Horace Walpole Quotes

Quotes about:

• Life is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel.

  Horace Walpole

  Life, Wisdom, Atheist

  Horace Walpole (1929). “The castle of Otranto”

  50 Copy quote

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

  Horace Walpole

  Life, Learning, Secret

  "The Christian Leader", Vol. 37, Issue 7, February 17, 1934.

  53 Copy quote

• The curse of modern times is, that almost everything does create controversy.

  Horace Walpole

  Doe, Modern, Curse

  Horace Walpole, John Wright, George Agar-Ellis Dover (1st baron) (1840). “The letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford: including numerous letters now first published from the original manuscripts”, p.267

  7 Copy quote

• Nine-tenths of the people were created so you would want to be with the other tenth.

  Horace Walpole

  Funny, Life, Ghouls

  17 Copy quote

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

  Horace Walpole

  Weed, Garden, People

  Letter to Lady Ailesbury, 10 July 1779, in 'Letters'

  14 Copy quote

• Who has begun has half done. Have the courage to be wise. Begin!

  Horace Walpole

  Wise, Half, Done

  16 Copy quote

• To act with common sense according to the moment, is the best wisdom I know.

  Horace Walpole

  Wisdom, Common Sense, Moments

  Horace Walpole (1967). “The Yale Edition of Horace Walpole's Correspondence”

  14 Copy quote

• We are largely the playthings of our fears. To one, fear of the dark; to another, of physical pain; to a third, of public ridicule; to a fourth, of poverty; to a fifth, of loneliness ... for all of us, our particular creature waits in ambush.

  Horace Walpole

  Fear, Pain, Loneliness

  18 Copy quote

• Foolish writers and readers are created for each other.

  Horace Walpole

  Foolish, Reader

  Horace Walpole, Peter Cunningham (1857). “The letters of Horace Walpole, earl of Orford”, p.494

  16 Copy quote

• Life is a farce, and should not end with a mourning scene.

  Horace Walpole

  Mourning, Farce, Life Is

  Horace Walpole, Peter Cunningham (1858). “The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Oxford”, p.452

  5 Copy quote

• In science, mistakes always precede the truth

  Horace Walpole

  Confidence, Mistake

  5 Copy quote

• 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.

  Horace Walpole

  Thinking, Tragedy, World

  Letter to Sir Horace Mann, December 31, 1769.

  13 Copy quote

• The best philosophy is to do one's duties, take the world as it comes, submit respectfully to one's lot; bless the goodness that has given us so much happiness with it.

  Horace Walpole

  Respect, Philosophy, World

  Horace Walpole (1967). “The Yale Edition of Horace Walpole's Correspondence”

  8 Copy quote

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

  Horace Walpole

  Love, Failure, Thinking

  Letter to Anne, Countess of Upper Ossory, 16 Aug. 1776

  24 Copy quote

• 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.

  Horace Walpole

  Future, Greatness, Men

  Horace Walpole, George Vertue (1798). “The Works of Horatio Walpole, Earl of Orford ...”, p.371

  9 Copy quote

• The wisest prophets make sure of the event first.

  Horace Walpole

  Wise, Events, Firsts

  Letter to Thos. Walpole, 19 February 1785, in 'Letters'

  8 Copy quote

• Serendipity... You will understand it better by the derivation than by the definition. I once read a silly fairy tale, called 'The Three Princes of Serendip': as their Highnesses traveled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of.

  Horace Walpole

  Silly, Discovery, Serendipity

  Letter to Horace Mann, 28 Jan. 1754. Coinage of the word serendipity.

  11 Copy quote

• Justice is rather the activity of truth, than a virtue in itself. Truth tells us what is due to others, and justice renders that due. Injustice is acting a lie.

  Horace Walpole

  Truth, Lying, Justice

  11 Copy quote

• History is a romance that is believed; romance, a history that is not believed.

  Horace Walpole

  Romance, Political

  Horace Walpole (1798). “The Works of Horatio Walpole, Earl of Orford ...”, p.368

  9 Copy quote

• Mystery is the wisdom of blockheads.

  Horace Walpole

  Mystery, Blockheads

  Horace Walpole, Peter Cunningham (1857). “The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Oxford”, p.371

  8 Copy quote

• Exercise is the worst thing in the world and as bad an invention as gunpowder.

  Horace Walpole

  Exercise, Gunpowder, World

  Horace Walpole (1861). “The letters of Horace Walpole: earl of Orford”, p.394

  4 Copy quote

• Alexander at the head of the world never tasted the true pleasure that boys of his own age have enjoyed at the head of a school.

  Horace Walpole

  School, Boys, Power

  Letter to Montagu, 6 May 1736, in 'Letters'

  7 Copy quote

• If a passion for freedom is not in vogue, patriots may sound the alarm till they are weary. The Act of Habeas Corpus, by which prisoners may insist on being brought to trial within a limited time, is the corner stone of our liberty.

  Horace Walpole

  Passion, Liberty, Trials

  Horace Walpole (1822). “Memoires of the Last Ten years of the Reign of George the Second”, p.286

  5 Copy quote

• Cunning is neither the consequence of sense, nor does it give sense. A proof that it is not sense, is that cunning people never imagine that others can see through them. It is the consequence of weakness.

  Horace Walpole

  People, Giving, Weakness

  8 Copy quote

• The way to ensure summer in England is to have it framed and glazed in a comfortable room.

  Horace Walpole

  Summer, August, England

  Letter to Cole, 28 May 1774, in 'Letters'

  8 Copy quote

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