John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
4875 Sydney Smith 1771-1845 John Bartlett
| NUMBER: | 4875 |
| AUTHOR: | Sydney Smith (1771–1845) |
| QUOTATION: | If you choose to represent the various parts in life by holes upon a table, of different shapes,—some circular, some triangular, some square, some oblong,—and the persons acting these parts by bits of wood of similar shapes, we shall generally find that the triangular person has got into the square hole, the oblong into the triangular, and a square person has squeezed himself into the round hole. The officer and the office, the doer and the thing done, seldom fit so exactly that we can say they were almost made for each other. 1 |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Sketches of Moral Philosophy. |
| Note 1. The right man to fill the right place.—Layard: Speech, Jan. 15, 1855. [back] |