Tobias Smollett

Tobias George Smollett (c. March 16, 1721 – September 17, 1771) was a Scottish novelist, translator, historian and editor.

Quotes

 * Facts are stubborn things.
 * Translation of Gil Blas (1749), Book X, Chap. 1.
 * Also used by Bernard Mandeville in An Enquiry Into the Origin of Honour (1732), p. 162, and by Jared Elliot in Essay on Field Husbandry (1747), p. 35.


 * Thy spirit, Independence, let me share, Lord of the lion-heart and eagle-eye. Thy steps I follow with my bosom bare, Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky.
 * Ode to Independence, strophe 1.


 * Those sculptur'd halls my feet shall never tread, Where varnish'd vice and vanity combin'd, To dazzle and seduce, their banners spread, And forge vile shackles for the free-born mind.
 * Ode to Independence, antistrophe 3.


 * Writing is all a lottery -- I have been a loser by the works of the greatest men of the age.
 * The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771).


 * Thy fatal shafts unerring move, I bow before thine altar, Love!
 * The Adventures of Roderick Random (1848), Chapter xl, reported in Bartlett's Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

The Regicide (1749)

 * Keen are the pangs Of hapless love, and passion unapprov'd: But where consenting wishes meet, and vows Reciprocally breath'd, confirm the tie, Joy rolls on joy, an inexhausted stream! And virtue crowns the sacred scene.
 * Act I, scene iii.


 * To-day, in snow array'd, stern winter rules The ravag'd plain—Anon the teeming earth Unlocks her stores, and spring adorns the year: And shall not we—while fate, like winter, frowns, Expect revolving bliss?
 * Act I, scene vi.


 * To exult Ev'n o'er an enemy oppress'd, and heap Affliction on the afflicted, is the mark And the mean triumph of a dastard soul.
 * Act II, scene vii.


 * True courage scorns To vent her prowess in a storm of words; And, to the valiant, actions speak alone.
 * Act II, scene vii.


 * To send the injur'd unredress'd away, How great soe'er th' offender, or the wrong'd Howe'er obscure, is wicked—weak and vile: Degrades, denies, and should dethrone a king!
 * Act IV, scene ix.

Misattributed

 * As Love can exquisitely bless, Love only feels the marvellous of pain; Opens new veins of torture in the soul, And wakes the nerve where agonies are born.
 * Edward Young, The Brothers (1753), Act V, scene i.