Wit is the salt of conversation, not the food, and few things in the world are more wearying than a sarcastic attitude towards life.
AGNES REPPLIERIt is not the office of a novelist to show us how to behave ourselves; it is not the business of fiction to teach us anything.
More Agnes Repplier Quotes
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Wit is a pleasure-giving thing, largely because it eludes reason; but in the apprehension of an absurdity through the working of the comic spirit there is a foundation of reason, and an impetus to human companionship.
AGNES REPPLIER -
There was no escape from the letter-writer who, a hundred or a hundred and twenty-five years ago, captured a coveted correspondent. It would have been as easy to shake off an octopus or a boa-constrictor.
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Men who believe that, through some exceptional grace or good fortune, they have found God, feel little need of culture.
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There are many ways of asking a favor; but to assume that you are granting the favor that you ask shows spirit and invention.
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it is not every tourist who bubbles over with mirth, and that unquenchable spirit of humor which turns a trial into a blessing.
AGNES REPPLIER -
the most comfortable characteristic of the period [1775-1825], and the one which incites our deepest envy, is the universal willingness to accept a good purpose as a substitute for good work.
AGNES REPPLIER -
The least practical of us have some petty thrift dear to our hearts, some one direction in which we love to scrimp.
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Our dogs will love and admire the meanest of us, and feed our colossal vanity with their uncritical homage.
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It has been well said that tea is suggestive of a thousand wants, from which spring the decencies and luxuries of civilization.
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Life is so full of miseries, minor and major; they press so close upon us at every step of the way, that it is hardly worthwhile to call one another’s attention to their presence.
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The carefully fostered theory that schoolwork can be made easy and enjoyable breaks down as soon as anything, however trivial, has to be learned.
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In the stress of modern life, how little room is left for that most comfortable vanity that whispers in our ears that failures are not faults! Now we are taught from infancy that we must rise or fall upon our own merits; that vigilance wins success, and incapacity means ruin
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We know when we have had enough of a friend, and we know when a friend has had enough of us. The first truth is no more palatable than the second.
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While art may instruct as well as please, it can nevertheless be true art without instructing, but not without pleasing.
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The soul begins to travel when the child begins to think.
AGNES REPPLIER