1940s, To Every Briton (1940)
Context: May God give power to every word of mine. In his name I began to write this, and in His name I close it. May your statesman have the wisdom and courage to respond to my appeal. I am telling His Excellency the Viceroy that my services are at the disposal of His Majesty’s Government, should they consider them of any practical use in advancing the object of my appeal.
“Writing, when properly managed, (as you may be sure I think mine is) is but a different name for conversation.”
Book II, Ch. 11.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767)
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Laurence Sterne 50
Irish/English writer 1713–1768Related quotes
“Where no visible fruit can be found, there you may be sure is no conversion.”
Source: Old Paths (1878), Ch. XII: "Conversion", p. 335
“In all that I write, may her will, not mine, be done!”
Invitation to the Journey
Journey Within (1947)
Context: Never do I hesitate to look squarely at the unexpected face that every passing hour unveils to us, and to sacrifice the false images of it formed in advance, however dear they may be. In me, the love of life in general predominates over love of my own life (that, indeed, would never have sufficed to bear me up). May life herself speak! However inadequate I may be in listening to her, and in repeating her words, I shall try to record them, even if they contradict my most secret desires. In all that I write, may her will, not mine, be done!
“Mine is not an obedient writing. I think that literature as any art has to be irreverent.”
Source: Testimony of Frederick W. Taylor... 1912, p. 107.