City of Dublin,, Curwein's Observations on the State of Ireland (1818), and Gamble's Views of Society in Ireland.

Speaking of his friend, Henry Grattan.

Smith, Sydney -- (Attributed)

Dave — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 10:32:08 +0000

What a pity it is that we have no amusements in England but vice and religion!

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
(Attributed)
(Source)

In Hesketh Pearson, The Smith of Smiths, ch. 10 (1934).

Smith, Sydney -- (Attributed)

Dave — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:36:52 +0000

My idea of heaven is eating pâté de foie gras to the sound of trumpets.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
(Attributed)
(Source)

In Hesketh Pearson, The Smith of Smiths, ch. 10 (1934).

Smith, Sydney -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 17:10:14 +0000

Never try to reason the prejudice out of a man. It was not reasoned into him and cannot be reasoned out.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
(Attributed)

Variant: "Never try to reason the prejudice out of a man. It was never reasoned into him and it never can be reasoned out of him."

Widely attributed to Smith, but not found in his works. On occasion cited to his Elementary Sketches of Moral Philosophy, but not found there. Most likely a variation or misattribution of this Jonathan Swift quotation. See also Beecher (1823).

Smith, Sydney -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 21:59:23 +0000

The observances of the Church concerning feasts and fasts are tolerably well kept upon the whole, since the rich keep the feasts and the poor the fasts.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
(Attributed)
(Source)

In Hesketh Pearson, The Smith of Smiths, ch. 10 (1934).

Smith, Sydney -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 27 Aug 2024 17:07:22 +0000

Benevolence is a natural instinct of the human mind. When A sees B in grievous distress, his conscience always urges him to entreat C to help him.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
(Attributed)
(Source)

In Hesketh Pearson, The Smith of Smiths, ch. 10 (1934).

Smith, Sydney -- Edinburgh Review, No. 65, Article 3 (1820-01)

Dave — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 22:30:33 +0000

In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book? Or goes to an American play? or looks at an American picture or statue? What does the world yet owe to American physicians or surgeons? What new substances have their chemists discovered? Or what old ones have they advanced? What new constellations have been discovered by the telescopes of Americans? Who drinks out of American glasses? Or eats from American plates? Or wears American coats or gowns? or sleeps in American blankets? Finally, under which of the old tyrannical governments of Europe is every sixth man a slave, whom his fellow-creatures may buy and sell and torture?

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Edinburgh Review, No. 65, Article 3 (1820-01)
(Source)

Review of Adam Seybert, Statistical Annals of the United States of America (1818).

Smith, Sydney -- Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 3 (1855)

Dave — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 10:34:35 +0000

Preaching has become a bye-word for long and dull conversation of any kind; and whoever wishes to imply, in any piece of writing, the absence of everything agreeable and inviting, calls it a sermon.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 3 (1855)
(Source)

Smith, Sydney -- Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 3 (1855)

Dave — Tue, 03 Dec 2024 20:59:28 +0000

To this cause of the unpopularity of sermons may be added the extremely ungraceful manner in which they are delivered. The English, generally remarkable for doing very good things in a very bad manner, seem to have reserved the maturity and plenitude of their awkwardness for the pulpit.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 3 (1855)
(Source)

Smith, Sydney -- Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 3 (1855)

Dave — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 20:30:41 +0000

It is always right that a man should be able to render a reason for the faith that is within him.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 3 (1855)
(Source)

Smith, Sydney -- Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 4 (1855)

Dave — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 10:39:18 +0000

Avoid shame but do not seek glory — nothing so expensive as glory.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 4 (1855)
(Source)

Noted as his "favorite motto."

