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It is the calling of great men, not so much to preach new truths, as to rescue from oblivion those old truths which it is our wisdom to remember and our weakness to forget.

It is the calling of great men, not so much to preach new truths, as to rescue from oblivion those old truths which it is our wisdom to remember and our weakness to forget.

Approximate author period: c. 1807 AD · industrial

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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
My Commonplace Book (third English edition,1921) (1921 AD)

Page 78 · printed citation: Sydney Smith. · compiler notes excluded

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