Tag Archives: Wilkie Collins

Quotes About Anger from Literature

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quotes about anger

“You do not know how the people of this country bear malice. It is the boast of some of them that they can keep a stone in their pocket seven years, turn it at the end of that time, keep it seven years longer, and hurl it and hit their mark ‘at last.'” ~ Shirley by Charlotte Bronte

How often it is that the angry man rages denial of what his inner self is telling him. ~ The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Any woman who is sure of her own wits is a match at any time for a man who is not sure of his own temper. ~ The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Anger and jealousy can no more bear to lose sight of their objects than love. ~ The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

Anger’s my meat; I sup upon myself,
And so shall starve with feeding. ~ Coriolanus by William Shakespeare

“From hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.” ~ Moby Dick by Herman Melville

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

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Quotes About Communication

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Communication Quotes

The site has a large collection of literary quotes about communication.  These are some of my favorites.

In reality they all lived in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs. ~ The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

“Old men only lie in wait for people to ask them to talk. Then they rattle on like a rusty elevator wheezing up a shaft.” ~ Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury

Often I must speak other than I think. That is called diplomacy. ~ Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

“With no intention to take offence, I deny your right to put words into my mouth.” ~ Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. ~ The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

“Words,” said the host, at length, “is worse’n bullets. You never know what they’ll hit.” ~ The Night Horseman by Max Brand

Fair speech may hide a foul heart. ~ The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien

We are never half so interesting when we have learned that language is given us to enable us to conceal our thoughts. ~ Anne of the Island by Lucy Maud Montgomery

“I make no manner of doubt that you threw a very diamond of truth at me, though you see it hit me so directly in the face that it wasn’t exactly appreciated, at first.” ~ Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Never tell all you know—not even to the person you know best. ~ The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie

Fine, large, meaningless, general terms like romance and business can always be related. They take the place of thinking, and are highly useful to optimists and lecturers. ~ The Job by Sinclair Lewis

The fool wonders, the wise man asks. ~ Count Alarcos: A Tragedy by Benjamin Disraeli

A slight throbbing about the temples told me that this discussion had reached saturation point. ~ Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse

Mrs. Bittacy rustled ominously, holding her peace meanwhile. She feared long words she did not understand. Beelzebub lay hid among too many syllables. ~ The Man Whom the Trees Loved by Algernon Blackwood

To read between the lines was easier than to follow the text. ~ The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

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20 Funny Quotes from Literature

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Funny Quotes from Literature

“To win back my youth, Gerald, there is nothing I wouldn’t do—except take exercise, get up early, or be a useful member of the community.” ~ A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde

“I always say beauty is only sin deep.” ~ Reginald by Saki

It is the necessary nature of a political party in this country to avoid, as long as it can be avoided, the consideration of any question which involves a great change. ~ Phineas Redux by Anthony Trollope

The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast. ~ Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime by Oscar Wilde

“Prophecy is like a half-trained mule,” he complained to Jorah Mormont. “It looks as though it might be useful, but the moment you trust in it, it kicks you in the head.” ~ A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin

You can’t expect the fatted calf to share the enthusiasm of the angels over the prodigal’s return. ~ Reginald by Saki

Fox terriers are born with about four times as much original sin in them as other dogs are. ~ Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome

Discovering that priests were infinitely more attentive when she was in process of losing or regaining faith in Mother Church, she maintained an enchantingly wavering attitude. ~ This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

“This looks like one of those unwelcome social summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie.” ~ The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

“Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike.” ~ An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde

In one respect at least the Martians are a happy people; they have no lawyers. ~ A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

“I discovered early that crying makes my nose red, and the knowledge has helped me through several painful episodes.” ~ The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

In all the thousands of times I have asked other people for advice, I never yet got the advice I wanted. ~ Armadale by Wilkie Collins

A story with a moral appended is like the bill of a mosquito. It bores you, and then injects a stinging drop to irritate your conscience. ~ Strictly Business by O. Henry

Mrs. Bittacy rustled ominously, holding her peace meanwhile. She feared long words she did not understand. Beelzebub lay hid among too many syllables. ~ The Man Whom the Trees Loved by Algernon Blackwood

“Unbidden guests
Are often welcomest when they are gone.” ~ Henry VI, Part One by William Shakespeare

The bishop did not whistle: we believe that they lose the power of doing so on being consecrated. ~ The Warden by Anthony Trollope

What the eye does not see, the stomach does not get upset over. ~ Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome

I don’t want to repeat my innocence. I want the pleasure of losing it again. ~ This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Unless one is a genius, it is best to aim at being intelligible. ~ Dolly Dialogues by Anthony Hope

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Wilkie Collins: A Brief Life

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Wilkie Collins: A Brief LifeWilkie Collins (January 8, 1824 – September 23, 1889) was an English novelist.  Some of his best-known works are The Woman in White  and The Moonstone.

