Gravity is of the very essence of imposture; it does not only mistake other things, but is apt perpetually almost to mistake itself. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury More Quotes by Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury More Quotes From Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury The most natural beauty in the world is honesty and moral truth. For all beauty is truth. True features make the beauty of the face; true proportions, the beauty of architecture; true measures, the beauty of harmony and music. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury honesty truth world To love the public, to study universal good, and to promote the interest of the whole world, as far as lies within our power, is the height of goodness, and makes that temper which we call divine. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury height lying world True courage is cool and calm. The bravest of men have the least of a brutal, bullying insolence, and in the very time of danger are found the most serene and free. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury bullying time kids The most natural beauty in the world is honesty and moral truth. For all beauty is truth. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury honesty beauty world It is the hardest thing in the world to be a good thinker without being a good self examiner. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury thinker self world The heart is never neutral. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury neutrality heart Remember that there is nothing in God but what is godlike; and that He is either not at all, or truly and perfectly good. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury perfectly-good god remember The greatest of fools is he who imposes on himself, and in his greatest concern thinks certainly he knows that which he has least studied, and of which he is most profoundly ignorant. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury ignorant fool thinking It is the saying of an ancient sage that humor was the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury sage tests humor Men of sense are really all of one religion. But men of sense never tell what it is. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury men religion The face of Truth is not less fair and beautiful for all the counterfeit visors which have been put upon her. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury truth faces beautiful Tis the strumpet's plague Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury plague Never did any soul do good but it came readier to do the same again, with more enjoyment. Never was love or gratitude or bounty practiced but with increasing joy, which made the practicer still more in love with the fair act. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury gratitude soul joy Wit is its own remedy. Liberty and commerce bring it to its true standard. The only danger is the laying an embargo. The same thing happens here as in the case of trade: impositions and restrictions reduce it to a low ebb; nothing is so advantageous to it as a free port. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury restriction liberty danger True features make the beauty of a face, and true proportions the beauty of architecture. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury architecture faces beauty Nothing is more ridiculous than ridicule. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury ridicule ridiculous I would be virtuous for my own sake, though nobody were to know it; as I would be clean for my own sake, though nobody were to see me. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury virtue sake would-be Pedantry and bigotry are millstones, able to sink the best book which carries the least part of their dead weight. The temper of the pedagogue suits not with the age; and the world, however it may be taught, will not be tutored. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury age book world Through certain humors or passions, and from temper merely, a man may be completely miserable, let his outward circumstances be ever so fortunate. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury passion may men Nothing affects the heart like that which is purely from itself, and of its own nature; such as the beauty of sentiments, the grace of actions, the turn of characters, and the proportions and features of a human mind. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury grace heart character
