Richard Steele > Quotes

“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”
― Sir Richard Steele

“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”
― Richard Steele

“I have often lamented that we cannot close our ears with as much ease as which we close our eyes.”
― Richard Steele

“Whenever you commend, add a compelling reason for doing so; it is this which distinguishes the approbation of a man of sense from the flattery of sycophants and the admiration of fools.”
― Richard Steele

“And I pray mark how he begins: he sets not up trophies to himself, but triumphs in his God-- "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength." As the love of God is the beginning of all our mercies, so love to God should be the end and effect of them all. As the stream leads us to the spring, so all the gifts of God must lead us to the giver of them.”
― Richard Steele

“People spend their lives in the service of their passions instead of employing their passions in the service of their lives.”
― Sir Richard Steele

“Praise from an enemy is the most pleasing of all commendations.”
― Richard Steele, The Tatler, Vol. 4: Or Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq.

“Ah, sir! our manners were formed from our different fortunes, not our different age. Wealth gave a loose to your youth, and poverty put a restraint upon mine.”
― Richard Steele, The Conscious Lovers: A Comedy In Five Acts

“No man was ever so completely skilled in the conduct of life, as not to receive new information from age and experience”
― Richard Steele

“Tis yours with breeding to refine the age,
To chasten wit, and moralise the stage.”
― Richard Steele, The Conscious Lovers: A Dance of Love and Duty in 18th Century London

“An author, when he first appears in the world, is very apt to believe it has nothing to think of but his Performances.”
― Richard Steele

“I have often lamented that we cannot shut our ears with as much ease as we can our eyes.”
― Richard Steele

“A favor well bestowed is almost as great an honor to him who confers it as to him who receives it.”
― Richard Steele