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He is not deserving of the name of Englishman who speaketh against ale, that is, good ale.
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Next to the love of God, the love of country is the best preventive of crime.
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Translation is at best an echo.
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I am invariably of the politics of the people at whose table I sit, or beneath whose roof I sleep.
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If you must commit suicide – and there is no knowing to what people may be brought – always contrive to do it as decorously as possible; the decencies, whether of life or of death, should never be lost sight of.
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There are no countries in the world less known by the British than those selfsame British Islands.
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Youth will be served, every dog has his day, and mine has been a fine one.
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A losing trade, I assure you, sir: literature is a drug.
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Two great talkers will not travel far together.
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Life is very sweet, brother; who would wish to die?
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Sherry...a silly, sickly compound, the use of which will transform a nation, however bold and warlike by nature, into a race of sketchers, scribblers, and punsters, in fact into what Englishmen are at the present day.
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Smoking has a sedative effect upon the nerves, and enables a man to bear the sorrows of this life (of which every one has his share) not only decently, but dignifiedly.
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The author of Amelia, the most singular genius which their island ever produced, whose works it has long been the fashion to abuse in public and to read in secret.
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There is a peculiarity in the countenance, as everybody knows, which, though it cannot be described, is sure to betray the Englishman.
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I have always been a friend to hero-worship; it is the only rational one, and has always been in use amongst civilized people.
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It has been said that idleness is the parent of mischief, which is very true; but mischief itself is merely an attempt to escape from the dreary vacuum of idleness.
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There's the wind on the heath, brother; if I could only feel that, I would gladly live for ever.