Smith, Sydney -- Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 6 (1855)

Dave — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 13:22:20 +0000

I am for frank explanations with friends in cases of affronts. They sometimes save a perishing friendship, and even place it on a firmer basis than at first; but secret discontent must always end badly.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 6 (1855)
(Source)

Smith, Sydney -- Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 6 (1855)

Dave — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 19:32:26 +0000

Life is to be fortified by many friendships. To love, and to be loved, is the greatest happiness of existence. If I lived under the burning sun of the equator, it would be a pleasure to me to think that there were many human beings on the other side of the world who regarded and respected me; I could and would not live if I were alone upon the earth, and cut off from the remembrance of my fellow-creatures. It is not that a man has occasion often to fall back upon the kindness of his friends; perhaps he may never experience the necessity of doing so; but we are governed by our imaginations, and they stand there as a solid and impregnable bulwark against all the evils of life.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 6 (1855)
(Source)

Smith, Sydney -- Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 9 (1855)

Dave — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 10:35:09 +0000

Ah, you flavour everything; you are the vanille of society.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 9 (1855)
(Source)

Smith, Sydney -- Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 9 (1855)

Dave — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 09:58:51 +0000

Moralists tell you of the evils of wealth and station, and the happiness of poverty. I have been very poor the greatest part of my life, and have borne it as well, I believe, as most people, but I can safely say that I have been happier every guinea I have gained.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 9 (1855)
(Source)

Smith, Sydney -- Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 9 (1855)

Dave — Thu, 02 Nov 2017 18:35:53 +0000

No furniture so charming as books, even if you never open them or read a single word.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 9 (1855)
(Source)

See also Beecher.

Smith, Sydney -- Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 10 (1855)

Dave — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:47:26 +0000

Live always in the best company when you read.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 10 (1855)
(Source)

Smith, Sydney -- Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 10 (1855)

Dave — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 15:18:54 +0000

Never give way to melancholy; resist it steadily, for the habit will encroach.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 10 (1855)
(Source)

In chapter 11 is a parallel quotation from Smith: "Never give way to melancholy: nothing encroaches more; I fight against it vigorously."

But Lady Holland observes that in Smith's notebook he also wrote, "I wish I were of a more sanguine temperament; I always anticipate the worst."

Smith, Sydney -- Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 11 (1855)

Dave — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:10:31 +0000

He was a one-book man. Some men have only one book in them; others, a library.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 11 (1855)
(Source)

Smith, Sydney -- Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 11 (1855)

Dave — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:57:45 +0000

I am old, but I certainly have not that sign of old-age, extolling the past at the expense of the present.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 11 (1855)
(Source)

Smith, Sydney -- Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 11 (1855)

Dave — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:52:49 +0000

In composing, as a general rule, run your pen through every other word you have written; you have no idea what vigor it will give your style.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 11 (1855)
(Source)

Smith, Sydney -- Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 11 (1855)

Dave — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:31:42 +0000

Did you ever hear my definition of marriage? It is, that 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.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 11 (1855)
(Source)

Smith, Sydney -- Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 11 (1855)

Dave — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:58:58 +0000

Serenely full, the epicure would say,
Fate cannot harm me, I have dined to-day.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 11 (1855)
(Source)

At the end of a recipe for highly praised potato salad dressing.

Smith, Sydney -- Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 11 (1855)

Dave — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 22:31:06 +0000

Are you happy now? Are you likely to remain so till this evening? or next week? or next month? or next year? Then why destroy present happiness by a distant misery, which may never come at all, or you may never live to see it? for ever substantial grief has twenty shadows, and most of them shadows of your own making.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 11 (1855)
(Source)

Advice for fighting melancholy / depression / anxiety by "taking short views of life" and not borrowing trouble.

Smith, Sydney -- Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 12 (1855)

Dave — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 14:44:11 +0000

We know nothing of tomorrow; our business is to be good and happy today.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 12 (1855)
(Source)

Smith, Sydney -- Sydney Smith: His Wit and Wisdom (1900) [ed. J. Potter Briscoe]

Dave — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 10:17:29 +0000

Poverty, sir, is no disgrace to a man, but it is confoundedly inconvenient.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Sydney Smith: His Wit and Wisdom (1900) [ed. J. Potter Briscoe]
(Source)

In the Edinburgh Review (1855-07) coverage of Lady Holland's A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith (1855), the reviewer notes that Smith himself attributed this phrase to "a fellow-passenger in a stage coach."

