Horace Walpole

“He was persuaded he could know no happiness but in the society of one with whom he could for ever indulge the melancholy that had taken possession of his soul.”

“But alas! my Lord, what is blood! what is nobility! We are all reptiles, miserable, sinful creatures. It is piety alone that can distinguish us from the dust whence we sprung, and whither we must return.”

“In science, mistakes always precede the truth.”

“There is no bombast, no similes, flowers, digressions, or unnecessary descriptions. Everything tends directly to the catastrophe.”

“Manfred, Prince of Otranto, had one son and one daughter: the latter, a most beautiful virgin, aged eighteen, was called Matilda. Conrad, the son, was three years younger, a homely youth, sickly, and of no promising disposition; yet he was the darling of his father, who never showed any symptoms of affection to Matilda. Manfred had contracted a marriage for his son with the Marquis of Vicenza’s daughter, Isabella; and she had already been delivered by her guardians into the hands of Manfred, that he might celebrate the wedding as soon as Conrad’s infirm state of health would permit.”

“I have often said, and oftener think, that this world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel – a solution of why Democritus laughed and Heraclitus wept.”

“Men are often capable of greater things than they perform. They are sent into the world with bills of credit, and seldom draw to their full extent.”

“This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.”

“Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not. A sense of humour was provided to console him for what he is.”

“Foolish writers and readers are created for each other.”

“I can forget injuries, but never benefits.”

“The whole secret of life is to be interested in one thing profoundly and in a thousand things well.”

“The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.”

“The gentle maid, whose hapless tale,these melancholy pages speak;say, gracious lady, shall she failTo draw the tear a down from thy cheek?”

“When people will not weed their own minds, they are apt to be overrun by nettles.”