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Quotes from Lady Holland's Memoir — Sydney Smith

1771–1845 England

← All quotes by Sydney Smith

50 quotes

Serenely full, the epicure would say,
Fate cannot harm me, I have dined today.

Lady Holland's Memoir (1855)

She looked as if she had walked straight out of the ark.

Lady Holland's Memoir (1855)

To take Macaulay out of literature and society and put him in the House of Commons, is like taking the chief physician out of London during a pestilence.

Lady Holland's Memoir (1855)

You remember Thurlow's answer to some one complaining of the injustice of a company. "Why, you never expected justice from a company, did you? they have neither a soul to lose, nor a body to kick."

Lady Holland's Memoir (1855)

He was a one-book man. Some men have only one book in them; others, a library.

Lady Holland's Memoir (1855)

No furniture so charming as books.

Lady Holland's Memoir (1855)

Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea? how did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea.

Lady Holland's Memoir (1855)

[He] has not body enough to cover his mind decently with; his intellect is improperly exposed.

Lady Holland's Memoir (1855)

Did you ever hear my definition of marriage? It is, that it resembles a pair of shears, so joined that they can not be separated; often moving in opposite directions, yet always punishing anyone who comes between them.

Lady Holland's Memoir (1855)

If you could be alarmed into the semblance of modesty, you would charm everybody; but remember my joke against you about the Moon and the Solar System;—"Damn the solar system! bad light — planets too distant — pestered with comets — feeble contriviance; — could make a better with great ease."

Lady Holland's Memoir (1855)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Sydney Smith (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.