The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman Quotes

“Endless is the search of truth.”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“... yanlış yanlıştır, nerede olursa olsun, nereye düşerse düşsün, ister bir ondalık, ister bir libre ağırlığında olsun, doğruya ölümcül bir darbe vurur ve onu karanlık kuyusunun dibine mahkûm eder - ister kelebeğin kanadındaki toz zerreciği kadar, ister güneşin, ayın ve bütün yıldızların ekseni büyüklüğünde olsun, yanlış yanlıştır. Bu yeterince önemsenmediği ve gerek kamusal, gerekse düşünsel sorunlarda gereğince uygulanmadığı için, dünyadaki pek çok şey şirazesinden çıkmıştır.”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“But desire of knowledge, like the thirst of riches, increases ever with the acquisition of it. The”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“Writing, when properly managed, (as you may be sure I think mine is) is but a different name for conversation. As no one, who knows what he is about in good company, would venture to talk all, so no author, who understands the just boundaries of decorum and good breeding, would presume to think all. The truest respect which you can pay to the reader's understanding, is to halve this matter amicably, and leave him something to imagine, in his turn, as well as yourself.”
― Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy Newly Explained

“So that whether the pain of a wound in the groin (cæteris paribus) is greater than the pain of a wound in the knee—or
Whether the pain of a wound in the knee is not greater than the pain of a wound in the groin—are points which to this day remain unsettled.”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“—So much motion, continues he, (for he was very corpulent)—is so much unquietness; and so much of rest, by the same analogy, is so much of heaven.
Now, I (being very thin) think differently; and that so much of motion, is so much of life, and so much of joy—and that to stand still, or get on but slowly, is death and the devil—”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“The chamber-maid had left no ******* *** under the bed:—Cannot you contrive, master, quoth Susannah, lifting up the sash with one hand, as she spoke, and helping me up into the window seat with the other,—cannot you manage, my dear, for a single time to **** *** ** *** ******?”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“Now—Ten thousand, and ten thousand times ten thousand (for matter and motion are infinite) are the ways by which a hat may be dropped upon the ground, without any effect.—Had he flung it, or thrown it, or cast it, or skimmed it, or squirted, or let it slip or fall in any possible direction under heaven,—or in the best direction that could be given to it,—had he dropped it like a goose—like a puppy—like an ass—or in doing it, or even after he had done, had he looked like a fool,—like a ninny—like a nicompoop—it had fail'd, and the effect upon the heart had been lost.”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“—for though he never after went to the house, yet he never met Bridget in the village, but he would either nod or wink, or smile, or look kindly at her,—or (as circumstances directed), he would shake her by the hand,—or ask her lovingly how she did,—or would give her a ribban,—and now and then, though never but when it could be done with decorum, would give Bridget a—”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“Now don't let us give ourselves a parcel of airs, and pretend that the oaths we make free with in this land of liberty of ours are our own; and because we have the spirit to swear them,—imagine that we have had the wit to invent them too.”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“What were his views in this, and in every other action of his life,—or rather what were the opinions which floated in the brains of other people concerning it, was a thought which too much floated in his own, and too often broke in upon his rest, when he should have been sound asleep.”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“There is not an oath, or at least a curse amongst them, which has not been copied over and over again out of Ernulphus a thousand times but, like all other copies, how infinitely short of the force and spirit of the original! It is thought to be no bad oath - and by itself passes very well - "God damn you" - Set it beside Ernulphus's - "God Almighty the Father damn you - God the Son damn you - God the Holy Ghost damn you" - you see 'tis nothing. - There is an orientality in his, we cannot rise up to.”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“Button-holes! there is something lively in the very idea of 'em - and trust me, when I get amongst 'em - you gentry with great beards - look as grave as you will - I'll make merry work with my button-holes - I shall have 'em all to myself - 'tis a maiden subject - I shall run foul of no man's wisdom or fine sayings in it.”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“Go poor Devil, get thee gone, why should I hurt thee?—This world surely is wide enough to hold both thee and me.”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“The desire of life and health is implanted in man's nature;- the love of liberty and enlargement is a sister-passion to it”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“And in this, Sir, I am of so nice and singular a humour, that if I thought you was able to form the least judgment or probable conjecture to yourself, of what was to come in the next page, - I would tear it out of my book.”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“Mi padre comenzaba apoyándose en la fuerza de los dos axiomas siguientes: Primero: que, para un hombre, una onza de su propia inteligencia valía por una tonelada de la de cualquier otra persona; y Segundo (el cual, por cierto, era el fundamento del primer axioma—aunque viniera después): que la inteligencia de todo hombre debía necesariamente provenir de su propia alma—y jamás de la de ninguna otra persona.”
― Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy

