45 Quotes by Tobias Smollett

If the morals of mankind have not contracted an extraordinary degree of depravity within these 30 years, then I must be infected with the common vice of old men, difficilis, querulus, laudator temporis acti [tiresome, complaining, a praiser of past times]; or, which is more probable, the impetuous pursuits and avocations of youth have formerly hindered me from observing those rotten parts of human nature, which now appear offensively to my observation.

There is such malice, treachery, and dissimulation, even among professed friends and intimate companions, as cannot fail to strike a virtuous mind with horror; and when Vice quits the stage for a moment, her place is immediately occupied by Folly...

Some folks are wise and some are otherwise.

Who bravely dares must sometimes risk a fall.

Italy is certainly the native country of this art: and yet, I do not find the people in general either more musically inclined, or better provided with ears than their neighbors

One half the nation is mad - and the other half not very sound

Opposition is the very spur of love.

A mere index hunter, who held the eel of science by the tail. Index-hunter is a term used mockingly, meaning one who acquires superficial knowledge merely by consulting indexes. The '[holding] the eel of science by the tail' allusion was used in 1728 by Alexander Pope (q.v.).

Glory is the child of peril.