Quote#Nature
It is a prodigious point gained if any man can find out where his…
Quote bySydney Smith · 1771–1845
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Elementary Sketches of Moral Philosophy (1849), Lecture IX : On the Conduct of the Understanding.; this provides the origin of the phrase "a square peg in a round hole"..
English (original)
It is a prodigious point gained if any man can find out where his powers lie, and what are his deficiencies, — if he can contrive to ascertain what Nature intended him for: and such are the changes and chances of the world, and so difficult is it to ascertain our own understandings, or those of others, that most things are done by persons who could have done something else better.
— Sydney Smith
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In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book? Or goes to an American play? or looks at an American picture or statue?