Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding(April 22,1707–October 8,1754) was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humor and satirical prowess and as the author of the novelTom Jones.
Quotes
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- Money is the fruit of evil as often as the root of it.
- Oons, sir! do you say that I am drunk? I say, sir, that I am as sober as ajudge.
- Don Quixote in England(1731), Act III, scene xiv
- A crime, which, though perhaps not considered by law as the highest, is in truth and in fact, the blackestsin,which can contaminate the hands, or pollute thesoulof man.
- Fielding, Henry; ed. by William Ernest Henley. 1903.The Complete Works of Henry Fielding, Esq: Miscellaneous writings.W. Heinemann. p. 162
- Oh, the roast beef ofEngland,
And old England's roast beef!- The Grub Street Opera(1731), Act iii, scene 2; reported inBartlett's Familiar Quotations,10th ed. (1919)
- Much may be said on both sides.
- The Covent Garden Tragedy(1732), Act I, scene vii
- Enough is equal to a feast.
- The Covent Garden Tragedy(1732), Act V, scene 1
- The dusky night rides down the sky,
And ushers in the morn;
The hounds all join in glorious cry,
The huntsman winds his horn,
And a-huntingwe will go.- A-Hunting We Will Go(1734), st. 1
- Depend on me; neverfearyourenemies.I'll warrant we make more noise than they.
- Eurydice Hissed: or A Word to the Wise(1736) inThe Works of Henry Fielding(1775) in Twelve Volumes, Vol. IV, p. 222
- He in a few minutes ravished this fair creature, or at least would have ravished her, if she had not, by a timely compliance, prevented him.
- Jonathan Wild(1743, rev. 1754), Book III, ch. 7
- Illustrious predecessors.
- Covent Garden Journal(11 January 1752)
- "For it is very hard, my lord," said a convicted felon at the bar to the late excellent judge Burnet, "to hang a poor man for stealing ahorse.""You are not to be hanged sir, "answered my ever-honored and beloved friend," for stealing a horse, but you are to be hanged that horses may not be stolen. "
- The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon(1754), Introduction
- Thisstorywill not go down.
- Tumble-down Dick;reported inBartlett's Familiar Quotations,10th ed. (1919)
Love in Several Masques(1728)
[edit]- Alover,when he is admitted to cards, ought to be solemnlysilent,and observe the motions of his mistress. He mustlaughwhen she laughs, sigh when she sighs. In short, he should be theshadowof hermind.A lady, in the presence of her lover, should never want a looking-glass; as a beau, in the presence of his looking-glass, never wants a mistress.
- Act II, sc. xi
- Dancingbegets warmth, which is the parent of wantonness. It is, Sir, the great grandfather of cuckoldom.
- Act III, sc. vii
Tom Thumb the Great(1730)
[edit]- Petition me no petitions, sir, to-day;
Let other hours be set apart for business.
Today it is our pleasure to be drunk;
And this our queen shall be as drunk as we.- Act I, sc. ii
- When I'm not thanked at all, I'm thanked enough;
I've done my duty, and I've done no more.- Act I, sc. iii
- Thy modesty's a candle to thy merit.
- Act I, sc. iii
- To sun myself in Huncamunca's eyes.
- Act I, sc. iii
- Lo, when two dogs are fighting in the streets,
With a third dog one of the two dogs meets;
With angry teeth he bites him to the bone,
And this dog smarts for what that dog has done.- Act I, sc. vi
The Miser(1733)
[edit]- We must eat toliveand live to eat.
- Act III, sc. iii
- Sir,money,money, the most charming of all things; money, which will say more in one moment than the most elegant lover can in years. Perhaps you will say a man is not young; I answer he is rich. He is not genteel, handsome, witty, brave, good-humoured, but he is rich, rich, rich, rich, rich — that onewordcontradicts everything you can say against him.
- Act III, sc. vii
- Penny saved is a penny got.
- Act III, sc. xii
Joseph Andrews(1742)
[edit]- Acomicwritershould of all others be the least excused for deviating fromnature,since it may not be always so easy for a seriouspoetto meet with thegreatand the admirable; butlifeevery where furnishes an accurate observer with the ridiculous.
- Author's Preface
- The only source of the true Ridiculous (as it appears to me) is affectation
- Author's Preface
- It is a trite buttrueobservation,that examplesworkmore forcibly on themindthan precepts.
