Laurence Sterne Quotes

What a large volume of adventures may be grasped within the span of his little life by him who interests his heart in everything.

~ Laurence Sterne

If death, said my father, reasoning with himself, is nothing but the separation of the soul from the body;--and if it is true that people can walk about and do their business without brains,--then certes the soul does not inhabit there.

~ Laurence Sterne

I have undertaken, you see, to write not only my life, but my opinions also; hoping and expecting that your knowledge of my character, and of what kind of a mortal I am, by the one, would give you a better relish for the other: As you proceed further with me, the slight acquaintance which is now beginning betwixt us, will grow into familiarity; and that, unless one of us is in fault, will terminate in friendship.

~ Laurence Sterne

Digressions, incontestably, are the sunshine, the life, the soul of reading! Take them out and one cold eternal winter would reign in every page. Restore them to the writer - he steps forth like a bridegroom, bids them all-hail, brings in variety and forbids the appetite to fail.

~ Laurence Sterne

We don't love people so much for the good they have done us, as for the good we have done them

~ Laurence Sterne

—all I can say of the matter, is—That he has either a pumkin for his head—or a pippin for his heart,—and whenever he is dissected 'twill be found so.

~ Laurence Sterne

—I won't go about to argue the point with you,—'tis so,—and I am persuaded of it, madam, as much as can be, That both man and woman bear pain or sorrow, (and, for aught I know, pleasure too) best in a horizontal position.

~ Laurence Sterne

I begin with writing the first sentence—and trusting to Almighty God for the second.

~ Laurence Sterne

I am this month one whole year older than I was this time twelve-month; and having got, as you perceive, almost into the middle of my fourth volume—and no farther than to my first day's life—'tis demonstrative that I have three hundred and sixty-four days more life to write just now, than when I first set out; so that instead of advancing, as a common writer, in my work with what I have been doing at it—on the contrary, I am just thrown so many volumes back—

~ Laurence Sterne

It had ever, as I told the reader, been one of the singular blessings of my life, to be almost every hour of it miserably in love with some one....

~ Laurence Sterne

Human nature is the same in all professions.

~ Laurence Sterne

I could wish to spy the nakedness of their hearts, and through the different disguises of customs, climates, and religion, find out what is good in them, to fashion my own by. It is for this reason that I have not seen the Palais Royal - nor the facade of the Louvre - nor have attempted to swell the catalogues we have of pictures, statues, and churches - I conceive every fair being as a temple, and would rather enter in, and see the original drawings and loose sketches hung up in it, than the Transfiguration of Raphael itself.

~ Laurence Sterne

Writing, when properly managed, (as you may be sure I think mine is) is but a different name for conversation.

~ Laurence Sterne

Cursed luck! —said he, biting his lip as he shut the door, —for man to be master of one of the finest chains of reasoning in nature, —and have a wife at the same time with such a head-piece, that he cannot hang up a single inference within side of it, to save his soul from destruction.

~ Laurence Sterne

Now don't let us give ourselves a parcel of airs, and pretend that the oaths we make free with in this land of liberty of ours are our own; and because we have the spirit to swear them,—imagine that we have had the wit to invent them too.

~ Laurence Sterne

Great wits jump

~ Laurence Sterne

Of all the cants which are canted in this canting world tho' the cant of hypocrites may be the worst the cant of criticism is the most tormenting.

~ Laurence Sterne

A man cannot dress without his ideas get clothed at the same time.

~ Laurence Sterne

Now or never was the time.

~ Laurence Sterne

Writing when properly managed (as you may be sure I think mine is) is but a different name for conversation.

~ Laurence Sterne

Crack, crack—crack, crack—crack, crack—so this is Paris! quoth I (continuing in the same mood)—and this is Paris!—humph!—Paris! cried I, repeating the name the third time— The first, the finest, the most brilliant— —The streets however are nasty; But it looks, I suppose, better than it smells—crack, crack—crack, crack—

~ Laurence Sterne

Keyholes are the occasions of more sin and wickedness, than all other holes in this world put together.

~ Laurence Sterne

Respect for ourselves guides our morals, respect for others guides our manners.

~ Laurence Sterne

In solitude the mind gains strength and learns to lean upon itself.

~ Laurence Sterne

The desire of knowledge, like the thirst of riches, increases ever with the acquisition of it.

~ Laurence Sterne

Of all duties, prayer certainly is the sweetest and most easy.

~ Laurence Sterne

I take a simple view of life. It is keep your eyes open and get on with it.

~ Laurence Sterne

Men tire themselves in pursuit of rest.

~ Laurence Sterne