# Upon Whiskers explained — The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

> Chapter companion for The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne.

## What happens

The narrator reflects on the imprudence of promising a chapter upon whiskers, acknowledging the world's delicacy and his own ignorance of its temperament, which he would have avoided had he seen the fragment that follows.

## Themes in this chapter

### The Absurdity of Systems

The narrator's self-reproach for making a promise about whiskers highlights the absurdity of imposing systematic topics on a delicate and unpredictable world.

## Key lines

> I'm sorry I made it—'twas as inconsiderate a promise as ever entered a man's head—A chapter upon whiskers! alas! the world will not bear it—'tis a delicate world—but I knew not of what mettle it was made—nor had I ever seen the underwritten fragment; otherwise, as surely as noses are noses, and whiskers are whiskers still (let the world say what it will to the contrary); so surely would I have steered clear of this dangerous chapter.

The narrator regrets promising a chapter on whiskers, calling it a thoughtless promise, since the world is too refined for such a topic; he admits he was unaware of the world's nature and would have avoided the subject if he had seen the fragment that follows.

_The narrator's apology and explanation for the chapter's content._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tristram_shandy_se/chapters/upon-whiskers
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tristram_shandy_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tristram_shandy_se/chapters