Peter Ackroyd has written a bibliography about this famous Victorian and good friend of Charles Dickens.

Short and oddly built, with a head too big for his body, extremely near-sighted, unable to stay still, dressed in colorful clothes, Wilkie Collins looked distinctly strange. But he was nonetheless a charmer, befriended by the great, loved by children, irresistibly attractive to women—and avidly read by generations of readers. Peter Ackroyd follows his hero, “the sweetest-tempered of all the Victorian novelists,” from his childhood as the son of a well-known artist to his struggling beginnings as a writer, his years of fame and his lifelong friendship with the other great London chronicler, Charles Dickens.

Order Wilkie Collins: A Brief Life by Peter Ackroyd

New Quotes Added – Wells, King, Collins and Le Fanu

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Quotes from LiteratureI added new quotes to the site today.  It’s a fun group of quotes and includes some by Stephen King.

Here are some of my favorites from the new batch:

The daylight, the trailing glory of the sun, went streaming out of the sky, was drawn aside like some luminous curtain, and at last I looked into the blue gulf of immensity which the sunshine hides, and saw the floating hosts of the stars. ~ The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells

The Anglo-Saxon genius for parliamentary government asserted itself; there was a great deal of talk and no decisive action. ~ The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells

But dreams come through stone walls, light up dark rooms, or darken light ones, and their persons make their exits and their entrances as they please, and laugh at locksmiths. ~ Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

Come on back and we’ll see if you remember the simplest thing of all – how it is to be children, secure in belief and thus afraid of the dark. ~ It by Stephen King

My hour for tea is half-past five, and my buttered toast waits for nobody. ~ The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Five quotes about the Law and Lawyers from Literature

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Quotes about the law and lawyers

It’s surprising how many quotes about the legal system end up in literature.

“Nothing is so unproductive as the law. It is expensive whether you win or lose.” ~ The Money Master by Gilbert Parker

In one respect at least the Martians are a happy people; they have no lawyers. ~ A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

But the Law is still, in certain inevitable cases, the pre-engaged servant of the long purse. ~ The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

For, according to our old saying, the three learned professions live by roguery on the three parts of a man. The doctor mauls our bodies; the parson starves our souls, but the lawyer must be the adroitest knave, for he has to ensnare our minds. ~ Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore

You can hire logic, in the shape of a lawyer, to prove anything that you want to prove. ~ The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

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Ten Quotes About Money From Literature

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money

Here are ten quotes from literature about money.

“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

But the Law is still, in certain inevitable cases, the pre-engaged servant of the long purse. ~ The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

“Life and money both behave like loose quicksilver in a nest of cracks. And when they’re gone we can’t tell where–or what the devil we did with ’em!” ~ The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington

Put not your trust in money, but put your money in trust. ~  The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

“Rich folks may ride on camels, but it an’t so easy for ’em to see out of a needle’s eye. That is my comfort, and I hope I knows it.” ~  Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens

“Look at that sea, girls–all silver and shadow and vision of things not seen. We couldn’t enjoy its loveliness any more if we had millions of dollars and ropes of diamonds.” ~ Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

“Remuneration! O, that’s the Latin word for three farthings.” ~ Love’s Labour’s Lost by William Shakespeare

“Better spend an extra hundred or two on your son’s education, than leave it him in your will.” ~ The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

“Money pads the edges of things.” ~  Howards End by E. M. Forster

“Ah, nowadays we are all of us so hard up, that the only pleasant things to pay are compliments. They’re the only things we can pay.” ~ Lady Windermere’s Fan by Oscar Wilde

See the entire LitQuotes collection of money quotes from literature

 

The Dead Witness: A Connoisseur’s Collection of Victorian Detective Stories

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I heard about  The Dead Witness: A Connoisseur’s Collection of Victorian Detective Stories on NPR this morning.  Of course Wilkie Collins and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are represented in the collection.  However the book also has detective fiction from classic authors that aren’t necessarily associated with the genre like Charles Dickens and Mark Twain.  Other stories in the collection are by authors that aren’t as well known today such as Anna Katharine Green and C. L. Pirkis.

Here’s what Amazon.com has to say:

From luminaries Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Bret Harte, Wilkie Collins, and Arthur Conan Doyle to the forgotten author who helped inspire Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” to a surprising range of talented female authors and detectives, The Dead Witness offers mystery surprises from every direction. The 1866 title story, by Australian writer Mary Fortune, is the first known detective story by a woman, a suspenseful clue-strewn manhunt in the Outback. Pioneer writers Anna Katharine Green and C. L. Pirkis take you from high society New York to bustling London, introducing colorful detectives such as Violet Strange and Loveday Brooke.