William Shenstone quotes

A man has generally the good or ill qualities, which he attributes to mankind. (William Shenstone)
Zealous men are ever displaying to you the strength of their belief, while judicious men are showing you the grounds of it. View quote
William Shenstone
Every good poet includes a critic, but the reverse is not true. View quote
William Shenstone
So sweetly she bade me adieu, I thought that she bade me return. View quote
William Shenstone
Whoe'er has travell'd life's dull round, Where'er his stages may have been, May sigh to think he still has found The warmest welcome at an inn. View quote
William Shenstone
My banks they are furnish'd with bees, Whose murmur invites one to sleep. View quote
William Shenstone
A liar begins with making falsehood appear like truth, and ends with making truth itself appear like falsehood. View quote
William Shenstone
Jealousy is the fear or apprehension of superiority: envy our uneasiness under it. View quote
William Shenstone
The proper means of increasing the love we bear our native country is to reside some time in a foreign one. View quote
William Shenstone
The best time to frame an answer to the letters of a friend, is the moment you receive them. Then the warmth of friendship, and the intelligence received, most forcibly cooperate. View quote
William Shenstone
Oft has good nature been the fool's defence, And honest meaning gilded want of sense. (William Shenstone)
Necessity may be the mother of lucrative invention, but it is the death of poetical invention. View quote
William Shenstone
A man of remarkable genius may afford to pass by a piece of wit, if it happens to border on abuse. A little genius is obliged to catch at every witticism indiscriminately. View quote
William Shenstone
Some men are called sagacious, merely on account of their avarice: whereas a child can clench its fist the moment it is born. View quote
William Shenstone
I have found out a gift for my fair I have found where the wood-pigeons breed. View quote
William Shenstone
Love is a pleasing but a various clime. View quote
William Shenstone
Pun-provoking thyme. View quote
William Shenstone
A miser grows rich by seeming poor; an extravagant man grows poor by seeming rich. View quote
William Shenstone
For seldom shall she hear a tale So sad, so tender, and so true. View quote
William Shenstone
A little bench of heedless bishops here, And there a chancellor in embryo. View quote
William Shenstone
Her cap, far whiter than the driven snow, Emblems right meet of decency does yield. (William Shenstone)
A fool and his words are soon parted a man of genius and his money. View quote
William Shenstone
There seem near as many people that want passion as want reason. View quote
William Shenstone
Prudent men should lock up their motives, giving only their intimates a key. View quote
William Shenstone
While we labour to subdue our passions, we should take care not to extinguish them. Subduing our passions, is disengaging ourselves from the world; to which however, Whilst we reside in it, we must always bear relation; and we may detach ourselves to such a degree as to pass an useless and insipid life, which we were not meant to do. Our existence here is at least one part of a system. View quote
William Shenstone