22 quotes
Example is always more efficacious than precept.
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
Many things difficult to design prove easy to performance.
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
The first years of man must make provision for the last.
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
A man used to vicissitudes is not easily dejected.
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures.
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
Few things are impossible to diligence and skill.
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
The endearing elegance of female friendship.
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured and little to be enjoyed.
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
Nothing ... will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must be first overcome.
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
Knowledge is more than equivalent to force. The master of mechanicks laughs at strength.
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
Very few live by choice. Every man is placed in his present condition by causes which acted without his foresight and with which he did not always willingly cooperate.
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
The world is not yet exhausted: let me see something to-morrow which I never saw before.
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
I live in the crowd of jollity, not so much to enjoy company as to shun myself.
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
That it is doubted by single cavillers can very little weaken the general evidence, and some who deny it with their tongues confess it by their fears.
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
This singularity of his humour made him much observed.
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
To a poet nothing can be useless.
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
"I fly from pleasure," said the prince, "because pleasure has ceased to please; I am lonely because I am miserable, and am unwilling to cloud with my presence the happiness of others."
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
The poet must write as the interpreter of nature and the legislator of mankind, and consider himself as presiding over the thoughts and manners of future generations, as a being superior to time and place.
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
Ye who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and pursue with eagerness the phantoms of hope; who expect that age will perform the promises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the present day will be supplied by the morrow; attend to the history of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia.
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)