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Independency may be found in comparative, as well as absolute abundance: I mean when a person contracts his desires within the limits of his fortune.

— William Shenstone Essays on Men and Manners (1764)

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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.

Verses to a Lady (1736)

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

Essays on Men and Manners (1764)

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In the fields of observation chance favors only the prepared mind.

Louis Pasteur

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.

William Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1601)

O Fortune, cruellest of heavenly powers,
Why make such game of this poor life of ours?

Horace Satires (-35)

Vicissitudes of fortune, which spares neither man nor the proudest of his works, which buries empires and cities in a common grave.

Edward Gibbon The History of the Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire (1776)

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.