"No doubt the ocean fills the mind with vast ideas."

— Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt
Date
1768
Metaphor
"No doubt the ocean fills the mind with vast ideas."
Metaphor in Context
I confess I do hate all cold conceptions, as I do the puny ideas which engender them; and am generally so struck with the great works of nature, that for my own part, if I could help it, I never would make a comparison less than a mountain at least. All that can be said against the French sublime in this instance of it, is this--that the grandeur is more in the word ; and less in the thing. No doubt the ocean fills the mind with vast ideas; but Paris being so far inland, it was not likely I should run post a hundred miles out of it, to try the experiment--the Parisian barber meant nothing.--
(I, pp 157-8)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in LION
Citation
Over 86 entries in ESTC (1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1778, 1779, 1780, 1782, 1783, 1784, 1785, 1787, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796, 1798, 1800).

First edition published February 27, 1768, in two issues (standard paper and large "imperial" paper issue).

See A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy. By Mr. Yorick., 2 vols. 2nd ed. (London: Printed for T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, 1768). <Link to ESTC>

Reading Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey, ed. Paul Goring (New York and London: Penguin, 2001)
Date of Entry
10/26/2013

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.