Quotes by William Shenstone

About William Shenstone:

William Shenstone was an English poet and one of the earliest practitioners of landscape gardening through the development of his estate, The Leasowes.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Laws are generally found to be nets of such a texture, as the little creep through, the great break through, and the middle-sized are alone entangled in it.

William Shenstone

Anger is a great force. If you control it, it can be transmuted into a power which can move the whole world.

William Shenstone

The best time to frame an answer to the letters of a friend, is the moment you receive them. Then the warmth of friendship, and the intelligence received, most forcibly cooperate.

William Shenstone

Grandeur and beauty are so very opposite, that you often diminish the one as you increase the other. Variety is most akin to the latter, simplicity to the former.

William Shenstone

Hope is a flatterer, but the most upright of all parasites; for she frequents the poor man's hut, as well as the palace of his superior.

William Shenstone

A man has generally the good or ill qualities, which he attributes to mankind.

William Shenstone

Every good poet includes a critic, but the reverse is not true.

William Shenstone

Jealousy is the fear or apprehension of superiority: envy our uneasiness under it.

William Shenstone

His knowledge of books had in some degree diminished his knowledge of the world.

William Shenstone

Every single instance of a friend's insincerity increases our dependence on the efficacy of money.

William Shenstone

Poetry and consumption are the most flattering of diseases.

William Shenstone

The lines of poetry, the period of prose, and even the texts of Scripture most frequently recollected and quoted, are those which are felt to be preeminently musical.

William Shenstone

The proper means of increasing the love we bear our native country is to reside some time in a foreign one.

William Shenstone

Zealous men are ever displaying to you the strength of their belief, while judicious men are showing you the grounds of it.

William Shenstone

A liar begins with making falsehood appear like truth, and ends with making truth itself appear like falsehood.

William Shenstone

The eye must be easy, before it can be pleased.

William Shenstone

A fool and his words are soon parted.

William Shenstone

Virtues, like essences, lose their fragrance when exposed.

William Shenstone

What leads to unhappiness, is making pleasure the chief aim.

William Shenstone

Second thoughts oftentimes are the very worst of all thoughts.

William Shenstone

Author Bio

  • NameWilliam Shenstone
  • DescriptionEnglish gardener
  • BornNovember 18, 1714
  • DiedFebruary 11, 1763
  • CountryUnited Kingdom
  • ProfessionHorticulturist; Poet; Author; Gardener