"I know not whether the remark is to our honour or otherwise, that the lessons of wisdom have never such a power over us, as when they are wrought into the heart, through the ground-work of a story which engages the passions: Is it that we are like iron, and must first be heated before we can be wrought upon?"
— Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt
Date
1766
Metaphor
"I know not whether the remark is to our honour or otherwise, that the lessons of wisdom have never such a power over us, as when they are wrought into the heart, through the ground-work of a story which engages the passions: Is it that we are like iron, and must first be heated before we can be wrought upon?"
Metaphor in Context
I know not whether the remark is to our honour or otherwise, that the lessons of wisdom have never such a power over us, as when they are wrought into the heart, through the ground-work of a story which engages the passions: Is it that we are like iron, and must first be heated before we can be wrought upon? or, Is the heart so in love with deceit, that, where a true report will not reach it, we must cheat it with a fable, in order to come at truth?
(III, pp. 131-2)
(III, pp. 131-2)
Categories
Provenance
Reading Arthur A. Cash, "The Sermon in Tristram Shandy." ELH 31:4 (1964): 414.
Citation
Laurence Sterne, The Sermons of Mr. Yorick, 4 vols. (London: printed for T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, 1766). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
06/12/2012
