Alas! if the principles of contentment are not within us, the height of station and worldly grandeur will as soon add a cubit to a man's stature as to his happiness.
Laurence SterneAn inward sincerity will of course influence the outward deportment; but where the one is wanting, there is great reason to suspect the absence of the other.
Laurence SterneThe more tickets you have in a lottery, the worse your chance. And it is the same of virtues, in the lottery of life.
Laurence SterneWriting, when properly managed, (as you may be sure I think mine is) is but a different name for conversation.
Laurence SterneThe very essence of gravity was design, and, consequently, deceit; it was a taught trick to gain credit of the world for more sense end knowledge than a man was worth; and that with all its pretensions it was no better, but often worse, than what a French wit had long ago defined it--a mysterious carriage of the body to cover the defects of the mind.
Laurence Sterne