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Stephen Leacock Quotes

The Lord said 'let there be wheat' and Saskatchewan was born.

Stephen Leacock

The Lord said 'let there be wheat' and Saskatchewan was born.

Tags: canada, canadians

I never realized that there was history close at hand beside my very own home. I did not realize that the old grave that stood among the brambles at the foot of our farm was history.

Stephen Leacock

I never realized that there was history close at hand beside my very own home. I did not realize that the old grave that stood among the brambles at the foot of our farm was history.

Tags: history, historians

About Author
Stephen P. H. Butler Leacock (30 December 1869 – 28 March 1944) was a Canadian teacher, political scientist, writer, and humourist. Between the years 1915 and 1925, he was the best-known English-speaking humourist in the world. He is known for his light humour along with criticisms of people's follies.

I detest life-insurance agents: they always argue that I shall some day die, which is not so.

Stephen Leacock

I detest life-insurance agents: they always argue that I shall some day die, which is not so.

Tags: day, die, always

The British are terribly lazy about fighting. They like to get it over and done with and then set up a game of cricket.

Stephen Leacock

The British are terribly lazy about fighting. They like to get it over and done with and then set up a game of cricket.

Tags: england, u, k

Lord Ronald said nothing he flung himself from the room flung himself upon his horse and rode madly off in all directions.

Stephen Leacock

Lord Ronald said nothing he flung himself from the room flung himself upon his horse and rode madly off in all directions.

Tags: character, personality

Charles Dickens' creation of Mr. Pickwick did more for the elevation of the human race - I say it in all seriousness - than Cardinal Newman's Lead Kindly Light Amid the Encircling Gloom. Newman only c...

Stephen Leacock

Charles Dickens' creation of Mr. Pickwick did more for the elevation of the human race - I say it in all seriousness - than Cardinal Newman's Lead Kindly Light Amid the Encircling Gloom. Newman only c...

Tags: humour, humorists, life, passion, adventure

It is to be observed that 'angling' is the name given to fishing by people who can't fish.

Stephen Leacock

It is to be observed that 'angling' is the name given to fishing by people who can't fish.

Tags: fishing, fish, people

Advertising - A judicious mixture of flattery and threats.

Stephen Leacock

Advertising - A judicious mixture of flattery and threats.

Tags: advertising, humour

The classics are only primitive literature. They belong to the same class as primitive machinery and primitive music and primitive medicine.

Stephen Leacock

The classics are only primitive literature. They belong to the same class as primitive machinery and primitive music and primitive medicine.

Tags: literature, medicine, class

In Canada we have enough to do keeping up with two spoken languages ... so we just go right ahead and use English for literature Scotch for sermons and American for conversation.

Stephen Leacock

In Canada we have enough to do keeping up with two spoken languages ... so we just go right ahead and use English for literature Scotch for sermons and American for conversation.

Tags: canada

The sorrows and disasters of Europe always brought fortune to America.

Stephen Leacock

The sorrows and disasters of Europe always brought fortune to America.

Tags: america, americans

It may be that those who do most dream most.

Stephen Leacock

It may be that those who do most dream most.

Tags: visualization

Many a man in love with a dimple makes a mistake of marrying the whole girl.

Stephen Leacock

Many a man in love with a dimple makes a mistake of marrying the whole girl.

Tags: passion

Many a man in love with a dimple makes the mistake of marrying the whole girl.

Stephen Leacock

Many a man in love with a dimple makes the mistake of marrying the whole girl.

Tags: marriage, love, man, girl

Life we learn too late is in the living in the tissue of every day and hour.

Stephen Leacock

Life we learn too late is in the living in the tissue of every day and hour.

Tags: life, one, day

I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.

Stephen Leacock

I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.

Tags: great, work, luck, i am

Now, the essence, the very spirit of Christmas is that we first make believe a thing is so, and lo, it presently turns out to be so.

Stephen Leacock

Now, the essence, the very spirit of Christmas is that we first make believe a thing is so, and lo, it presently turns out to be so.

Tags: christmas, believe, first, spirit

A sportsman is a man who every now and then simply has to get out and kill something. Not that he's cruel. He wouldn't hurt a fly. It's not big enough.

Stephen Leacock

A sportsman is a man who every now and then simply has to get out and kill something. Not that he's cruel. He wouldn't hurt a fly. It's not big enough.

Tags: sport

Personally, I would sooner have written Alice in Wonderland than the whole Encyclopedia Britannica.

Stephen Leacock

Personally, I would sooner have written Alice in Wonderland than the whole Encyclopedia Britannica.

Tags: imagination, personally, whole, than

Writing is no trouble: you just jot down ideas as they occur to you. The jotting is simplicity itself- it is the occurring which is difficult.

Stephen Leacock

Writing is no trouble: you just jot down ideas as they occur to you. The jotting is simplicity itself- it is the occurring which is difficult.

Tags: writers, writing