“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)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "So long as a man rides his hobbyhorse peaceably and quietly along the King's highway, and neither compels you or me to …" by Laurence Sterne?
Laurence Sterne photo
Laurence Sterne50
Irish/English writer 1713–1768

Related quotes

“Cromwell: The King's a man of conscience and he wants either Sir Thomas More to bless his marriage or Sir Thomas More destroyed.
Rich: They seem odd alternatives, Secretary.
Cromwell: Do they? That's because you're not a man of conscience. If the King destroys a man, that's proof to the King that it must have been a bad man, the kind of man a man of conscience ought to destroy — and of course a bad man's blessing's not worth having. So either will do.”

Robert Bolt A Man for All Seasons

Act II
A Man for All Seasons (1960)

G. K. Chesterton photo

“If you know what a man's doing, get in front of him; but if you want to guess what he's doing keep behind him.”

G. K. Chesterton book The Innocence of Father Brown

The Innocence of Father Brown (1911) The Blue Cross
The Father Brown Mystery Series (1910 - 1927)

John Mulaney photo

“I'm one of the worst drivers I have ever seen, and I just want you all to know that, if you're ever on the highway behind me, I hear you honking, and I also don't want me to be doing what I'm doing.”

John Mulaney (1982) American actor and comedian

New in Town (2012)

Suzanne Collins photo

“And then, when he’s been underwater so long I feel certain he’s drowned, his head pops up right next to me and I start. “Don’t do that,” I say. “What? Come up or stay under?” he says. “Either. Neither. Whatever”

Suzanne Collins book Catching Fire

Source: Catching Fire

Alexander Pope photo

“I am his Highness' dog at Kew;
Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?”

Alexander Pope (1688–1744) eighteenth century English poet

"On the Collar of a Dog".

Samuel Adams photo

“As neither reason requires nor religion permits the contrary, every man living in or out of a state of civil society has a right peaceably and quietly to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience.”

Samuel Adams (1722–1803) American statesman, Massachusetts governor, and political philosopher

The Rights of the Colonists (1772)

“I think that if you use long lines, they become – what could they be? The only thing they could be is either highways or architecture or bridges.”

Franz Kline (1910–1962) American painter

n.p.
1960's, Living Art, 1963

William Faulkner photo

“It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and begins to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does.”

William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer

“A dead man, Sir Moses,” Lord Darcy told him.
“Remember, young man, he isn’t dead until I say he’s dead,” Sir Moses said. He pushed Lord Darcy aside and stepped over to the throne. He stared down at Master Sorcerer Dandro Bittman.
“This man is dead,” Sir Moses said.
“Indeed he is, Sir Moses,” Master Sean said, coming up behind him. “And that’s something that neither you with your bone cutting nor I with my spells, nor the finest healer with the most sensitive hands in the kingdom, can do aught about.”

Michael Kurland book Ten Little Wizards

Source: Ten Little Wizards (1988), Chapter 15 (p. 151)

Bram Stoker photo

“Friend John, forgive me if I pain. I showed not my feeling to others when it would wound, but only to you, my old friend, whom I can trust. If you could have looked into my very heart then when I want to laugh; if you could have done so when the laugh arrived; if you could do so now, when King Laugh have pack up his crown, and all that is to him — for he go far, far away from me, and for a long, long time — maybe you would perhaps pity me the most of all.”

Bram Stoker book Dracula

I was touched by the tenderness of his tone, and asked why.
“Because I know!”
Professor Van Helsing to Dr. John Seward, in Dr. Seward's Diary entry for 22 September
Dracula (1897)

Related topics