SRSir Richard Steele

50 collected words

Sir Richard Steele

Life dates: 1671 AD — 1729 AD

Listed in the author section of Bartlett’s ninth-edition anthology, in the linked 1905 printing. Dates reflect that historical edition and may differ from modern scholarship.

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Quotations and sayings

01c. 1700 AD

It is a great ease to have one in our own shape a species below us, and who, without being enlisted in our service, is by nature of our retinue.

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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02c. 1700 AD

Man thinks he has an estate of reputation, and is glad to see one that will bring any of it home to him; it is no matter how dirty a bag it is conveyed to him in, or by how clownish a messenger, so the money is good.

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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03c. 1700 AD

Men of courage, men of sense, and men of letters are frequent; but a true gentleman is what one seldom sees.

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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04c. 1700 AD

Nothing can atone for the want of modesty, without which beauty is ungraceful and wit detestable.

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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05c. 1700 AD

Of all evils in story-telling, the humour of telling tales one after another in great numbers is the least supportable.

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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06c. 1700 AD

Praise from an enemy is the most pleasing of all commendations.

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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07c. 1700 AD

Simplicity is, of all things, the hardest to be copied.

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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08c. 1700 AD

The coxcomb is a fool of parts, a flatterer, a knave of parts.

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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09c. 1700 AD

The fool is in himself the object of pity till he is flattered.

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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10c. 1700 AD

The reason that there is such a general outcry against flatterers is, that there are so very few good ones.

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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11c. 1700 AD

There is something so moving in the very image of weeping beauty.

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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12c. 1700 AD

They who resign life rather than part with liberty do only a prudent action; but those who lay it down for friends and country do a heroic one.

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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13c. 1700 AD

Very great benefactors to the rich, or those whom they call people at their ease, are your persons of no consequence.

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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14c. 1700 AD

What we want to be pleased with flattery, is to believe that the man is sincere who gives it us.

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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15c. 1700 AD

The inquisitive are the funnels of conversation; they do not take in anything for their own use, but merely to pass it to others.

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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16c. 1700 AD

Almighty Father, gracious Lord, Kind guardian of my days, Thy mercies let my heart record In songs of grateful praise. In life’s first dawn, my tender frame, Was thy indulgent care, Long ere I could pronounce thy name, Or breathe the infant prayer. Each rolling year new favours brought From thy exhaustless store; But ah! in vain my lab’ring thought, Would count thy mercies o’er. While sweet reflection, through my days, Thy bounteous hand would trace; Still dearer blessings claim my praise, The blessings of thy grace.

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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17c. 1700 AD

Stretched on the cross, the Saviour dies, Hark! his expiring groans arise! See, how the sacred crimson tide Flows from his hands, his feet, his side. But life attends the deathful sound, And flows from every bleeding wound; The vital stream, how free it flows, To save and cleanse his rebel foes! Lord! didst thou bleed? for sinners bleed? And could the sun behold the deed? No! he withdrew his sickening ray, And darkness veiled the mourning day.

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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18c. 1700 AD

Oppress’d with guilt, a painful load, O come, and spread your woes abroad! Divine compassion, mighty love, Will all the painful load remove. Here mercy’s boundless ocean flows To cleanse your guilt, and heal your woes; Pardon, and life, and endless peace; How rich the gift! how free the grace!

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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19c. 1700 AD

Jesus, in Thy transporting name What blissful glories rise! Jesus the angels’ sweetest theme! The wonder of the skies! Well might the skies with wonder view A love so strange as thine, No thought of angels ever knew Compassion so divine.

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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20c. 1700 AD

Jesus, the spring of joys divine, Whence all our hopes and comforts flow: Jesus, no other name but Thine Can save us from eternal woe.

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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21c. 1700 AD

Dear Saviour! draw reluctant hearts, To Thee let sinners fly, And take the bliss Thy love imparts, And drink, and never die!

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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22c. 1700 AD

Life is a span, a fleeting hour! How soon the vapour flies! Man is a tender transient flower, That e’en in blooming dies.

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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23c. 1700 AD

As beauty of body, with an agreeable carriage, pleases the eye, and that pleasure consists in that we observe all the parts with a certain elegance are proportioned to each other; so does decency of behavior which appears in our lives obtain the approbation of all with whom we converse, from the order, consistency, and moderation of our words and actions.

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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24c. 1700 AD

This portable quality of good-humor seasons all the parts and occurrences we meet with, in such a manner that there are no moments lost, but they all pass with so much satisfaction that the heaviest of loads (when it is a load), that of time, is never felt by us.

Sir Richard Steele / quote

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