Henry Fielding: Quotes about men

Henry Fielding was English novelist and dramatist. Explore interesting quotes on men.

Henry Fielding: 140 quotes12 likes

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

Henry Fielding book The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

Source: The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

“I describe not men, but manners; not an individual, but a species.”

Henry Fielding book Joseph Andrews

Book III, Ch. 1
Joseph Andrews (1742)

“A good face, they say, is a letter of recommendation. O Nature, Nature, why art thou so dishonest, as ever to send men with these false recommendations into the World?”

Henry Fielding book Amelia

Book IX, ch. 5
Amelia (1751)

“In reality, the world have payed too great a compliment to critics, and have imagined them men of much greater profundity than they really are.”

Book V, ch. 1
The History of Tom Jones (1749)

“Men who pay for what they eat will insist on gratifying their palates”

Book I, Chapter 1
The History of Tom Jones (1749)

“But perhaps there may be a political reason for it: in finding one of a truly benevolent disposition, men may very reasonably suppose they have found a treasure, and be desirous of keeping it, like all other good things, to themselves. Hence they may imagine, that to trumpet forth the praises of such a person, would, in the vulgar phrase, be crying Roast-meat, and calling in partakers of what they intend to appl solely to their own use. If this reason does not satisfy the reader, I know no other means of accounting for the little respect which I have commonly seen paid to a character which really does great honour to human nature, and is productive of the highest good to society.”