50 verified quotes from 30 writers, c. 475 BC to 1925.
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.
Rings and other jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only gift is a portion of thyself.
Our note: From the short essay "Gifts."
Verified in the full text of Gifts on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2945 · Collected in Essays, Second Series
Painted the same decade: The Abduction of Rebecca, Eugène Delacroix, 1846
Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.
Our note: Jane's school friend Helen, who refuses to hold grudges.
Verified in the full text of Jane Eyre on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #1260
Painted the same decade: The Abduction of Rebecca, Eugène Delacroix, 1846
The world is a looking-glass, and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face
Our note: The narrator, on how people are met with the mood they bring; the passage goes on to advise laughing with the world.
Verified in the full text of Vanity Fair on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #599
Painted the same decade: The Abduction of Rebecca, Eugène Delacroix, 1846
I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
Our note: The opening lines of "Song of Myself."
Verified in the full text of Song of Myself on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #1322 · Collected in Leaves of Grass
Painted the same decade: The Artist's Sitting Room in Ritterstrasse, Adolph Menzel, 1851
Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts.
Our note: Pip remembers leaving his village for London.
Verified in the full text of Great Expectations on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #1400
Painted the same decade: The Woman in the Waves, Gustave Courbet, 1868
In old days there were angels who came and took men by the hand and led them away
Our note: The narrator on redemption, just before the passage about a hand put into ours.
Verified in the full text of Silas Marner on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #550
Painted the same decade: The Third-Class Carriage, Honoré Daumier, 1864
Though passion may have strained, it must not break, our bonds of affection.
Our note: Lincoln's plea to the seceding South, near the close of his first inaugural.
Verified in the full text of First Inaugural Address on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #3253 · Collected in The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln
Painted the same decade: The Spanish Singer, Edouard Manet, 1860
'No one is useless in this world,' retorted the Secretary, 'who lightens the burden of it for any one else.'
Our note: Rokesmith, working as Mr. Boffin's secretary, answers someone who calls himself useless.
Verified in the full text of Our Mutual Friend on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #883
Painted the same decade: Woman with a Parrot, Gustave Courbet, 1866
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in
Our note: From the close of the speech Lincoln gave in March 1865, weeks before the Civil War ended.
Verified in the full text of Second Inaugural Address on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #3253 · Collected in The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln
Painted the same decade: The Collector of Prints, Edgar Degas, 1866
I did not bow down to you, I bowed down to all the suffering of humanity
Our note: Raskolnikov explains to Sonia why he knelt at her feet.
Verified in the full text of Crime and Punishment on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2554
Painted the same decade: Woman with a Parrot, Gustave Courbet, 1866
What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult to each other?
Our note: Dorothea, in a conversation about generosity.
Verified in the full text of Middlemarch on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #145
Painted the same decade: Madame Georges Charpentier (Marguerite-Louise Lemonnier, 1848–1904) and Her Children, Georgette-Berthe (1872–1945) and Paul-Emile-Charles (1875–1895), Auguste Renoir, 1878
…for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.
Our note: The closing words of the novel, about the value of quiet lives.
Verified in the full text of Middlemarch on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #145
Painted the same decade: Springtime, Pierre-Auguste Cot, 1873
If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence
Our note: The narrator on why we do not feel every ordinary sorrow, written about Dorothea's unhappy honeymoon.
Verified in the full text of Middlemarch on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #145
Painted the same decade: Eugène Murer (Hyacinthe-Eugène Meunier, 1841–1906), Auguste Renoir, 1877
…there is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast it is all a sham
Our note: From the novel told by a horse, written to encourage kindness to animals.
Verified in the full text of Black Beauty on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #271
Painted the same decade: View of Marly-le-Roi from Coeur-Volant, Alfred Sisley, 1876
My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt
Our note: A plain statement of the book's moral about standing up to cruelty.
Verified in the full text of Black Beauty on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #271
Painted the same decade: Eugène Murer (Hyacinthe-Eugène Meunier, 1841–1906), Auguste Renoir, 1877
Love a man even in his sin, for that is the semblance of Divine Love and is the highest love on earth
Our note: From the teachings of the elder Zossima.
Verified in the full text of The Brothers Karamazov on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #28054
Painted the same decade: By the Seashore, Auguste Renoir, 1883
By being happy, we sow anonymous benefits upon the world, which remain unknown even to ourselves, …
Our note: From Stevenson's essay defending leisure.
Verified in the full text of An Apology for Idlers on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #386 · Collected in Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers
Painted the same decade: The Daughters of Catulle Mendès, Huguette (1871–1964), Claudine (1876–1937), and Helyonne (1879–1955), Auguste Renoir, 1888
If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life the aching, Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain.
Our note: The whole poem, first published four years after Dickinson's death.
Verified in the full text of If I can stop one heart from breaking on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #12242 · Collected in Poems by Emily Dickinson
Painted the same decade: Irises, Vincent van Gogh, 1890
We be of one blood, ye and I
Our note: The jungle greeting Mowgli uses to show he is a friend, not prey.
Verified in the full text of Kaa's Hunting on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #236 · Collected in The Jungle Book
Painted the same decade: Ia Orana Maria (Hail Mary), Paul Gauguin, 1891
Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him, and to let him know that you trust him.
Our note: Washington on what General Armstrong's trust did for him and for his students.
Verified in the full text of Up from Slavery on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2376
…assistance given to the weak makes the one who gives it strong; and that oppression of the unfortunate makes one weak
Our note: Washington reflecting on what he had learned about helping and harming others.
Verified in the full text of Up from Slavery on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2376
Where there is sorrow there is holy ground.
Our note: From the long letter Wilde wrote in prison.
Verified in the full text of De Profundis on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #921
…the good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain, is floating in mid-air, until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.
Our note: Addams on why the settlement movement works for shared, not private, good.
Verified in the full text of Twenty Years at Hull-House on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #1325
Painted the same decade: Tilla Durieux (Ottilie Godeffroy, 1880–1971), Auguste Renoir, 1914
You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
Our note: From "On Giving."
Verified in the full text of The Prophet on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #58585
…just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had
Our note: Advice from Nick Carraway's father, recalled on the novel's first page.
Verified in the full text of The Great Gatsby on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #64317
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