Inspirational Quotes by Tobias Smollett (Scottish Poet)

Tobias Smollett (1721–71,) fully Tobias George Smollett, was a Scottish physician and satirical novelist. He is identified with the picaresque tradition of novel writing, typified by fast-moving narrative and humorous caricature.

Born on a farm near Cardross, Dunbartonshire, Smollett was educated at Dumbarton Grammar School and Glasgow University, where he obtained a degree in medicine. He moved to London in 1740 to find a producer for his tragedy The Regicide (1749) but failed.

Smollett sailed as a surgeon’s mate in the Battle of Cartagena de Indias against the Spanish in 1741. Three years later, he settled in London and began to practice as a surgeon in Downing Street. He continued to write as his primary pursuit.

Smollett is best known for his first picaresque novels Roderick Random (1748) and Peregrine Pickle (1751;) they portray the adventures in love and war of an unprincipled hero.

In 1753, Smollett settled in Chelsea and produced translations of Miguel de Cervantes and Voltaire. He founded and edited the Critical Review and wrote a History of England (3 vols., 1757–58.)

After being ordered abroad for his health, Smollett wrote the caustic Travels in France and Italy (1766.) The Adventures of an Atom (1769) was a bitter satire on public men and affairs. His epistolary novel The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker (1771) is considered a major classic of comic fiction, and the first genuinely British novel.

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