1810s

Explore 138 quotes from the 1810s

While in Europe, I often amused myself with contemplating the characters of the then reigning sovereigns of Europe. Lous XVI was a fool, of my own knowledge, and in despite of the answers made at his trial. The King of Spain was a fool, and of Naples the same. They passed their lives in hunting, and despatched two courtiers a week, one thousand miles, to let each other know what game they had killed the preceding days. The King of Sardinia was a fool. All these were Bourbons. The Queen of Portugal, a Braganza, was an idiot by nature. And so was the King of Denmark. Their sons, as regents, exercised the powers of government. The King of Prussia, successor to the great Frederick, was a mere hog in body as well as in mind. Gustavus of Sweden, and Joseph of Austria, were really crazy, and George of England you know was in a straight waistcoat.

Thomas Jefferson

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Topic

Anti-monarchism

Author

Thomas Jefferson

Source

Letters of Thomas Jefferson

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1810 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. Letter to Governor John Langdon. 5 Mar. 1810.

Current Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. "Governor John Langdon, March 5, 1810." The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson, edited by Adrienne Koch and William Peden. Modern Library, 1998.

You and I, ought not to die, before We have explained ourselves to each other.

John Adams

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Topic

The Founders

Author

John Adams

Source

Letters of John Adams

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1813 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Adams, John. Letter to Thomas Jefferson. 15 July 1813.

Current Citation

John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 15 July 1813, with Postscript from Abigail Adams to Thomas Jefferson, [ca. 15 July 1813],” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-06-02-0247.

Nought may endure but Mutability.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

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Topic

The only constant is change Impermanence Change

Author

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Source

Mutability

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1816 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Shelley, Percy Bysshe. "Mutability." Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude: And Other Poems. London: Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, 1816, I. 16.

Current Citation

Shelley, Percy Bysshe. "Mutability." Percy Bysshe Shelley: The Major Works, edited by Zachary Leader and Michael O'Neill. Oxford University Press, 2009, I. 16.

Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose—a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye.

Mary Shelley

Frankenstein

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Topic

Goals Flow state Focus

Author

Mary Shelley

Source

Frankenstein

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1818 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. London: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones, 1818, letter 1.

Current Citation

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein: The 1818 Text. Penguin Classics, 2018, letter 1.

I have not loved the world, nor the world me;
I have not flattered its rank breath, nor bowed
To its idolatries a patient knee.

Lord Byron

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

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Topic

Being true to oneself Personal integrity

Author

Lord Byron

Source

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1818 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Lord Byron. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. London: John Murray, 1812-1818, canto 3, st. 113.

Current Citation

Lord Byron. "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage." Lord Byron: The Major Works, edited by Jerome J. McGann. Oxford University Press, 2008, canto 3, st. 113.

The atoms of Democritus
And Newton’s particles of light
Are sands upon the Red Sea shore,
Where Israel’s tents do shine so bright.

William Blake

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Topic

Athens and Jerusalem

Author

William Blake

Source

Mock on, Mock on, Voltaire, Rousseau

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1807 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Blake, William. Poem written in his notebook. c. 1792.

Current Citation

Blake, William. "Mock on Mock on Voltaire Rousseau." William Blake: Selected Poems, edited by Nicholas Shrimpton. Oxford University Press, 2019.

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

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Author

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Source

Kubla Khan

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1816 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. "Kubla Khan." Christabel; Kubla Khan, a Vision; The Pains of Sleep. London: John Murray, 1816, I. 1.

Current Citation

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. "Kubla Khan." Samuel Taylor Coleridge: The Major Works, edited by H. J. Jackson. Oxford University Press, 2009, I. 1.

Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the Constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consist with the letter and spirit of the Constitution, are Constitutional.

John Marshall

McCulloch v. Maryland

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Topic

Constitutional law US Constitution

Author

John Marshall

Source

McCulloch v. Maryland

Medium

Supreme Court opinion Legal opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1819 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Marshall, John. United States, Supreme Court. McCulloch v. Maryland. United States Reports, vol. 17, 5 Mar. 1819, pp. 316-437. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/17/316/.

Where rose the mountains, there to him were friends;
Where rolled the ocean, thereon was his home;
Where a blue sky, and glowing clime, extends,
He had the passion and the power to roam.

Lord Byron

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

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Topic

Love of nature Nature

Author

Lord Byron

Source

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1818 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Lord Byron. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. London: John Murray, 1812-1818, canto 3, st. 13.

Current Citation

Lord Byron. "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage." Lord Byron: The Major Works, edited by Jerome J. McGann. Oxford University Press, 2008, canto 3, st. 13.

Wit is the salt of conversation, not the food.

William Hazlitt

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Topic

Humor Good conversation Conversation

Author

William Hazlitt

Source

On Wit and Humour

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1819 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hazlitt, William. "On Wit and Humour." Lectures on the English Comic Writers. c. 1818, Surrey Institution, London, England, UK.

What is the worst of woes that wait on age?
What stamps the wrinkle deeper on the brow?
To view each loved one blotted from life's page,
And be alone on earth, as I am now.

