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All affectation proceeds from the supposition of possessing something better than the rest of the world possesses. Nobody is vain of possessing two legs and two arms, because that is the precise quantity of either sort of limb which everybody possesses.

All affectation proceeds from the supposition of possessing something better than the rest of the world possesses. Nobody is vain of possessing two legs and two arms, because that is the precise quantity of either sort of limb which everybody possesses.

Approximate author period: c. 1807 AD · industrial

Meaning not yet available

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Attribution & collection notes
Author or tradition
Sydney Smith
Attribution: attributed
Country attributed
Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin.
Historical period
Approximate author period: c. 1807 AD · industrial
author lifetime midpoint (1769–1845)
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken.
Recorded source
Pearls of Thought (1881) (1881 AD)

Page 5 · printed citation: Sydney Smith · subject: Affectation

A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.