Source: A Dictionary of Thoughts, 1891, pp. 11–12.
Quoted in The Later Years of Thomas Hardy (1930), by Florence Emily Hardy, ch. 17, p. 212
Variant: Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity trust upon them.
Source: Catch-22 (1961)
Context: Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. With Major Major it had been all three.
“Some men are born sodomites, some achieve sodomy, and some have sodomy thrust upon them…”
Source: The Scented Garden Of Abdullah The Satirist Of Shiraz
On Art And Artists (1800) 'On the Foundation of the Royal Academy'
1800s
Truth Behind the Fantasy of Porn: The Greatest Illusion on Earth (2010), Ch. II
“Perfect health depends upon perfect circulation.”
Vol. 2, p. 531
Testimonies for the Church (1855 - 1868)
1880s, Plea for Free Speech in Boston (1880)
Frame of Government (1682)
Context: Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give them; and as governments are made and moved by men, so by them they are ruined too. Wherefore governments rather depend upon men, than men upon governments. Let men be good, and the government cannot be bad; if it be ill, they will cure it. But, if men be bad, let the government be never so good, they will endeavor to warp and spoil it to their turn.
Source: Fallen Leaves (2014), Ch. 1 : Our life begins
