---
title: "5 Fancy Quotes By Laurence Sterne"
description: "5 Fancy quotes by Laurence Sterne. Plus more from Laurence Sterne and more Fancy sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/114/laurence-sterne-1405_bud_sweet-pliability-of-man-s-spirit-that-ca_130144.jpg"
---

> [Sweet pliability of man's spirit, that can at once surrender itself to illusions, which cheat expectation and sorrow of their weary moments!…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/sweet-pliability-of-man-s-spirit-that-can-at-once-surrender-itself-to/)

[Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/114/laurence-sterne-1405_bud_sweet-pliability-of-man-s-spirit-that-ca_130144.jpg)

> [I have a strong propensity in me to begin this chapter very nonsensically, and I will not balk my fancy.--Accordingly I set…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/i-have-a-strong-propensity-in-me-to-begin-this-chapter-very/)

[Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/403/laurence-sterne-1405_chapters_i-have-a-strong-propensity-in-me-to-begi_905224.jpg)

> [When my way is too rough for my feet, or too steep for my strength, I get off it to some smooth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/when-my-way-is-too-rough-for-my-feet-or-too-steep-for-my-strength-i/)

[Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/492/laurence-sterne-1405_delight_when-my-way-is-too-rough-for-my-feet-or_1090498.jpg)

> [If there is an evil in this world, it is sorrow and heaviness of heart. The loss of goods, of health, of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/if-there-is-an-evil-in-this-world-it-is-sorrow-and-heaviness-of-heart/)

[Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/642/laurence-sterne-1405_death_if-there-is-an-evil-in-this-world-it-is_1520166.jpg)

> [So that the life of a writer, whatever he might fancy to the contrary, was not so much a state of composition,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/so-that-the-life-of-a-writer-whatever-he-might-fancy-to-the-contrary/)

[Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e78/laurence-sterne-1405_composition_so-that-the-life-of-a-writer-whatever-he_1733841.jpg)

## Other authors on Fancy

## More by Laurence Sterne

> [The insolence of base minds in success is boundless; and would scarce admit of a comparison, did not they themselves furnish us with one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/the-insolence-of-base-minds-in-success-is-boundless-and-would-scarce/)

[Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/)

> [The world is ashamed of being virtuous.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/the-world-is-ashamed-of-being-virtuous/)

[Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/)

> [Digressions incontestably are the sunshine; they are the life, the soul of reading.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/digressions-incontestably-are-the-sunshine-they-are-the-life-the-soul/)

[Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/)

> [I was acquainted once with a gallant soldier who assured me that his only measure of courage was this: upon the first fire, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/i-was-acquainted-once-with-a-gallant-soldier-who-assured-me-that-his/)

[Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/)

> [A man's body and his mind, with the utmost reverence to both I speak it, are exactly like a jerkin and a jerkin's lining;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/a-man-s-body-and-his-mind-with-the-utmost-reverence-to-both-i-speak/)

[Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/)

> [When the affections so kindly break loose, Joy, is another name for Religion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/when-the-affections-so-kindly-break-loose-joy-is-another-name-for/)

[Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/)

> [Sweet pliability of man's spirit, that can at once surrender itself to illusions, which cheat expectation and sorrow of their weary moments! - long…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/sweet-pliability-of-man-s-spirit-that-can-at-once-surrender-itself-to/)

[Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/)

> [Philosophy has a fine saying for everything.-For Death it has an entire set.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/philosophy-has-a-fine-saying-for-everything-for-death-it-has-an/)

[Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/)

> [Dear sensibility! Source inexhausted of all that's precious in our joys, or costly in our sorrows! Eternal fountain of our feelings! 'tis here I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/dear-sensibility-source-inexhausted-of-all-that-s-precious-in-our/)

[Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/)

> [The best friends in the world may differ sometimes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/the-best-friends-in-the-world-may-differ-sometimes/)

[Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/)

> [Beauty has so many charms, one knows not how to speak against it; and when it happens that a graceful figure is the habitation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/beauty-has-so-many-charms-one-knows-not-how-to-speak-against-it-and/)

[Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/)

> [The best hearts are ever the bravest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/the-best-hearts-are-ever-the-bravest/)

[Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/)

> [Hail! the small courtesies of life, for smooth do ye make the road of it, like grace and beauty, which beget inclinations to love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/hail-the-small-courtesies-of-life-for-smooth-do-ye-make-the-road-of/)

[Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/)

> [There are a thousand unnoticed openings, continued my father, which let penetrating eye at once into a man's soul; and I maintain it, added…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/there-are-a-thousand-unnoticed-openings-continued-my-father-which-let/)

[Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/)

> [“Button-holes! there is something lively in the very idea of 'em - and trust me, when I get amongst 'em - you gentry with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/button-holes-there-is-something-lively-in-the-very-idea-of-em-and/)

[Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fancy/laurence-sterne/#itemlist",
            "name": "5 Fancy Quotes By Laurence Sterne",
            "numberOfItems": 5,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Sweet pliability of man's spirit, that can at once surrender itself to illusions, which cheat expectation and sorrow of their weary moments! - long - long since had ye numbered out my days, had I not trod so great a part of them upon this enchanted ground. When my way is too rough for my feet, or too steep for my strength, I get off it, to some smooth velvet path which fancy has scattered over with rose-buds of delights; and have taken a few turns on it, come back strengthened and refreshed ...",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Laurence Sterne"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/sweet-pliability-of-man-s-spirit-that-can-at-once-surrender-itself-to/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/114/laurence-sterne-1405_bud_sweet-pliability-of-man-s-spirit-that-ca_130144.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/114/laurence-sterne-1405_bud_sweet-pliability-of-man-s-spirit-that-ca_130144.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/114/laurence-sterne-1405_bud_sweet-pliability-of-man-s-spirit-that-ca_130144.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Sweet pliability of man's spirit, that can at once surrender itself to illusions, which cheat expectation…” — Laurence Sterne",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "I have a strong propensity in me to begin this chapter very nonsensically, and I will not balk my fancy.--Accordingly I set off thus:",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Laurence Sterne"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/i-have-a-strong-propensity-in-me-to-begin-this-chapter-very/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/403/laurence-sterne-1405_chapters_i-have-a-strong-propensity-in-me-to-begi_905224.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/403/laurence-sterne-1405_chapters_i-have-a-strong-propensity-in-me-to-begi_905224.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/403/laurence-sterne-1405_chapters_i-have-a-strong-propensity-in-me-to-begi_905224.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“I have a strong propensity in me to begin this chapter very nonsensically, and I will not balk my…” — Laurence Sterne",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "When my way is too rough for my feet, or too steep for my strength, I get off it to some smooth velvet path which fancy has scattered over with rosebuds of delights; and, having taken a few turns in it, come back strengthened and refreshed.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Laurence Sterne"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/when-my-way-is-too-rough-for-my-feet-or-too-steep-for-my-strength-i/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/492/laurence-sterne-1405_delight_when-my-way-is-too-rough-for-my-feet-or_1090498.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/492/laurence-sterne-1405_delight_when-my-way-is-too-rough-for-my-feet-or_1090498.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/492/laurence-sterne-1405_delight_when-my-way-is-too-rough-for-my-feet-or_1090498.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“When my way is too rough for my feet, or too steep for my strength, I get off it to some smooth velvet path…” — Laurence Sterne",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "If there is an evil in this world, it is sorrow and heaviness of heart. The loss of goods, of health, of coronets and mitres, is only evil as they occasion sorrow; take that out, the rest is fancy, and dwelleth only in the head of man.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Laurence Sterne"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/if-there-is-an-evil-in-this-world-it-is-sorrow-and-heaviness-of-heart/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/642/laurence-sterne-1405_death_if-there-is-an-evil-in-this-world-it-is_1520166.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/642/laurence-sterne-1405_death_if-there-is-an-evil-in-this-world-it-is_1520166.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/642/laurence-sterne-1405_death_if-there-is-an-evil-in-this-world-it-is_1520166.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“If there is an evil in this world, it is sorrow and heaviness of heart. The loss of goods, of health, of…” — Laurence Sterne",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "So that the life of a writer, whatever he might fancy to the contrary, was not so much a state of composition, as a state of warfare; and his probation in it, precisely that of any other man militant upon earth,--both depending alike, not half so much upon the degrees of his WIT--as his RESISTANCE.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Laurence Sterne"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/so-that-the-life-of-a-writer-whatever-he-might-fancy-to-the-contrary/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e78/laurence-sterne-1405_composition_so-that-the-life-of-a-writer-whatever-he_1733841.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e78/laurence-sterne-1405_composition_so-that-the-life-of-a-writer-whatever-he_1733841.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e78/laurence-sterne-1405_composition_so-that-the-life-of-a-writer-whatever-he_1733841.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“So that the life of a writer, whatever he might fancy to the contrary, was not so much a state of…” — Laurence Sterne",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fancy/laurence-sterne/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fancy/laurence-sterne/",
            "name": "Fancy Quotes by Laurence Sterne",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fancy/laurence-sterne/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/114/laurence-sterne-1405_bud_sweet-pliability-of-man-s-spirit-that-ca_130144.jpg"
            },
            "description": "5 Fancy quotes by Laurence Sterne. Plus more from Laurence Sterne and more Fancy sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fancy/laurence-sterne/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fancy/laurence-sterne/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Fancy",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fancy/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Laurence Sterne",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fancy/laurence-sterne/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
