Quote#Wisdom
Truly … as accidental as my Life may be, or as that random Humour is,…
Quote byAnthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury · 1671–1713
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (1711), Vol. 2, p. 83; Part 3, Sect. 1 "Philocles to Palemon"..
English (original)
Truly … as accidental as my Life may be, or as that random Humour is, which governs it; I know nothing, after all, so real or substantial as My-Self. Therefore if there be that Thing you call a Substance, I take for granted I am one. But for anything further relating to this Question, you know my Sceptick Principles: I determine neither way.
— Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury
More from Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury
Truth is the most powerful thing in the world, since even fiction itself must be governed by it, and can only please by its resemblance.
Gravity is of the very Essence of Imposture. It does not only make us mistake other Things, but is apt perpetually almost to mistake it-self.
Through certain humors or passions, and from temper merely, a man may be completely miserable, let his outward circumstances be ever so fortunate.
'Twas the saying of [Georgias Leontinus apud Arist. Rhetor. lib. 3. cap. 18… which the Translator renders, Seria Risu, Risum Seriis discutere] an ancient sage that humour was the only test of gravity, and gravity of humour. For a subject …
How comes it to pass then, that we appear such Cowards in reasoning, and are so afraid to stand the Test of Ridicule?
We may have an excellent Ear in Musick, without being able to perform in any kind. We may judg well of Poetry, without being Poets, or possessing the least of a Poetick Vein: But we can have no tolerable Notion of Goodness, without being …