Skip to content

None of our political writers … take notice of any more than three estates, namely, Kings, Lords and Commons … passing by in silence that very large and powerful body which form the fourth estate in the community … the Mob.

— Henry Fielding

Another quote →

Source and credibility

Wikiquote does not flag this quote as disputed or misattributed.

Source: Covent Garden Journal (June 13, 1752).
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 Henry Fielding

Depend on me; never fear your enemies. I'll warrant we make more noise than they.

Eurydice Hissed: or A Word to the Wise (1736)

It hath been often said, that it is not death, but dying which is terrible.

Amelia (1751)

Hairbreadth missings of happiness look like the insults of Fortune.

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749)

I describe not men, but manners; not an individual, but a species.

Joseph Andrews (1742)

To whom nothing is given, of him can nothing be required.

Joseph Andrews (1742)

When children are doing nothing, they are doing mischief.

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749)

Life may as properly be called an art as any other.

Amelia (1751)

Love and scandal are the best sweeteneers of tea.

Love in Several Masques (1728)

All Henry Fielding quotes →

Topics

Journalism

More quotes by Henry Fielding

It is a trite but true observation, that examples work more forcibly on the mind than precepts.

Joseph Andrews (1742)

Can any man have a higher notion of the rule of right and the eternal fitness of things?

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749)

Guilt has very quick ears to an accusation.

Amelia (1751)

When widows exclaim loudly against second marriages, I would always lay a wager that the man, if not the wedding day, is absolutely fixed on.

Amelia (1751)

In reality, the world have payed too great a compliment to critics, and have imagined them men of much greater profundity than they really are.

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749)

All Henry Fielding quotes →

You may also like

To be completely cured of newspapers, spend a year reading the previous week’s newspapers.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010)

Journalists who make mistakes get sued for libel; historians who make mistakes get to publish a revised edition.

Bill Moyers

In a world where everyone is a publisher, no one is an editor and that is the danger we face today.

Scott Pelley

Every newspaper editor owes tribute to the devil.

Jean de La Fontaine Lettre à Simon de Troyes (1686)

Attribution

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