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Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury — Portrait after a picture by Anathema (German Wikipedia) (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.

The quotations of

Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury

English politician and Earl

1671–1713

5 quotes, most often on Thinking.

Humor is the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor; for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious, and a jest which will not bear serious examination is false wit.
Often credited to Aristotle
- Humor
How comes it to pass then, that we appear such Cowards in reasoning, and are so afraid to stand the Test of Ridicule?
Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (1711), Vol. 1, p. 11; “A Letter Concerning Enthusiasm”.
- Courage
- Thinking
Truth is the most powerful thing in the world, since even fiction itself must be governed by it, and can only please by its resemblance.
Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (1711), Vol. 1, p. 8; “A Letter Concerning Enthusiasm”.
- Truth & Lies
- Writing
All Politeness is owing to Liberty. We polish one another, and rub off our Corners and rough Sides by a sort of amicable Collision. To restrain this, is inevitably to bring a Rust upon Mens Understandings.
Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (1711), Vol. 1, pp. 39-40; “Sensus Communis”.
- Debate
- Liberty
‘Tis the hardest thing in the world to be a good Thinker, without being a strong Self-Examiner.
Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (1711), Vol. 1, p. 92; “Soliloquy: or Advice to an Author”.
- Thinking

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