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Horace Walpole Quotes
1717–1797 England
Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), more commonly known as Horace Walpole, was a British politician and writer, noted for his collected letters and for having written the first Gothic horror novel, The Castle of Otranto (1764).
England Academics Memoirists Novelists Also known as: Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford
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44 quotes
Prognostics do not always prove prophecies, — at least the wisest prophets make sure of the event first.
A tragedy can never suffer by delay: a comedy may, because the allusions or the manners represented in it maybe temporary.
The world is a comedy to those that think; a tragedy to those that feel– a solution of why Democritus laughed and Heraclitus wept.
Power is an intoxicating draught; the more a man has, the more he desires.
A careless song, with a little nonsense in it now and then, does not misbecome a monarch.
Letter to Sir Horace Mann (1774)
The world is a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those who feel.
letter to Sir Horace Mann (1770)
Men are often capable of greater things than they perform. They are sent into the world with bills of credit, and seldom draw to their full extent.
The whole nation hitherto has been void of wit and humour, and even incapable of relishing it.
It is the story of a mountebank and his zany.
“Peace, simpleton!” said the Princess. “Though he said he was unhappy, it does not follow that he must be in love.”
The Castle of Otranto (1764)
And is anybody unhappy about another, unless they are in love with them?
The Castle of Otranto (1764)
Posterity always degenerates till it becomes our ancestors.
We must speak to the eyes, if we wish to affect the mind.
The Americans are mostly engaged in trade and plantations. Their chief object is to make money. And, in truth, money is freedom.
Thy purpose is as odious as thy resentment is contemptible.
The Castle of Otranto (1764)
Have done with this rhapsody of impertinence.
The Castle of Otranto (1764)
He was an instance that a complete genius and a complete rogue can be formed before a man is of age.
The way to ensure summer in England is to have it framed and glazed in a comfortable room.
They dropped into the yolk of an egg the milk that flows from the leaf of a young fig-tree, with which, instead of water, gum or gumdragant, they mixed their last layer of colours.
Old friends are the great blessing of one's latter years—half a word conveys one's meaning. They have memory of the same events, and have the same mode of thinking.
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