Richard Steele Quotes
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The survivorship of a worthy man in his son is a pleasure scarce inferior to the hopes of the continuance of his own life.
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I look upon it as a Point of Morality, to be obliged by those who endeavour to oblige me
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There can hardly, I believe, be imagined a more desirable pleasure than that of praise unmixed with any possibility of flattery.
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A fool is in himself the object of pity, until he is flattered.
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How few there are who are furnished with abilities sufficient to recommend their actions to the admiration of the world, and distinguish themselves from the rest of mankind.
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I love to consider an Infidel, whether distinguished by the title of deist, atheist, or free-thinker, by three different lights, in his solitude, his afflictions, and his last moments.... [In these situations such people show themselves] in solitude, incapable or rapture or elevation, ... in distress, [with] a halter or a pistol the only refuge [they] can fly to, ... [and liable to conversion] at the approach of death.
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The world is grown so full of dissimulation and compliment, that men's words are hardly any signification of their thoughts.
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A Daughter: The companion, the friend, and the confidant of her mother, and the object of a pleasure something like the love between the angels to her father.
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A man advanced in years that thinks fit to look back on his former life, and calls that only life which was passed with satisfaction and enjoyment, excluding all parts which were not pleasant to him, will find himself very young, if not in infancy.
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Conversation never sits easier upon us than when we now and then discharge ourselves in a symphony of laughter, which may not improperly be called the chorus of conversation.
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Simplicity of all things is the hardest to be copy.
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No woman is capable of being beautiful who is not incapable of being false.
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Readings is to the mind what exercice is to the body.
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The person, whom you favored with a loan, if he be a good man, will think himself in your debt after he has paid you.
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The married state, with and without the affection suitable to it, is the completest image of heaven and hell we are capable of receiving in this life.
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People spend their lives in the service of their passions instead of employing their passions in the service of their lives.
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It is an impertinent and unreasonable fault in conversation for one man to take up all the discourse.
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Pleasure seizes the whole man who addicts himself to it, and will not give him leisure for any good office in life which contradicts the gayety of the present hour.
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One common calamity makes men extremely affect each other, though they differ in every other particular
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There are so few who can grow old with a good grace.
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Nothing can atone for the lack of modesty; without which beauty is ungraceful and wit detestable.
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There is hardly that person to be found who is not more concerned for the reputation of wit and sense, than honesty and virtue.
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A modest person seldom fails to gain the goodwill of those he converses with, because nobody envies a man who does not appear to be pleased with himself.
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Nothing is more silly than the pleasure some people take in "speaking their minds." A man of this make will say a rude thing for the mere pleasure of saying it, when an opposite behavior, full as innocent, might have preserved his friend, or made his fortune.
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I know of no manner of speaking so offensive as that of giving praise, and closing it with an exception.
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Since we cannot promise our selves constant health, let us endeavour at such temper as may be our best support in the decay of it.
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Will. Honeycomb calls these over-offended ladies the outrageously virtuous.
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A favor well bestowed is almost as great an honor to him who confers it as to him who receives it.
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The praise of an ignorant man is only good-will, and you should receive his kindness as he is a good neighbor in society, and not as a good judge of your actions in point of fame and reputation.
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A healthy old fellow, who is not a fool, is the happiest creature living.
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