Peril, loneliness, an uncertain future, are not oppressive evils, so long as the frame is healthy and the faculties are employed; so long, especially, as Liberty lends us her wings, and Hope guides us by her star. ~ Villette by Charlotte Bronte
Photo by Naveen Chandra on Unsplash
“Everything that’s worth having is some trouble.” ~ Anne Of Avonlea by Lucy Maud Montgomery
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
To see and know the worst is to take from Fear her main advantage. ~ Villette by Charlotte Bronte
May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks. ~ The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
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
“You know, there are two good things in life, freedom of thought and freedom of action.” ~ Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
“Man is not the creature of circumstances. Circumstances are the creatures of men.” ~ Vivian Grey by Benjamin Disraeli
“Simple, generous goodness is the best capital to found the business of this life upon. It lasts when fame and money fail, and is the only riches we can take out of this world with us.” ~ Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
Men who look on nature, and their fellow-men, and cry that all is dark and gloomy, are in the right; but the sombre colours are reflections from their own jaundiced eyes and hearts. The real hues are delicate, and need a clearer vision. ~ Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Be men, or be more than men. Be steady to your purposes and firm as a rock. This ice is not made of such stuff as your hearts may be; it is mutable and cannot withstand you if you say that it shall not. ~ Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
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
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
No man knows till he has suffered from the night how sweet and dear to his heart and eye the morning can be. ~ Dracula by Bram Stoker
“The owl, night’s herald.” ~ Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare
They never pulled the curtains till it was too dark to see, nor shut the windows till it was too cold. Why shut out the day before it was over? The flowers were still bright; the birds chirped. You could see more in the evening often when nothing interrupted, when there was no fish to order, no telephone to answer. ~ Between the Acts by Virginia Woolf
The longest way must have its close,—the gloomiest night will wear on to a morning. ~ Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
In the dead vast and middle of the night. ~ Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare
At the enchanted metropolitan twilight I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes, and felt it in others–poor young clerks who loitered in front of windows waiting until it was time for a solitary restaurant dinner–young clerks in the dusk, wasting the most poignant moments of night and life. ~ The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
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
Night, the mother of fear and mystery, was coming upon me. ~ The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore– ~ The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
With a fierce action of her hand, as if she sprinkled hatred on the ground, and with it devoted those who were standing there to destruction, she looked up once at the black sky, and strode out into the wild night. ~ Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens
Leonard looked at her wondering, and had the sense of great things sweeping out of the shrouded night. But he could not receive them, because his heart was still full of little things. ~ Howards End by E. M. Forster
And when, on the still cold nights, he pointed his nose at a star and howled long and wolflike, it was his ancestors, dead and dust, pointing nose at star and howling down through the centuries and through him. ~ The Call of the Wild by Jack London
“Lead on!” said Scrooge. “Lead on! The night is waning fast, and it is precious time to me, I know. Lead on, Spirit!” ~ A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
“Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!” ~ Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare
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
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New quotes were added to the site today. As per usual, all of the quotes list an author and a source. We’re proud that this quotation collection is curated by people and NOT by a computer program.
Here are some quotes from the new additions:
Men must want to do things of their own innermost drives. People, not commercial organizations or chains of command, are what make great civilizations work. Every civilization depends upon the quality of the individuals it produces. If you over-organize humans, over-legalize them, suppress their urge to greatness — they cannot work and their civilization collapses. ~ Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
“A sermon is not to tell you what you are, but what you ought to be, and a novel should tell you not what you are to get, but what you’d like to get.” ~ The Small House at Allington by Anthony Trollope
“Must we be strangers, you and I, because there was a time in which we were almost more than friends?” ~ Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollope
Your man with a thin skin, a vehement ambition, a scrupulous conscience, and a sanguine desire for rapid improvement, is never a happy, and seldom a fortunate politician. ~ The Prime Minister by Anthony Trollope
Something unpleasant is coming when men are anxious to tell the truth. ~ The Young Duke by Benjamin Disraeli
“God did not give me my life to throw away.” ~ Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The wild rains of the day are abated; the great single cloud disparts and rolls away from heaven, not passing and leaving a sea all sapphire, but tossed buoyant before a continued, long-sounding, high-rushing moonlight tempest. The moon reigns glorious, glad of the gale, as glad as if she gave herself to his fierce caress with love. ~ Shirley by Charlotte Bronte
We should acknowledge God merciful, but not always for us comprehensible. ~ Villette by Charlotte Bronte
“Your father, Jo. He never loses patience, never doubts or complains, but always hopes, and works and waits so cheerfully that one is ashamed to do otherwise before him.” ~ Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Villette is the fourth novel by Charlotte Bronte. It was published in 1853. Bronte drew on her own experience as a teacher in Brussels in writing the novel. The book features an interesting mix of gothic and psychological themes.
I seemed to hold two lives—the life of thought, and that of reality; and, provided the former was nourished with a sufficiency of the strange necromantic joys of fancy, the privileges of the latter might remain limited to daily bread, hourly work, and a roof of shelter. ~ Villette by Charlotte Bronte
Charlotte Bronte was born on April 21, 1816 in Yorkshire. She was the eldest of the three famous Bronte sisters. (Anne and Emily were the other two.) Charlotte is best known as the author of Jane Eyre.
Charlotte, Emily and Anne initially published their work using pen names. They were Currer (Charlotte), Ellis (Emily) and Acton (Anne) Bell. The pseudonyms hid the sisters’ gender while preserving their initials.
In 1854 Charlotte married Arthur Bell Nicholls. Their courtship was turbulent. Charlotte initially refused Arthur’s marriage proposal. Even after Charlotte accepted his proposal her father was not convinced it was a good match. He was concerned about Nicholls’s poor financial status. Eventually all the obstacles were cleared. They married on June 29, 1854.
Sadly, Charlotte died soon after the marriage. She passed on March 31, 1855. Her death certificate lists the cause of death as tuberculosis. However some biographers suspect that she died from complications connected with the fact that she was pregnant.
To see and know the worst is to take from Fear her main advantage. ~ Villette by Charlotte Bronte
I remembered that the real world was wide, and that a varied field of hopes and fears, of sensations and excitements, awaited those who had courage to go forth into its expanse, to seek real knowledge of life amidst its perils. ~ Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
A new batch of quotes was added to the site today. They’ll soon be added into the quote topics section of the site. Remember that all of our quotes list an author and a source. We’re proud that this quotation site is curated by people and NOT by a computer program.
Here are some of my favorites from the new batch. If you have a quote that you’d like to see added to the site, you can contribute a quote.
Sometimes I wonder if our memories are as good as we think they are and if the whole past wasn’t once entirely different from anything we remember, and we’ve forgotten that we forgot. ~ The Big Time by Fritz Leiber
I remembered that the real world was wide, and that a varied field of hopes and fears, of sensations and excitements, awaited those who had courage to go forth into its expanse, to seek real knowledge of life amidst its perils. ~ Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
To see and know the worst is to take from Fear her main advantage. ~ Villette by Charlotte Bronte
Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic. ~ Dune by Frank Herbert