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“Tant pis and tant mieux, being two of the great hinges in French conversation, a stranger would do well to set himself right in the use of them before he gets to Paris.”

Laurence Sterne book A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy

Montreuil.
A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (1768)

“As for the clergy — No — If I say a word against them, I'll be shot. — I have no desire, — and besides, if I had, — I durst not for my soul touch upon the subject, — with such weak nerves and spirits, and in the condition I am in at present, 'twould be as much as my life was worth, to deject and contrist myself with so bad and melancholy an account, — and therefore, 'tis safer to draw a curtain across, and hasten from it, as fast as I can, to the main and principal point I have undertaken to clear up, — and that is, How it comes to pass, that your men of least wit are reported to be men of most judgment.”

Laurence Sterne book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Book III, Ch. 20.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767)

“Persuasion hung upon his lips, and the elements of Logick and Rhetorick were so blended up in him, — and, withall, he had so shrewd guess at the weaknesses and passions of his respondent, — that NATURE might have stood up and said, — "This man is eloquent."”

Laurence Sterne book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Book I, Ch. 19.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767)

“Only the brave know how to forgive…A coward never forgave; it is not in his nature.”

Laurence Sterne

Sermons, Vol. I, No. 12 (1760).

“Go poor Devil, get thee gone, why should I hurt thee? — This world surely is wide enough to hold both thee and me.”

Laurence Sterne book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Book II, Ch. 12 (Uncle Toby to the fly).
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767)

“Whistled up to London, upon a Tom Fool's errand.”

Laurence Sterne book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Book I, Ch. 16.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767)

“"Pray, my dear," quoth my mother, "have you not forgot to wind up the clock?" — "Good G—!" cried my father, making an exclamation, but taking care to moderate his voice at the same time, — "Did ever woman, since the creation of the world, interrupt a man with such a silly question?"”

Laurence Sterne book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Book I, Ch. 1.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767)

“The history of a soldier's wound beguiles the pain of it.”

Laurence Sterne book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Book I, Ch. 25.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767)

“It had ever been the custom of the family, and by length of time was almost become a matter of common right, that the eldest son of it should have free ingress, egress, and regress into foreign parts before marriage, — not only for the sake of bettering his own private parts, by the benefit of exercise and change of so much air — but simply for the mere delectation of his fancy, by the feather put into his cap, of having been abroad.”

Laurence Sterne book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Book IV, Ch. 31.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767)

“When issues of events like these my father is waiting for, are hanging in the scales of fate, the mind has the advantage of changing the principle of expectation three times, without which it would not have power to see it out.Curiosity governs the first moment; and the second moment is all economy to justify the expense of the first — and for the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth moments, and so on to the day of judgment — 'tis a point of HONOUR.I need not be told, that the ethic writers have assigned this all to Patience; but that VIRTUE, methinks, has extent of domination sufficient of her own, and enough to do in it, without invading the few dismantled castles which HONOUR has left him upon the earth.”

Laurence Sterne book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Book IX (1767), Ch. 10.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767)

“Now or never was the time.”

Laurence Sterne book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Book IV, Ch. 31.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767)

“Digressions, incontestably, are the sunshine; —& they are the life, the soul of reading; — take them out of this book for instance, — you might as well take the book along with them.”

Laurence Sterne book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Book I, Ch. 22.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767)

“He was within a few hours of giving his enemies the slip forever.”

Laurence Sterne book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Book I, Ch. 12.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767)

“So long as a man rides his hobbyhorse peaceably and quietly along the King's highway, and neither compels you or me to get up behind him — pray, Sir, what have either you or I to do with it?”

Laurence Sterne book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Book I, Ch. 7.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767)

“They order, said I, this matter better in France.”

Laurence Sterne book A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy

Source: A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (1768), Line 1.

“Writing, when properly managed, (as you may be sure I think mine is) is but a different name for conversation.”

Laurence Sterne book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Book II, Ch. 11.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767)

“Of all the cants which are canted in this canting world, — though the cant of hypocrites may be the worst, — the cant of criticism is the most tormenting!”

Laurence Sterne book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Book III, Ch. 12.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767)

“As we jogg on, either laugh with me, or at me, or in short do any thing—only keep your temper.”

Laurence Sterne book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Book I, Ch. 6 http://books.google.com/books?id=COoNAAAAQAAJ&q=%22as+we+jogg+on+either+laugh+with+me+or+at+me+or+in+short+do+any+thing+only+keep+your+temper%22&pg=PA19#v=onepage. <br class="br">The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767)

“A man should know something of his own country too, before he goes abroad.”

Laurence Sterne book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Book VII (1765), Ch. 2.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767)

“For every ten jokes, thou hast got a hundred enemies.”

Laurence Sterne book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Book I, Ch. 12.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767)