- Book I, Ch. 1
- To whomnothingis given, of him can nothing be required.
- Book II, Ch. 8
- I am content; that is a blessing greater than riches; and he to whom that is given need ask no more.
- Book II, Ch. 14
- I describe not men, but manners; not an individual, but a species.
- Book III, Ch. 1
- They are the affectation of affectation.
- Book III, Ch. 3
- I have found it; I have discovered the cause of all the misfortunes which befell him. A public school, Joseph, was the cause of all the calamaties which he afterwards suffered. Public schools are the nurseries of all vice and immorality.
- Abraham Adams, speaking of his host, Wilson.
- Book III, Ch. 5
- Some folks rail against other folks, because other folks have what some folks would be glad of.
- Book IV, Ch. 6
The History of Tom Jones(1749)
[edit]- Men who pay for what they eat will insist on gratifying their palates
- Book I, Chapter 1
- The same animal which hath the honour to have some part of his flesh eaten at the table of a duke, may perhaps be degraded in another part,and some of his limbs gibbeted, as it were, in the vilest stall in town.
- Book I, Chapter 1
- ...the excellence of the mental entertainment consists less in the subject than in the author's skill in well dressing it up.
- Book I, Chapter 1
- Reader, I think proper, before we proceed any farther together, to acquaint thee that I intend to digress, through this whole history, as often as I see occasion, of which I am myself a better judge than any pitiful critic... "
- Book I, Chapter 2
- ...for nothing can be more reasonable, than that slaves and flatterers should exact the same taxes on all below them, which they themselves pay to all above them.
- Book I, Chapter 6
- Every physician almost hath his favorite disease.
- Book II, Ch. 9
- Thwackum was for doing justice, and leaving mercy to heaven.
- Book III, Ch. 10
- Can any man have a higher notion of the rule of right and the eternal fitness of things?
- Book IV, Ch. 4
- Inreality,theworldhave payed too great a compliment tocritics,and have imagined them men of much greater profundity than they really are.
- Book V, ch. 1
- He was, indeed, in a condition, in which, if reason had interposed, though only to advise, she might have received the answer which one Cleostratus gave many years ago to a silly fellow, who asked him, if he was not ashamed to be drunk? "Are not you," said Cleostratus, "ashamed to admonish a drunken man?" — To say thetruth,in a court ofjusticedrunkenness must not be an excuse, yet in a court ofconscienceit is greatly so.
- Book V, Ch. 10
- Distinction without a difference.
- Book VI, Ch. 13
- Amiable weakness.
- Book X, Chapter 8
- His designs were strictly honorable, as the phrase is; that is, to rob a lady of her fortune by way of marriage.
- Book XI, Ch. 4
- Republic of letters.
- Book XIV, Chapter 1
- To speak a boldtruth,I am, after much mature deliberation, inclined to suspect that the public voice hath, in all ages, done much injustice toFortune,and hath convicted her of many facts in which she had not the least concern.
- Book I, Ch. 1
- It hath been often said, that it is notdeath,but dying which is terrible.
- Book III, Ch. 4
- Guilthas very quick ears to an accusation.
- Book III, ch. 11
- These are called the pious frauds offriendship.
- Book VI, Ch. 6
- When widows exclaim loudly against second marriages, I would always lay a wager that the man, if not the wedding day, is absolutely fixed on.
- Book VI, Ch. 8
- Onefoolat least in every married couple.
- Book IX, ch. 4
- A good face, they say, is a letter of recommendation. ONature,Nature, why art thou so dishonest, as ever to send men with these false recommendations into the World?
- Book IX, ch. 5
- There is not in theuniversea more ridiculous, nor more contemptible animal, than aproudclergyman.
- Book IX, Ch. 10
Unsourced
[edit]- Custom may lead a man into many errors; but it justifies none.
Quotes about Fielding
[edit]- There is no dull chapter. But he makes the hero too good. He seems to think that so long as Tom goes for a little miscellaneous fornication he will be saved from priggishness. I doubt if this is so, especially at the end, where Tom's angelicalness upon the misfortunes of Blifil is really a bit thick.
- Arnold Bennett,Journal for 19 August 1911, inThe Journals of Arnold Bennett,ed. F. Swinnerton (1954)
