Faults Quotes - Page 15

• None, none descends into himself, to find
  The secret imperfections of his mind:
  But every one is eagle-ey'd to see
  Another's faults, and his deformity.

  John Dryden

  Eagles, Imperfection, Mind

  John Dryden (1760). “The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, Esq;: Containing All His Original Poems, Tales, and Translations. Now First Collected and Published Together in Four Volumes. With Explanatory Notes and Observations. Also an Account of His Life and Writings ...”, p.379

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• I do not find fault with equality for drawing men into the pursuit of forbidden pleasures, but for absorbing them entirely in the search for the pleasures that are permitted.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Men, Drawing, Pleasure

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• Everyone puts his fault on the Times.

  George Herbert

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• Great vices are the proper objects of our detestation, smaller faults of our pity, but affectation appears to be the only true source of the ridiculous.

  Henry Fielding

  Vices, Ridiculous, Pity

  Henry Fielding (1821). “The novels of Henry Fielding ... complete in one volume. To which is prefixed, a memoir of the life of the author [by sir W. Scott].”, p.5

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• Fear hath the common fault of a justice of peace, and is apt to conclude hastily from every slight circumstance, without examining the evidence on both sides.

  Henry Fielding

  Fear, Justice, Sides

  Henry Fielding, Sir Walter Scott (1831). “The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling”, p.91

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• Avoid Extremes; and shun the fault of such Who still are pleas'd too little or too much.

  Alexander Pope

  Littles, Too Much, Extremes

  Alexander Pope (1847). “The works of Alexander Pope, with notes and illustrations, by himself and others. To which are added, a new life of the author [&c.] by W. Roscoe”, p.355

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• A perfect Judge will read each work of Wit
  With the same spirit that its author writ:
  Survey the Whole, nor seek slight faults to find
  Where nature moves, and rapture warms the mind.

  Alexander Pope

  Moving, Perfect, Judging

  Alexander Pope (1804). “A Select Collection of Poems: Viz. An Essay on Man; An Essay on Criticism; The Messiah; &c. &c. ... To which are Prefixed, An Account of the Life of the Author”, p.105

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• For the first time, the best may err, art may persuade, and novelty spread out its charms. The first fault is the child of simplicity; but every other the offspring of guilt.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Art, Children, Simplicity

  Oliver Goldsmith (1840). “The vicar of Wakefield, accentuirt mit Wörterbuche von K.R. Schaub”, p.89

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• The way to acquire lasting esteem is not by the fewness of a writer's faults, but the greatness of his beauties, and our noblest works are generally most replete with both.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Greatness, Style, Way

  Oliver Goldsmith, Henry George Bohn (1848). “Works: With a Life and Notes”, p.111

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• [Rhyme is] but the invention of a barbarous age, to set off wretched matter and lame Meter; ... Not without cause therefore some both Italian and Spanish poets of prime note have rejected rhyme, ... as have also long since our best English tragedies, as... trivial and of no true musical delight; which [truly] consists only in apt numbers, fit quantity of syllables, and the sense variously drawn out from one verse into another, not in the jingling sound of like endings, a fault avoided by the learned ancients both in poetry and all good oratory.

  John Milton

  Italian, Numbers, Long

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• Let wealth come in by comely thrift,
  And not by any sordid shift;
  'T is haste
  Makes waste;
  Extremes have still their fault.
  Who gripes too hard the dry and slipp'ry sand,
  Holds none at all, or little, in his hand.

  Robert Herrick

  Hands, Haste Makes Waste, Dry

  Robert Herrick (1852). “Hesperides; or, Works both human and divine”, p.206

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• A critic is never too severe when he only detects the faults of an author. But he is worse than too severe when, in consequence of this detection, be presumes to place himself on a level with genius.

  Walter Savage Landor

  Genius, Levels, Critics

  Walter Savage Landor (1853). “The works of Walter Savage Landor [ed. by J. Forster].”, p.162

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• Most men call fretting a minor fault, a foible, and not a vice. There is no vice except drunkenness which can so utterly destroy the peace, the happiness of a hoe.

  Helen Hunt Jackson

  Men, Hoe, Vices

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• Pride counterbalances all our miseries, for it either hides them, or, if it discloses them, boasts of that disclosure. Pride has such a thorough possession of us, even in the midst of our miseries and faults, that we are prepared to sacrifice life with joy, if it may but be talked of.

  Blaise Pascal

  Sacrifice, Pride, Joy

  Blaise Pascal (1849). “Thoughts of Blaise Pascal”, p.89

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• Why marry a woman if you're going to betray her, and if you're going to betray her, why beat her? The fault is not hers ... I sometimes think the worst we do, we do behind closed doors.

  Rita Mae Brown

  Thinking, Doors, Infidelity

  Rita Mae Brown (2011). “Dolley”, p.49, Bantam

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• The World's a Printing-House, our words, our thoughts,
  Our deeds, are characters of several sizes.
  Each soul is a Compos'tor, of whose faults
  The Levites are Correctors; Heaven Revises.
  Death is the common Press, from whence being driven,
  We're gather'd, Sheet by Sheet, and bound for Heaven.

  Francis Quarles

  Character, House, Heaven

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• It is undoubtedly true, though it may seem paradoxical,--but, in general, those who are habitually employed in finding and displaying faults are unqualified for the work of reformation.

  Edmund Burke

  May, Unqualified, Paradoxical

  Edmund Burke (1852). “The works and correspondence of...Edmund Burke”, p.291

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• sometimes the very faults of parents produce a tendency to opposite virtues in their children.

  Maria Edgeworth

  Children, Opposites, Parent

  Maria Edgeworth, Richard Lovell Edgeworth (1822). “Works”, p.302

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• Happy the innocent whose equal thoughts are free from anguish as they are from faults.

  Edmund Waller

  Innocence, Innocent, Equal

  Edmund Waller (1744). “Sammlung”, p.219

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• True religion has a universal quality. It does not find fault with other religions. False religions will find fault with other religions; they will say that theirs is the only valid religion and their prophet is the only saviour. But a true religion will feel that all the prophets are saviours of mankind.

  Sri Chinmoy

  Religion, Quality, Doe

  Sri Chinmoy (2003). “Wisdom of Sri Chinmoy”, p.291, Motilal Banarsidass Publ.

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• It is a fault to wish to be understood before we have made ourselves clear to ourselves.

  Simone Weil

  Wish, Made, Clear

  Simone Weil (2002). “Gravity and Grace”, p.66, Psychology Press

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• We have to try to cure our faults by attention and not by will.

  Simone Weil

  Trying, Attention, Cures

  Simone Weil (2002). “Gravity and Grace”, p.116, Psychology Press

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• Self-conceit is a weighty quality, and will sometimes bring down the scale when there is nothing else in it. It magnifies a fault beyond proportion, and swells every omission into an outrage.

  Jeremy Collier

  Self, Omission, Quality

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• To hint at a fault does more mischief than speaking out; for whatever is left for the imagination to finish will not fail to be overdone.

  Hannah More

  Imagination, Criticism, Doe

  Hannah More (1835). “The Works of Hannah More”, p.354

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• it may be in morals as it is in optics, the eye and the object may come too close to each other, to answer the end of vision. There are certain faults which press too near our self-love to be even perceptible to us.

  Hannah More

  Eye, Self, Vision

  Hannah More (1843). “Works, Complete”, p.183

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