We may imitate the Deity in all His attributes; but mercy is the only one in which we can pretend to equal Him. We cannot, indeed, give like God; but surely we may forgive like Him. Laurence Sterne More Quotes by Laurence Sterne More Quotes From Laurence Sterne A man should know something of his own country too, before he goes abroad. Laurence Sterne should men country We get forwards in the world not so much by doing services, as receiving them: you take a withering twig, and put it in the ground; and then you water it, because you have planted it. Laurence Sterne receiving water world A man's body and his mind, with the utmost reverence to both I speak it, are exactly like a jerkin and a jerkin's lining; rumple the one, you rumple the other. Laurence Sterne body mind men I never drink. I cannot do it, on equal terms with others. It costs them only one day; but me three, the first in sinning, the second in suffering, and the third in repenting. Laurence Sterne one-day three suffering If ever I do a mean action, it must be in some interval betwixt one passion and another. Laurence Sterne passion action mean I am sick as a horse. Laurence Sterne horse sick Men tire themselves in the pursuit of sleep. Laurence Sterne literature sleep men Now or never was the time. Laurence Sterne now-or-never Precedents are the disgrace of legislation. They are not wanted to justify right measures, are absolutely insufficient to excuse wrong ones. They can only be useful to heralds, dancing masters, and gentlemen ushers. Laurence Sterne excuse gentleman dancing If a man has a right to be proud of anything, it is of a good action done as it ought to be, without any base interest lurking at the bottom of it. Laurence Sterne pride done men The chaste mind, like a polished plane, may admit foul thoughts, without receiving their tincture. Laurence Sterne receiving mind may An inward sincerity will of course influence the outward deportment; but where the one is wanting, there is great reason to suspect the absence of the other. Laurence Sterne inward sincerity influence How frequently is the honesty and integrity of a man disposed of by a smile or shrug! How many good and generous actions have been sunk into oblivion by a distrustful look, or stamped With the imputation of proceeding from bad motives, by a mysterious and seasonable whisper! Laurence Sterne honesty integrity men So fruitful is slander in variety of expedients to satiate as well as disguise itself. But if these smoother weapons cut so sore, what shall we say of open and unblushing scandal, subjected to no caution, tied down to no restraints? Laurence Sterne scandal cutting weapons There are many ways of inducing sleep--the thinking of purling rills, or waving woods; reckoning of numbers; droppings from a wet sponge fixed over a brass pan, etc. But temperance and exercise answer much better than any of these succedaneums. Laurence Sterne exercise sleep thinking There is one sweet lenitive at least for evils, which nature holds out; so I took it kindly at her hands, and fell asleep. Laurence Sterne sleep sweet hands In solitude the mind gains strength, and learns to lean upon herself; in the world it seeks or accepts of a few treacherous supports--the feigned compassion of one, the flattery of a second, the civilities of a third, the friendship of a fourth--they all deceive, and bring the mind back to retirement, reflection, and books. Laurence Sterne reflection retirement book If there is an evil in this world, it is sorrow and heaviness of heart. The loss of goods, of health, of coronets and mitres, is only evil as they occasion sorrow; take that out, the rest is fancy, and dwelleth only in the head of man. Laurence Sterne loss heart men I am positive I have a soul; nor can all the books with which materialists have pestered the world ever convince me to the contrary. Laurence Sterne soul book world When, to gratify a private appetite, it is once resolved upon that an ignorant and helpless creature shall be sacrificed, it is an easy matter to pick up sticks enough from any thicket where it has strayed, to make a fire to offer it up with. Laurence Sterne ignorant fire matter
