writer and Anglican cleric. Born in Woodford, Essex
, England
, Smith was the son of merchant Robert Smith (1739–1827) and Maria Olier (1750–1801), who suffered from epilepsy. His father, described as "a man of restless ingenuity and activity", "very clever, odd by nature, but still more odd by design", owned, at various times, 19 different estates in England.
Smith himself attributed much of his own lively personality to his French blood, his maternal grandfather having been a French Protestant refugee named Olier.
Great men hallow a whole people and lift up all who live in their time. 
The object of preaching is, constantly to remind mankind of what mankind are constantly forgetting; not to supply the defects of human intelligence, but to fortify the feebleness of human resolutions.
It is the safest to be moderately base — to be flexible in shame, and to be always ready for what is generous, good, and just, when anything is to be gained by virtue.
Correspondences are like small clothes before the invention of suspenders; it is impossible to keep them up.
The fact is that in order to do any thing in this world worth doing, we must not stand shivering on the bank thinking of the cold and the danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.
Have the courage to be ignorant of a great number of things, in order to avoid the calamity of being ignorant of every thing.
A great deal of talent is lost to the world for the want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves a number of obscure men who have only remained obscure because their timidity has prevented them from making a first effort.