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Ninety-nine men in a hundred are natural men, that is, beasts of prey; and it is mere insanity, in business matters, to deal with a stranger upon any other assumption than that he is a natural man, though we should veil our knowledge of the actual fact by a courteous recognition in words and manners of his better possibilities.

— Coventry Patmore The Rod, the Root, and the Flower (1895)

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More quotes by Coventry Patmore

Every evil is some good spelt backwards, and in it the wise know how to read Wisdom.

The Rod, the Root, and the Flower (1895)

He is irrational, however well he may be able to reason, who does not clearly see that good is good and truth truth.

Memoirs and Correspondence (1900)

Science is a line, art a superficies, and life, or the knowledge of God, a solid.

The Rod, the Root, and the Flower (1895)

All reasoning ends in an appeal to self-evidence.

The Rod, the Root, and the Flower (1895)

As the Word of God is God's image, so the word of man is his image, and "a man is known by his speech."

Memoirs and Correspondence (1900)

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Attribution

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