“As we jogg on, either laugh with me, or at me, or in short do any thing—only keep your temper.”

— Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy, Book I, Ch. 6, 1760

About Laurence Sterne

1713 – 1768

Irish-born English novelist, author of "Tristram Shandy".

“The brave only know how to forgive.”

“For every ten jokes, thou hast got a hundred enemies.”

“'Tis known by the name of perseverance in a good cause — and of obstinacy in a bad one.”

“The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.”

“If a man could half his wishes he would double his troubles.”

“Wit is cultured insolence.”

“Your race, in its poverty, has unquestionably one really effective weapon—laughter.”

“A sense of humour is a sense of proportion.”

“My way of joking is to tell the truth. It's the funniest joke in the world.”