Stephen Leacock Quotes

A collection of quotes by Stephen Leacock.

Stephen Leacock was a renowned Canadian writer and economist. He was born on December 30, 1869, in Swanmore, Hampshire, England, and immigrated to Canada with his family when he was just six years old. Leacock grew up in the small town of Mount Pleasant, Ontario, where his father worked as a farmer.

Leacock completed his education at the University of Toronto, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree before pursuing further studies in economics and political science at the University of Chicago and the University of Chicago Law School. He then returned to Canada, where he began his academic career, teaching political economy and history at his alma mater, the University of Toronto.

Although renowned for his academic contributions, Leacock is best remembered as a humorist and satirist. He captivated readers with his witty and clever writing style, which brought to light the quirks and foibles of everyday life. Some of his most famous works include "Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town," "Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich," and "My Discovery of England." Leacock's humorous tales resonated with a wide audience, making him one of Canada's most popular authors in the early 20th century.

Stephen Leacock's imaginative narratives and humorous insights continue to entertain readers to this day. He passed away on March 28, 1944, leaving behind a rich literary legacy that has left an indelible mark on Canadian literature.

If every day in the life of a school could be the last day b

If every day in the life of a school could be the last day but one, there would be little fault to find with it.

Stephen Leacock

Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the

Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it.

Stephen Leacock

Humor may be defined as the kindly contemplation of the inco

Humor may be defined as the kindly contemplation of the incongruities of life, and the artistic expression thereof.

Stephen Leacock

It's called political economy because it is has nothing to d

It's called political economy because it is has nothing to do with either politics or economy.

Stephen Leacock

Personally, I would sooner have written Alice in Wonderland

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

Stephen Leacock

It takes a good deal of physical courage to ride a horse. Th

It takes a good deal of physical courage to ride a horse. This, however, I have. I get it at about forty cents a flask, and take it as required.

Stephen Leacock

If I were founding a university I would begin with a smoking

If I were founding a university I would begin with a smoking room; next a dormitory; and then a decent reading room and a library. After that, if I still had more money that I couldn't use, I would hire a professor and get some text books.

Stephen Leacock

A half truth, like half a brick, is always more forcible as

A half truth, like half a brick, is always more forcible as an argument than a whole one. It carries better.

Stephen Leacock

Electricity is of two kinds, positive and negative. The diff

Electricity is of two kinds, positive and negative. The difference is, I presume, that one comes a little more expensive, but is more durable the other is a cheaper thing, but the moths get into it.

Stephen Leacock

The classics are only primitive literature. They belong to t

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

Stephen Leacock

Life, we learn too late, is in the living, the tissue of eve

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

Stephen Leacock

The sorrows and disasters of Europe always brought fortune t

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

Stephen Leacock

Many a man in love with a dimple makes the mistake of marryi

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

Stephen Leacock

I detest life-insurance agents: they always argue that I sha

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

Stephen Leacock

What we call creative work, ought not to be called work at a

What we call creative work, ought not to be called work at all, because it isn't. I imagine that Thomas Edison never did a day's work in his last fifty years.

Stephen Leacock

Men are able to trust one another, knowing the exact degree

Men are able to trust one another, knowing the exact degree of dishonesty they are entitled to expect.

Stephen Leacock

Deception/lying

It may be those who do most, dream most.

It may be those who do most, dream most.

Stephen Leacock

Now, the essence, the very spirit of Christmas is that we fi

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

Advertising: the science of arresting the human intelligence

Advertising: the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it.

Stephen Leacock

But the deep background that lies behind and beyond what we

But the deep background that lies behind and beyond what we call humor is revealed only to the few who, by instinct or by effort, have given thought to it. The world's humor, in its best and greatest sense, is perhaps the highest product of our civilization. Its basis lies in the deeper contrasts offered by life itself: the strange incongruity between our aspiration and our achievement, the eager and fretful anxieties of today that fade into nothingness tomorrow, the burning pain and the sharp sorrow that are softened in the gentle retrospect of time, till as we look back upon the course that has been traversed, we pass in view the panorama of our lives, as people in old age may recall, with mingled tears and smiles, the angry quarrels of their childhood. And here, in its larger aspect, humor is blended with pathos till the two are one, and represent, as they have in every age, the mingled heritage of tears and laughter that is our lot on earth.

Stephen Leacock