Quotes by William Shenstone

A liar begins with making falsehood appear like truth, and ends with making truth itself appear like falsehood.

Zealous men are ever displaying to you the strength of their belief, while judicious men are showing you the grounds of it.

Poetry and consumption are the most flattering of diseases.

The lines of poetry, the period of prose, and even the texts of Scripture most frequently recollected and quoted, are those which are felt to be preeminently musical.

The proper means of increasing the love we bear our native country is to reside some time in a foreign one.

His knowledge of books had in some degree diminished his knowledge of the world.

Jealousy is the fear or apprehension of superiority: envy our uneasiness under it.

The best time to frame an answer to the letters of a friend, is the moment you receive them. Then the warmth of friendship, and the intelligence received, most forcibly cooperate.

Hope is a flatterer, but the most upright of all parasites for she frequents the poor man’s hut, as well as the palace of his superior.

Grandeur and beauty are so very opposite, that you often diminish the one as you increase the other. Variety is most akin to the latter, simplicity to the former.