“Fishes do not roar; they cannot express any sound of suffering; and therefore the angler chooses to think they do not suffer, more than it is convenient for him to fancy.”

—  Leigh Hunt

Revised edition, London, Smith, Elder & Co., 1889, p. 114
The Town: Its Memorable Characters and Events (1848)
Context: Fishes do not roar; they cannot express any sound of suffering; and therefore the angler chooses to think they do not suffer, more than it is convenient for him to fancy. Now it is a poor sport that depends for its existence on the want of a voice in the sufferer, and of imagination in the sportsman.

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Leigh Hunt 17
English critic, essayist, poet and writer 1784–1859

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