“Honours, like impressions upon coin, may give an ideal and local value to a bit of base metal; but Gold and Silver will pass all the world over without any other recommendation than their own weight.”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“Melek de değiliz; keşke olsak, ama insanlara birer beden giydirilmiştir, ve bizleri hayal güçlerimiz yönetir - ne şenlikli bir şölen.
...
Gözler daha zarif bir okşama sağlar ve düş gücümüz üzerinde sözler kadar kolay ifadelendirilemeyen bir şeyler bırakır,-ya da,-bazen,var olanı da yok ederler.”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“Babam bir hastalığın teşhisini her zaman tedavisiyle birlikte koyardı.
"Eğer ben mutlak hükümdar olsaydım... metropolümün her caddesine ortalıkta dolaşanlara oraya ne halt etmeye geldiklerini soracak bir yargıç tayin ederdim - ve eğer, adil ve birtaraf bir dava sonunda, evlerini bırakıp da çanta-çıkın, çoluk-çocuk, buralara gelmelerinin nedenini makul bir biçimde açıklayamıyorlarsa, kolculara teslim edip, tıpkı serseriler gibi, yasal yerleşim bölgelerine geri gönderirdim. Böylelikle de metropolün kendi ağırlığı altında ezilmesini önlemiş olurdum...”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“In a word, my work is digressive, and it is progressive too,—and at the same time.”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman: Color Illustrated, Formatted for E-Readers

“was all uniformity;—he was systematical, and, like all systematic reasoners, he would move both heaven and earth, and twist and torture every thing in nature to support his hypothesis.”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman: Color Illustrated, Formatted for E-Readers

“ever woman, since the creation of the world, interrupt a man with such a silly question? Pray, what was your father saying?—Nothing.”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“—Now my father had a way, a little like that of Job's (in case there ever was such a man—if not, there's an end of the matter.—
Though, by the bye, because your learned men find some difficulty in fixing the precise æra in which so great a man lived;—whether, for instance, before or after the patriarchs, &c.—to vote, therefore, that he never lived at all, is a little cruel,—'tis not doing as they would be done by—happen that as it —My father, I say, had a way, when things went extremely wrong with him, especially upon the first sally of his impatience—of wondering why he was begot,—wishing himself dead;—sometimes worse:—”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“  Do you understand the theory of that affair? replied my father.
  Not I, quoth my uncle.
  —But you have some ideas, said my father, of what you talk about.—
  No more than my horse, replied my uncle Toby.”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“Great wits jump”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“And what of this new book the whole world makes such a rout about?--Oh ! 'tis out of all plumb, my lord,--quite an irregular thing!”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“I like subordination, quoth my uncle Toby...”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“our knowledge physical, metaphysical, physiological, polemical, nautical, mathematical, ænigmatical, technical, biographical, romantical, chemical, and obstetrical, with fifty other branches of it, (most of ’em ending, as these do, in ical) have, for these two last centuries and more, gradually been creeping upwards towards that Aκμ4 of their perfections, from which, if we may form a conjecture from the advances of these last seven years, we cannot possibly be far off. When that happens, it is to be hoped, it will put an end to all kind of writings whatsoever;—the want of all kind of writing will put an end to all kind of reading;—and that in time, As war begets poverty, poverty peace,5——must, in course, put an end to all kind of knowledge,—and then——we shall have all to begin over again; or, in other words, be exactly where we started. ———Happy! thrice”
― Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“Tis a pious account, cried my father, but not philosophical——there is more religion in it than sound science.”
― Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy