And now set in a fell and fierce fight, one of a thousand of which no chronicler has spoken and no poet sung. Through all the centuries and over all those southern waters nameless men have fought in nameless places, their sole monuments a protected coast and an unravaged country-side. ~ The White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Men of honor will do things for their children that they would never consider doing for themselves. ~ A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin
Parents are apt to see no injustice in the fact that they are often annoyed with their offspring for possessing attributes, both of character and appearance, with which they themselves have endowed them. ~ The Rosary by Florence L. Barclay
“But a wise parent humours the desire for independent action, so as to become the friend and adviser when his absolute rule shall cease.” ~ North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
“The universe,” he observed, “makes rather an indifferent parent, I am afraid.” ~ Bleak House by Charles Dickens
“If you would have your son to walk honourably through the world, you must not attempt to clear the stones from his path, but teach him to walk firmly over them – not insist upon leading him by the hand, but let him learn to go alone.” ~ The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
“My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the parents. Don’t you see that the converse is equally valid. I have frequently gained my first real insight into the character of parents by studying their children.” ~ The Adventure of the Copper Beeches by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Like many other unfortunate young people, Harvey had never in all his life received a direct order – never, at least, without long, and sometimes tearful, explanations of the advantages of obedience and the reasons for the request. ~ Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling
We’ve got a large collection of literary quotes about happiness. Here are the 20 best quotes about from the collection. Authors include Charles Dickens, L. Frank Baum, George Eliot and Lucy Maud Montgomery.
“Money is a needful and precious thing, and when well used, a noble thing, but I never want you to think it is the first or only prize to strive for. I’d rather see you poor men’s wives, if you were happy, beloved, contented, than queens on thrones, without self-respect and peace.” ~ Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
“You must be the best judge of your own happiness.” ~ Emma by Jane Austen
“I would always rather be happy than dignified.” ~ Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Cheerfulness and content are great beautifiers, and are famous preservers of youthful looks, depend upon it. ~ Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens
There were days when she was very happy without knowing why. She was happy to be alive and breathing, when her whole being seemed to be one with the sunlight, the color, the odors, the luxuriant warmth of some perfect Southern day. She liked then to wander alone into strange and unfamiliar places. She discovered many a sunny, sleepy corner, fashioned to dream in. And she found it good to dream and to be alone and unmolested. ~ The Awakening by Kate Chopin
There is no happiness like that of being loved by your fellow-creatures, and feeling that your presence is an addition to their comfort. ~ Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
It is a poor heart that never rejoices. ~ Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens
“Action may not always be happiness,” said the general; “but there is no happiness without action.” ~ Lothair by Benjamin Disraeli
No one can be happy in eternal solitude. ~ The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
To see their sons and daughters so flushed and healthy and happy, gave them also a reflected glow, and it was hard to say who had most pleasure from the game, those who played or those who watched. ~ Beyond the City by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
People who have tried it, tell me that a clear conscience makes you very happy and contented; but a full stomach does the business quite as well, and is cheaper, and more easily obtained. ~ Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
“Happy are they that hear their detractions, and can put them to mending.” ~ Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
Anne was always glad in the happiness of her friends; but it is sometimes a little lonely to be surrounded everywhere by a happiness that is not your own. ~ Anne of the Island by Lucy Maud Montgomery
“One gets a bad habit of being unhappy.” ~ The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
She better liked to see him free and happy, even than to have him near her, because she loved him better than herself. ~ Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens
No mockery in this world ever sounds to me so hollow as that of being told to cultivate happiness. What does such advice mean? Happiness is not a potato. ~ Villette by Charlotte Bronte
There are a set of religious, or rather moral writers, who teach that virtue is the certain road to happiness, and vice to misery, in this world. A very wholesome and comfortable doctrine, and to which we have but one objection, namely, that it is not true. ~ Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery. ~ David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
“Happy is the man who can make a living by his hobby!” ~ Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
“I shall take the heart,” returned the Tin Woodman; “for brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world.” ~ The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Dark, dark! The horror of darkness, like a shroud, wraps me and bears me on through mist and cloud. ~ Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
“‘The horror! The horror!” ~ Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
In victory one does not understand the horror of war. It is only in the cold chill of defeat that it is brought home to you. ~ The Adventures of Gerard by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
For a moment he paused there, the wind blowing his long grey locks about his head, and twisting into grotesque and fantastic folds the nameless horror of the dead man’s shroud. ~ The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde
There are horrors beyond horrors, and this was one of those nuclei of all dreamable hideousness which the cosmos saves to blast an accursed and unhappy few. ~ The Shunned House by H. P. Lovecraft
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. ~ Invictus by William Ernest Henley
It was worse than anything. Mrs. Hall, standing open-mouthed and horror-struck, shrieked at what she saw, and made for the door of the house. Everyone began to move. They were prepared for scars, disfigurements, tangible horrors, but nothing! The bandages and false hair flew across the passage into the bar, making a hobbledehoy jump to avoid them. Everyone tumbled on everyone else down the steps. For the man who stood there shouting some incoherent explanation, was a solid gesticulating figure up to the coat-collar of him, and then—nothingness, no visible thing at all! ~ The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells
There are many literary quotes about nature. Here are some of the best.
“There is no such thing as magic, though there is such a thing as a knowledge of the secrets of Nature.” ~ She by H. Rider Haggard
“Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they don’t they should, for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers.” ~ Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
If you need something to worship, then worship life — all life, every last crawling bit of it! We’re all in this beauty together! ~ Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
It was October, and the air was cool and sharp, woodsmoke and damp moss exquisitely mingled in it with the subtle odours of the pines. ~ Secret Worship by Algernon Blackwood
The western sky was clear and flushed with vivid crimson, towards which the prairie rolled away in varying tones of blue. ~ Blake’s Burden by Harold Bindloss
Sunlight is the life-blood of Nature. Mother Earth looks at us with such dull, soulless eyes, when the sunlight has died away from out of her. It makes us sad to be with her then; she does not seem to know us or to care for us. ~ Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
Have you ever observed a humming-bird moving about in an aerial dance among the flowers–a living prismatic gem that changes its colour with every change of position. ~ Green Mansions by W. H. Hudson
Nature is the true revelation of the Deity to man. The nearest green field is the inspired page from which you may read all that it is needful for you to know. ~ The Stark Munro Letters by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
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“I am not an angel,” I asserted; “and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself.” ~ Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
You can’t expect the fatted calf to share the enthusiasm of the angels over the prodigal’s return. ~ Reginald by Saki
In old days there were angels who came and took men by the hand and led them away from the city of destruction. We see no white-winged angels now. But yet men are led away from threatening destruction: a hand is put into theirs, which leads them forth gently towards a calm and bright land, so that they look no more backward; and the hand may be a little child’s. ~ Silas Marner by George Eliot
The shadows of our own desires stand between us and our better angels, and thus their brightness is eclipsed. ~ Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens
Heaven, too, was very near to them in those days. God’s direct agency was to be seen in the thunder and the rainbow, the whirlwind and the lightning. To the believer, clouds of angels and confessors, and martyrs, armies of the sainted and the saved, were ever stooping over their struggling brethren upon earth, raising, encouraging, and supporting them. ~ The White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
It was the beginning of a day in June; the deep blue sky unsullied by a cloud, and teeming with brilliant light. The streets were, as yet, nearly free from passengers, the houses and shops were closed, and the healthy air of morning fell like breath from angels, on the sleeping town. ~ The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
“Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!” ~ Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare
Till we can become divine we must be content to be human, lest in our hurry for change we sink to something lower. ~ Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope
“There is no such thing as Death, though there be a thing called Change.” ~ She by H. Rider Haggard
“I’m not a bit changed–not really. I’m only just pruned down and branched out. The real ME–back here–is just the same.” ~ Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Yet birth, and lust, and illness, and death are changeless things, and when one of these harsh facts springs out upon a man at some sudden turn of the path of life, it dashes off for the moment his mask of civilization and gives a glimpse of the stranger and stronger face below. ~ The Curse of Eve by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
“The natur o’ things doesn’t change, though it seems as if one’s own life was nothing but change. The square o’ four is sixteen, and you must lengthen your lever in proportion to your weight, is as true when a man’s miserable as when he’s happy; and the best o’ working is, it gives you a grip hold o’ things outside your own lot.” ~ Adam Bede by George Eliot
“It is a law of nature we overlook, that intellectual versatility is the compensation for change, danger, and trouble.” ~ The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
“Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,” said Scrooge. “But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!” ~ A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