Smith, Sydney -- The Letters of Peter Plymley, Letter 2 (1807)

Dave — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:54:19 +0000

The moment the very name of Ireland is mentioned, the English seem to bid adieu to common feeling, common prudence, and common sense, and to act with the barbarity of tyrants, and the fatuity of idiots.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
The Letters of Peter Plymley, Letter 2 (1807)
(Source)

Smith, Sydney -- The Letters of Peter Plymley, Letter 5 (1807)

Dave — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 22:13:25 +0000

But now persecution is good, because it exists; every law which originated in ignorance and malice, and gratifies the passions from whence it sprang, we call the wisdom of our ancestors: when such laws are repealed, they will be cruelty and madness; till they are repealed, they are policy and caution.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
The Letters of Peter Plymley, Letter 5 (1807)
(Source)

Smith, Sydney -- Essay (1810-01), “Female Education,” Edinburgh Review No. 30, Art. 3

Dave — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 23:21:16 +0000

It is true, that every increase of knowledge may possibly render depravity more depraved, as well as it may increase the strength of virtue. It is in itself only power; and its value depends on its application.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Essay (1810-01), “Female Education,” Edinburgh Review No. 30, Art. 3
(Source)

Review of Thomas Broadhurst, Advice to Young Ladies on the Improvement of the Mind (1808).

Smith, Sydney -- Essay (1843-07), “Parisian Morals and Manners,” Edinburgh Review No. 157, Art. 5

Dave — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 15:07:55 +0000

Dean Swift’s rule is as good for women as for men — never to talk above a half minute without pausing, and giving others an opportunity to strike in.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Essay (1843-07), “Parisian Morals and Manners,” Edinburgh Review No. 157, Art. 5
(Source)

See Swift.

Smith, Sydney -- Lecture (1804-1806), Moral Philosophy, No. 9 “On the Conduct of the Understanding,” Royal Institution, London

Dave — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 20:14:25 +0000

A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves obscure men whose timidity prevented them from making a first effort.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Lecture (1804-1806), Moral Philosophy, No. 9 “On the Conduct of the Understanding,” Royal Institution, London
(Source)

Collected in Elementary Sketches of Moral Philosophy (1849).

Smith, Sydney -- Lecture (1804-1806), Moral Philosophy, No. 9 “On the Conduct of the Understanding,” Royal Institution, London

Dave — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 10:14:44 +0000

Among the smaller duties of life I hardly know any one more important than that of not praising where praise is not due.

Smith, Sydney -- Lecture (1804-1806), Moral Philosophy, No. 9 “On the Conduct of the Understanding,” Royal Institution, London

Dave — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 16:49:36 +0000

If you choose to represent the various parts in life by holes upon a table, of different shapes, — some circular, some triangular, some square, some oblong, — and the persons acting these parts by bits of wood of similar shapes, we shall generally find that the triangular person has got into the square hole, the oblong into the triangular, and a square person has squeezed himself into the round hole. The officer and the office, the doer and the thing done, seldom fit so exactly, that we can say they were almost made for each other.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Lecture (1804-1806), Moral Philosophy, No. 9 “On the Conduct of the Understanding,” Royal Institution, London
(Source)

This is the origin of of the phrase "a square peg in a round hole."

Smith, Sydney -- Lecture (1804-1806), Moral Philosophy, No. 9 “On the Conduct of the Understanding,” Royal Institution, London

Dave — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 22:20:14 +0000

The fact is that in order to do any thing in this world worth doing, we must not stand shivering on the bank thinking of the cold and the danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.

Smith, Sydney -- Lecture (1804-1806), Moral Philosophy, No. 9 “On the Conduct of the Understanding,” Royal Institution, London

Dave — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 17:13:36 +0000

It is a very wise rule in the conduct of the understanding, to acquire early a correct notion of your own peculiar constitution of mind, and to become well acquainted, as a physician would say, with your idiosyncrasy. Are you an acute man, and see sharply for small distances? or are you a comprehensive man, and able to take in, wide and extensive views into your mind? Does your mind turn its ideas into wit? or are you apt to take a common-sense view of the objects presented to you? Have you an exuberant imagination, or a correct judgment? Are you quick, or slow? accurate, or hasty? a great reader, or a great thinker? It is a prodigious point gained if any man can find out where his powers lie, and what are his deficiencies, — if he can contrive to ascertain what Nature intended him for.

