Henry Fielding Quotes

Wine is a turncoat; first a friend and then an enemy.

Handsome is that handsome does.

Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea.

Domestic happiness is the end of almost all our pursuits, and the common reward of all our pains. When men find themselves forever barred from this delightful fruition, they are lost to all industry, and grow careless of all their worldly affairs. Thus they become bad subjects, bad relations, bad friends, and bad men.

When mighty roast beef was the Englishman's food It ennobled our hearts and enriched our blood-- Our soldiers were brave and our courtiers were good. Oh! the roast beef of England. And Old England's roast beef.

What caricature is in painting, burlesque is in writing; and in the same manner the comic writer and painter correlate to each other; as in the former, the painter seems to have the advantage, so it is in the latter infinitely on the side of the writer. For the monstrous is much easier to paint than describe, and the ridiculous to describe than paint.

Make money your god, and it will plague you like the devil.

There is not in the universe a more ridiculous, nor a more contemptible animal, than a proud clergyman.

The hounds all join in glorious cry, / The huntsman winds his horn: / And a-hunting we will go.

Most men like in women what is most opposite their own characters.

He in a few minutes ravished this fair creature, or at least would have ravished her, if she had not, by a timely compliance, prevented him.

Perhaps the summary of good-breeding may be reduced to this rule. "Behave unto all men as you would they should behave unto you." This will most certainly oblige us to treat all mankind with the utmost civility and respect, there being nothing that we desire more than to be treated so by them.

A good countenance is a letter of recommendation.

When children are doing nothing, they are doing mischief.

Neither great poverty nor great riches will hear reason

There is nothing so useful to man in general, nor so beneficial to particular societies and individuals, as trade. This is that alma mater, at whose plentiful breast all mankind are nourished.

A truly elegant taste is generally accompanied with excellency of heart.

Scarcely one person in a thousand is capable of tasting the happiness of others.

Fashion is the science of appearance, and it inspires one with the desire to seem rather than to be.

The slander of some people is as great a recommendation as the praise of others.

And here, I believe, the wit is generally misunderstood. In reality, it lies in desiring another to kiss your a-- for having just before threatened to kick his; for I have observed very accurately, that no one ever desires you to kick that which belongs to himself, nor offers to kiss this part in another.

Distance of Time and Place do really cure what they seem to aggravate; and taking Leave of our Friends resembles taking Leave of the World, concerning which it hath been often said, that it is not Death but Dying which is terrible.

He grew weary of this condescension, and began to treat the opinions of his wife with that haughtiuess and insolence, which none but those who deserve some contempt themselves can bestow, and those only who deserve no contempt can bear.

The life of a coquette is one constant lie; and the only rule by which you can form any correct judgment of them is that they are never what they seem.

We are as liable to be corrupted by books, as by companions.

All nature wears one universal grin.

Guilt has very quick ears to an accusation.

Riches without charity are nothing worth. They are a blessing only to him who makes them a blessing to others.

It is much easier to make good men wise, than to make bad men good.

It hath been often said, that it is not death, but dying, which is terrible.

Contempt of others is the truest symptom of a base and bad heart,--while it suggests itself to the mean and the vile, and tickles there little fancy on every occasion, it never enters the great and good mind but on the strongest motives; nor is it then a welcome guest,--affording only an uneasy sensation, and bringing always with it a mixture of concern and compassion.

Adversity is the trial of principle. Without it, a man hardly knows whether he is honest or not.

A lottery is a taxation on all of the fools in creation.

Let no man be sorry he has done good, because others have done evil.

Enough is equal to a feast.

Great joy, especially after a sudden change of circumstances, is apt to be silent, and dwells rather in the heart than on the tongue.

What's vice today may be virtue, tomorrow.

There's one fool at least in every married couple.

Custom may lead a man into many errors; but it justifies none.

Public schools are the nurseries of all vice and immorality.

When I'm not thanked at all, I'm thanked enough.

In a debate, rather pull to pieces the argument of thy antagonists than offer him any of thy own; for thus thou wilt fight him in his own country.

Worth begets in base minds, envy; in great souls, emulation.

Sensuality not only debases both body and mind, but dulls the keen edge of pleasure.

Commend a fool for his wit, or a rogue for his honesty and he will receive you into his favour.

A broken heart is a distemper which kills many more than is generally imagined, and would have a fair title to a place in the bills of mortality, did it not differ in one instance from all other diseases, namely, that no physicians can cure it.

Never trust the man who has reason to suspect that you know he hath injured you.

Tea! The panacea for everything from weariness to a cold to a murder Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea.

Now in reality, the world has paid too great a compliment to critics, and has imagined them to be men of much greater profundity than they really are.

Wisdom is the talent of buying virtuous pleasures at the cheapest rate.