1672-1729, British Dramatist, Essayist, Editor
A healthy old fellow, who is not a fool, is the happiest creature living.
Sir Richard Steele – [Age and Aging]
A little in drink, but at all times your faithful husband.
Sir Richard Steele – [Husbands]
Fire and swords are slow engines of destruction, compared to the tongue of a Gossip.
Sir Richard Steele – [Gossip]
I cannot think of any character below the flatterer, except he who envies him.
Sir Richard Steele – [Flattery]
I know of no manner of speaking so offensive as that of giving praise, and closing it with an exception.
Sir Richard Steele – [Praise]
It is to be noted that when any part of this paper appears dull there is a design in it.
Sir Richard Steele – [Dullness]
Nothing can atone for the lack of modesty; without which beauty is ungraceful and wit detestable.
Sir Richard Steele – [Modesty]
Praise from an enemy is the most pleasing of all commendations.
Sir Richard Steele – [Praise]
Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. It is wholesome and bracing for the mind to have its faculties kept on the stretch.
Sir Richard Steele – [Books and Reading]
Simplicity of all things is the hardest to be copy.
Sir Richard Steele – [Imitation]
That man never grows old who keeps a child in his heart.
Sir Richard Steele – [Age and Aging]
The fool within himself is the object of pity, until he is flattered.
Sir Richard Steele – [Fools and Foolishness]
The insupportable labor of doing nothing.
Sir Richard Steele – [Idleness]
The marriage state, with and without the affection suitable to it, is the completest image of Heaven and Hell we are capable of receiving in this life.
Sir Richard Steele – [Marriage]
To behold her is an immediate check to loose behavior; to love her is a liberal education.
Sir Richard Steele – [Women]
To give pain is the tyranny; to make happy, the true empire of beauty.
Sir Richard Steele – [Beauty]
Zeal for the public good is the characteristic of a man of honor and a gentleman, and must take the place of pleasures, profits and all other private gratification.
Sir Richard Steele – [Service]