Samuel Richardson

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The heart that is able to partake of the distress of another, cannot wilfully give it.

Samuel Richardson (19 August 16894 July 1761) was an 18th-century English writer and printer. He was one of the most admired fiction-writers of his day, both in his native England and across Europe. He is now considered one of the fathers of the novel.

Quotes[edit]

I am forced, as I have often said, to try to make myself laugh, that I may not cry: for one or other I must do.

Pamela (1740)[edit]

Quotations are cited from the Oxford World’s Classics edition (2001). ISBN 0192829602.
  • O! what a Godlike Power is that of doing Good! — I envy the Rich and the Great for nothing else!
    • p. 312
  • My Master said, on another Occasion, that those who doubt most, always erred least.
    • p. 332

Clarissa (1747–1748)[edit]

Quotations are taken from the Tauchnitz edition (1862)
  • That dangerous but too commonly received notion, that a reformed rake makes the best husband.
    • Vol. 1, p. 5; Preface
  • The person who will bear much shall have much to bear, all the world through.
    • Vol. 1, p. 44; Letter 10
  • The pleasures of the mighty are obtained by the tears of the poor.
    • Vol. 1, p. 286; Letter 43
  • I am forced, as I have often said, to try to make myself laugh, that I may not cry: for one or other I must do.
    • Vol. 2, p. 231; Letter 92
  • Love gratified, is love satisfied — and love satisfied, is indifference begun.
    • Vol. 2, p. 452; Letter 126
  • Nothing can be more wounding to a spirit not ungenerous, than a generous forgiveness.
    • Vol. 2, p. 478; Letter 135

Sir Charles Grandison (1753–1754)[edit]

Quotations are taken from the first edition.
Vast is the field of Science … the more a man knows, the more he will find he has to know.
  • Vast is the field of Science … the more a man knows, the more he will find he has to know.
    • Vol. 1, letter 11
  • The World, thinking itself affronted by superior merit, takes delight to bring it down to its own level.
    • Vol. 1, letter 36
  • Women are so much in love with compliments that rather than want them, they will compliment one another, yet mean no more by it than the men do.
    • Vol. 1, letter 37
  • Those who have least to do are generally the most busy people in the world.
    • Vol. 2, letter 3
  • A feeling heart is a blessing that no one, who has it, would be without; and it is a moral security of innocence; since the heart that is able to partake of the distress of another, cannot wilfully give it.
    • Vol. 3, letter 32
  • There hardly can be a greater difference between any two men, than there too often is, between the same man, a lover and a husband.
    • Vol. 4, letter 17
  • Of what violences, murders, depredations, have not the epic poets, from all antiquity, been the occasion, by propagating false honour, false glory, and false religion?
    • Vol. 6, letter 45
  • The mind can be but full. It will be as much filled with a small disagreeable occurrence, having no other, as with a large one.
    • Vol. 6, letter 46

The Correspondence of Samuel Richardson with Lady Bradshaigh (1804)[edit]

All quotes are from the public domain text, available at "The Correspondence of Samuel Richardson. Vol. 6"
  • The pen is almost as pretty an implement in a woman's fingers, as a needle.
    • p. 120

Quotes about Richardson[edit]

  • Erskine: "Surely, Sir, Richardson is very tedious."
    Johnson: "Why, Sir, if you were to read Richardson for the story, your impatience would be so much fretted that you would hang yourself. But you must read him for the sentiment, and consider the story as only giving occasion to the sentiment."
  • When his story of Pamela first came out, some extracts got into the public papers, and used by that means to find their way down as far as Preston in Lancashire, where my aunt who told me the story then resided. One morning as she rose, the bells were set singing and the flag was observed to fly from the great steeple. She rang her bell and inquired the reason of these rejoicings, when her maid came in bursting with joy, and said, "Why, madam, poor Pamela's married at last; the news came down to us in this morning's paper."

External links[edit]

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