But our wishes are like tinder: the flint and steel of circumstances are continually striking out sparks, which vanish immediately, unless they chance to fall upon the tinder of our wishes; then, they instantly ignite, and the flame of hope is kindled in a moment. ~ Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
God shall be my hope,
My stay, my guide, and lantern to my feet. ~ Henry VI, Part Two by William Shakespeare
I hope, or I could not live. ~ The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells
These fellow-mortals, every one, must be accepted as they are: you can neither straighten their noses, nor brighten their wit, nor rectify their dispositions; and it is these people–amongst whom your life is passed–that it is needful you should tolerate, pity, and love: it is these more or less ugly, stupid, inconsistent people whose movements of goodness you should be able to admire–for whom you should cherish all possible hopes, all possible patience. ~ Adam Bede by George Eliot
The cool peace and dewy sweetness of the night filled me with a mood of hope: not hope on any definite point, but a general sense of encouragement and heart-ease. ~ Villette by Charlotte Bronte
Remember to the last, that while there is life there is hope. ~ Wreck of the Golden Mary by Charles Dickens
“Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers.” ~ The Naval Treaty by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Pride is one of the seven deadly sins; but it cannot be the pride of a mother in her children, for that is a compound of two cardinal virtues — faith and hope. ~ Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
“In this world you’ve just got to hope for the best and prepare for the worst and take whatever God sends.” ~ Anne Of Avonlea by Lucy Maud Montgomery
My spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature; the past was blotted from my memory, the present was tranquil, and the future gilded by bright rays of hope and anticipations of joy. ~ Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
It is never quite safe to think we have done with life. When we imagine we have finished our story fate has a trick of turning the page and showing us yet another chapter. ~ Rainbow Valley by Lucy Maud Montgomery
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul. ~ Invictus by William Ernest Henley
You pay for what you get, you own what you pay for… and sooner or later whatever you own comes back home to you. ~ It by Stephen King
We are merely the stars’ tennis-balls, struck and banded Which way please them. ~ The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster
Were we no better than chessmen, moved by an unseen power, vessels the potter fashions at his fancy, for honour or for shame? ~ Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime by Oscar Wilde
There’s a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will. ~ Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare
Fortune’s a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop. ~ The White Devil by John Webster
But often the great cat Fate lets us go only to clutch us again in a fiercer grip. ~ The Curse of Eve by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
It is curious to look back and realize upon what trivial and apparently coincidental circumstances great events frequently turn as easily and naturally as a door on its hinges. ~ Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard
“This whole act’s immutably decreed. ‘Twas rehearsed by thee and me a billion years before this ocean rolled. Fool! I am the Fates’ lieutenant; I act under orders.” ~ Moby Dick by Herman Melville
“My own business always bores me to death. I prefer other people’s.” ~ Lady Windermere’s Fan by Oscar Wilde
“Gossip is never fatal, Georgie,” he said, “until it is denied.” ~ The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington
Grace Stepney’s mind was like a kind of moral fly-paper, to which the buzzing items of gossip were drawn by a fatal attraction, and where they hung fast in the toils of an inexorable memory. ~ The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
There was a lady at Santarem–but my lips are sealed. It is the part of a gallant man to say nothing, though he may indicate that he could say a great deal. ~ The Crime of The Brigadier by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The talked-about is always the last to hear the talk. ~ Saint’s Progress by John Galsworthy
There are two things that will be believed of any man whatsoever, and one of them is that he has taken to drink. ~ Penrod by Booth Tarkington
“There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” ~ The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde