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Some men are called sagacious, merely on account of their avarice: whereas a child can clench its fist the moment it is born.

— William Shenstone Essays on Men and Manners (1764)

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Wikiquote does not flag this quote as disputed or misattributed.

Source: "Of Men and Manners" LXXXVI, p. 155.
Work: Essays on Men and Manners, 1764
Source quality: Precise citation Points to a specific work with a page, chapter, date or similar locator, so you can look it up.

More by William Shenstone

Every good poet includes a critic; the reverse will not hold.

Essays on Men and Manners (1764)

It is a miserable thing to love where one hates; and yet it is not inconsistent.

Essays on Men and Manners (1764)

Prudent men should lock up their motives, giving only their intimates a key.

Essays on Men and Manners (1764)

My banks they are furnish’d with bees,
Whose murmur invites one to sleep.

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A fool and his words are soon parted; a man of genius and his money.

Essays on Men and Manners (1764)

For seldom shall she hear a tale
So sad, so tender, yet so true.

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There seem near as many people that want passion as want reason.

Essays on Men and Manners (1764)

Love is a pleasing, but a various clime!

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Topics

Children

More quotes by William Shenstone

Necessity may be the mother of lucrative invention, but it is the death of poetical invention.

Essays on Men and Manners (1764)

Zealous men are ever displaying to you the strength of their belief, while judicious men are shewing you the grounds of it.

Essays on Men and Manners (1764)

A man has generally the good or ill qualities which he attributes to mankind.

Essays on Men and Manners (1764)

Oft has good-nature been the fool's defence,
And honest meaning gilded want of sense.

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Love can be founded upon nature only; or the appearance of it.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: William Shenstone (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.