Smith, Sydney -- Lecture (1804-1806), Moral Philosophy, No. 19 “On the Conduct of the Understanding, Part 2” Royal Institution, London

Dave — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 09:50:31 +0000

It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little. Do what you can.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Lecture (1804-1806), Moral Philosophy, No. 19 “On the Conduct of the Understanding, Part 2” Royal Institution, London
(Source)

Collected in Elementary Sketches of Moral Philosophy (1849).

Smith, Sydney -- Lecture (1804-1806), Moral Philosophy, No. 27 “On Habit, Part 2,” Royal Institution, London

Dave — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 15:56:05 +0000

The history of the world shows us that men are not to be counted by their numbers, but by the fire and vigour of their passions; by their deep sense of injury; by their memory of past glory; by their eagerness for fresh fame; by their clear and steady resolution of ceasing to live, or of achieving a particular object, which, when it is once formed, strikes off a load of manacles and chains, and gives free space to all heavenly and heroic feelings. All great and extraordinary actions come from the heart.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Lecture (1804-1806), Moral Philosophy, No. 27 “On Habit, Part 2,” Royal Institution, London
(Source)

Collected in his Elementary Sketches of Moral Philosophy (1849).

Quoted by Theodore Roosevelt in his speech (1901-09-05), "Brotherhood and the Heroic Virtues," Grand Army of the Republic Veterans Reunion, Burlington, Vermont, collected in Roosevelt's The Strenuous LIfe (1902).

Smith, Sydney -- Lecture (1804-1806), Moral Philosophy, No. 27 “On Habit, Part 2” Royal Institution, London

Dave — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 20:39:53 +0000

There are seasons in human affairs, when qualities fit enough to conduct the common business of life, are feeble and useless; and when men must trust to emotion, for that safety which reason at such times can never give.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Lecture (1804-1806), Moral Philosophy, No. 27 “On Habit, Part 2” Royal Institution, London
(Source)

Collected in Elementary Sketches of Moral Philosophy (1849).

Quoted by Theodore Roosevelt in his speech (1901-09-05), "Brotherhood and the Heroic Virtues," Grand Army of the Republic Veterans Reunion, Burlington, Vermont, collected in Roosevelt's The Strenuous Life (1902).

Smith, Sydney -- Letter (1842-09-13) to Lady Holland

Dave — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:00:58 +0000

It is a bore, I admit, to be past seventy, for you are left for execution, and are daily expecting the death-warrant; but, as you say, 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.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Letter (1842-09-13) to Lady Holland
(Source)

Smith, Sydney -- Letter (1843-09-29) to Lord Murray

Dave — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:23:57 +0000

A comfortable house is a great source of happiness. It ranks immediately after health and a good conscience.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Letter (1843-09-29) to Lord Murray
(Source)

Smith, Sydney -- Sermon (1809 pub.), “On the Judgments We Form of Others”

Dave — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:46:12 +0000

Manners are the shadows of virtues; the momentary display of those qualities which our fellow creatures love, and respect. — If, we strive to become, then, what we strive to appear, manners may often be rendered useful guides to the performance of our duties.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Sermon (1809 pub.), “On the Judgments We Form of Others”
(Source)

Sermon on Leviticus 19:15.

Smith, Sydney -- Sermon (1824-03-28), “The Judge That Smites Contrary to the Law”

Dave — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 10:41:02 +0000

The object of preaching is, constantly to remind mankind of what mankind are constantly forgetting; not to supply the defects of human intelligence, but to fortify the feebleness of human resolutions.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Sermon (1824-03-28), “The Judge That Smites Contrary to the Law”
(Source)

On Acts 23:3. Preached in the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter, York.