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

— Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy, Book I, Ch. 12, 1760

About Laurence Sterne

1713 – 1768

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

“The brave only know how to forgive.”

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

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

“Let whatever appears to be the best be to you an inviolable law.”

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

“All that glisters is not gold.”

“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”

“And one man in his time plays many parts.”

“Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.”