50 verified quotes from 33 writers, c. 475 BC to 1923.
Quotes 26 to 50 of 50, page 2 of 2.
Continued from page 1, which has our introduction. Still oldest first.
What “verified” means, and what we leave out: How we verify.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, …
Our note: The opening of the novel, set in London and Paris during the French Revolution.
Verified in the full text of A Tale of Two Cities on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #98
Painted the same decade: The Artist's Sitting Room in Ritterstrasse, Adolph Menzel, 1851
It's but little good you'll do a-watering the last year's crop
Our note: Adam, in dialect, on the uselessness of dwelling on what is over.
Verified in the full text of Adam Bede on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #507
Painted the same decade: Scene in the Jewish Quarter of Constantine, Théodore Chassériau, 1851
…suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be.
Our note: Estella to Pip at their meeting near the end of the novel.
Verified in the full text of Great Expectations on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #1400
Painted the same decade: The Calm Sea, Gustave Courbet, 1869
…life is made of ever so many partings welded together
Our note: The blacksmith Joe to Pip, after an awkward visit to London.
Verified in the full text of Great Expectations on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #1400
Painted the same decade: The Source of the Loue, Gustave Courbet, 1864
…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
Our note: On the little girl Eppie, who brings the lonely weaver Silas back to life.
Verified in the full text of Silas Marner on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #550
Painted the same decade: The Calm Sea, Gustave Courbet, 1869
…but it's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.
Our note: Alice to the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle, about her strange day.
Verified in the full text of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #11
Painted the same decade: The Dead Christ with Angels, Edouard Manet, 1864
The old order changeth, yielding place to new
Our note: King Arthur's farewell to Sir Bedivere.
Verified in the full text of The Passing of Arthur on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #610 · Collected in Idylls of the King
Painted the same decade: Woman with a Parrot, Gustave Courbet, 1866
Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.
Our note: The Red Queen explains Looking-glass country to Alice.
Verified in the full text of Through the Looking-Glass on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #12
Painted the same decade: Dancers Practicing at the Barre, Edgar Degas, 1877
Our deeds still travel with us from afar, And what we have been makes us what we are
Our note: A verse epigraph to a chapter of Middlemarch: the past stays with us and shapes who we are.
Verified in the full text of Middlemarch on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #145
Painted the same decade: View of Marly-le-Roi from Coeur-Volant, Alfred Sisley, 1876
Every limit is a beginning as well as an ending
Our note: From the Finale of Middlemarch, on how a close leads into something new.
Verified in the full text of Middlemarch on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #145
Painted the same decade: The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil, Edouard Manet, 1874
All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow
Our note: Stepan Oblonsky, Anna's easy-going brother, talking to Levin.
Verified in the full text of Anna Karenina on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #1399
Painted the same decade: View of Marly-le-Roi from Coeur-Volant, Alfred Sisley, 1876
For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move; …
Our note: From Stevenson's account of a twelve-day walk in southern France with a stubborn donkey.
Verified in the full text of Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #535
Painted the same decade: The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil, Edouard Manet, 1874
Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed down-stairs a step at a time.
Our note: A maxim from "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar."
Verified in the full text of Pudd'nhead Wilson on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #102 · Collected in The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson
Painted the same decade: The Shepherd's Song, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, 1891
…she was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world.
Our note: The narrator on Edna Pontellier's awakening.
Verified in the full text of The Awakening on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #160
Painted the same decade: Irises, Vincent van Gogh, 1890
Circumstance does not make the man; it reveals him to himself
Our note: From the chapter on thought and circumstance.
Verified in the full text of As a Man Thinketh on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #4507
Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound
Our note: From the chapter on thought and circumstance.
Verified in the full text of As a Man Thinketh on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #4507
Travel, change, interest, excitement! The whole world before you, and a horizon that's always changing!
Our note: Toad praising the life of the open road.
Verified in the full text of The Wind in the Willows on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #289
Marilla, isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?
Our note: Anne to Marilla after a day of mistakes.
Verified in the full text of Anne of Green Gables on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #45
I don't know what lies around the bend, but I'm going to believe that the best does.
Our note: Anne near the end of the novel, after giving up a scholarship to stay home.
Verified in the full text of Anne of Green Gables on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #45
All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this
Our note: The famous opening lines of the novel.
Verified in the full text of Peter and Wendy on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #16
Painted the same decade: Tilla Durieux (Ottilie Godeffroy, 1880–1971), Auguste Renoir, 1914
At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done—then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries ago.
Our note: From the chapter "In the Garden."
Verified in the full text of The Secret Garden on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #113
Painted the same decade: Tilla Durieux (Ottilie Godeffroy, 1880–1971), Auguste Renoir, 1914
Isn't it queer: there are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before
Our note: Carl Linstrum to Alexandra Bergson.
Verified in the full text of O Pioneers! on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #24
Painted the same decade: Tilla Durieux (Ottilie Godeffroy, 1880–1971), Auguste Renoir, 1914
Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race
Our note: Stephen Dedalus's diary entry on the eve of leaving Ireland, near the end of the novel.
Verified in the full text of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #4217
Painted the same decade: Tilla Durieux (Ottilie Godeffroy, 1880–1971), Auguste Renoir, 1914
Man is a born child, his power is the power of growth
Our note: A verse from Stray Birds.
Verified in the full text of Stray Birds on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #6524
Painted the same decade: Tilla Durieux (Ottilie Godeffroy, 1880–1971), Auguste Renoir, 1914
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday
Our note: From the section on children.
Verified in the full text of The Prophet on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #58585
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