Horace Walpole
Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797) was an English art historian, man of letters, antiquarian and Whig politician. He is now largely remembered for Strawberry Hill, the home he built in Twickenham, south-west London where he revived the Gothic style some decades before his Victorian successors, and for his Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto. Along with the book, his literary reputation rests on his Letters, which are of significant social and political interest. He was the son of Sir Robert Walpole, and cousin of the 1st Viscount Nelson.
Read more about Horace Walpole: Early Life: 1717–1739, Grand Tour: 1739–1741, Early Parliamentary Career: 1741–1754, Strawberry Hill, Later Parliamentary Career: 1754–1768, Later Life: 1768–1788, Last Years: 1788–1797, Writings, Formal Styles From Birth To Death
Famous quotes by horace walpole:
“I have sometimes seen women, who would have been sensible enough, if they would have been content not to be called women of sense—but by aiming at what they had not, they only proved absurd—for sense cannot be counterfeited.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“The passions seldom give good advice but to the interested and mercenary. Resentment generally suggests bad measures. Second thoughts and good nature will rarely, very rarely, approve the first hints of anger.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“When the Prince of Piedmont [later Charles Emmanuel IV, King of Sardinia] was seven years old, his preceptor instructing him in mythology told him all the vices were enclosed in Pandora’s box. ‘What! all!’ said the Prince. ‘Yes, all.’ ‘No,’ said the Prince; ‘curiosity must have been without.’”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“Two clergymen disputing whether ordination would be valid without the imposition of both hands, the more formal one said, ‘Do you think the Holy Dove could fly down with only one wing?’”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“Pedants make a great rout about criticism, as if it were a science of great depth, and required much pains and knowledge—criticism however is only the result of good sense, taste and judgment—three qualities that indeed seldom are found together, and extremely seldom in a pedant, which most critics are.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)