Lord Byron

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

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Topic

Losing a loved one Aging Loneliness The human condition

Author

Lord Byron

Source

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

Medium

Poem

Statement Type

Question

Language

English

Time

1818 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Lord Byron. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. London: John Murray, 1812-1818, canto 2, st. 98.

Current Citation

Lord Byron. "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage." Lord Byron: The Major Works, edited by Jerome J. McGann. Oxford University Press, 2008, canto 2, st. 98.

Every reform, however necessary, will by weak minds be carried to an excess, that itself will need reforming.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

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Topic

Nature of progress

Author

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Language

English

Time

1817 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Biographia Literaria, edited by Niger Leask. Vol. 1, London: J. M. Dent, 1817, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. "Biographia Literaria." Samuel Taylor Coleridge: The Major Works, edited by H. J. Jackson. Oxford University Press, 2009, ch. 1.

How beautiful is all this visible world!
How glorious in its action and itself!
But we, who name ourselves its sovereigns, we,
Half dust, half deity, alike unfit
To sink or soar, with our mix'd essence make
A conflict of its elements, and breathe
The breath of degradation and of pride.

Lord Byron

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Topic

Man and nature Nature The human condition

Author

Lord Byron

Source

Manfred

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1817 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Lord Byron. Manfred: A Dramatic Poem. London: John Murray, 1817, act 1, sc. 2, l. 37.

Current Citation

Lord Byron. "Manfred." Lord Byron: Selected Poems, edited by Susan J. Wolfson and Peter J. Manning. Penguin Classics, 2006, act 1, sc. 2, l. 37.

A sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.

Washington Irving

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Topic

Sharp tongue Verbal skill

Author

Washington Irving

Source

Rip Van Winkle

Medium

Short story

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1819 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Irving, Washington. "Rip Van Winkle." The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. New York: C. S. Van Winkle, 23 June 1819–July 1820.

Current Citation

Irving, Washington. "Rip Van Winkle." The Sketch-Book, edited by Susan Manning. Oxford University Press, 2009.

There is no such thing as "natural law": this expression is nothing but old nonsense…Prior to laws, what is natural is only the strength of the lion, or the need of the creature suffering from hunger or cold, in short, need.

Stendhal

The Red and the Black

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Topic

Natural law Might makes right

Author

Stendhal

Source

The Red and the Black

Medium

Novel

Language

French

Time

1819 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Stendhal. Le Rouge et le Noir: Chronique du XIXe siècle [The Red and the Black: A Chronicle of the 19th Century]. Vol. 2, Paris: A. Levasseur, c. 1830, ch. 44.

Current Citation

Stendhal. The Red and the Black, translated by Catherine Slater. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 2, ch. 44.

What is Hope? nothing but the paint on the face of Existence; the least touch of truth rubs it off, and then we see what a hollow-cheeked harlot we have got hold of.

Lord Byron

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Topic

Hope

Author

Lord Byron

Source

Letters of Lord Byron

Medium

Letter

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1815 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Lord Byron. Letter To Thomas Moore. 28 Oct. 1815.

Current Citation

Lord Byron. Byron's Letters and Journals: A New Selection, edited by Richard Lansdown. Oxford University Press, 2015, ch. 5.

When people talk of the Freedom of Writing, Speaking or thinking, I cannot choose but laugh. No such thing ever existed. No such thing ever existed. No such thing now exists: but I hope it will exist. But it must be hundreds of years after you and I shall write and speak no more.

John Adams

Letter to Thomas Jefferson, July 15, 1817

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Topic

Freedom of speech and expression Freedom of thought

Author

John Adams

Source

Letter to Thomas Jefferson, July 15, 1817 Letters of John Adams

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1817 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Adams, John. Letter to Thomas Jefferson. 15 July 1817.

Current Citation

Adams, John. "Adams to Jefferson - Quincy, July 15, 1817." The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams, edited by Lester J. Cappon. University of North Carolina Press, 1988.

Marriage may often be a stormy lake, but celibacy is almost always a muddy horsepond.

Thomas Love Peacock

More information about this quote

Topic

Marriage Single life

Speaker

Sir Telegraph Paxarett

Author

Thomas Love Peacock

Source

Melincourt

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1817 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Peacock, Thomas Love. Melincourt. London: T. Hookham, and Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, 1817, ch. 7.

Current Citation

Peacock, Thomas Love. Melincourt, edited by Gary Dyer. Cambridge University Press, 2022, ch. 7.

The fountains mingle with the river,
And the rivers with the Ocean,
The winds of Heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one spirit meet and mingle.
Why not I with thine?

Percy Bysshe Shelley

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Topic

Interconnectedness of all things Connecting with others

Author

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Source

Love's Philosophy

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1819 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Shelley, Percy Bysshe. "Love's Philosophy." The Indicator. London: J. Appleyard, 22 Dec. 1819, I. 1.

Current Citation

Shelley, Percy Bysshe. "Love's Philosophy." Percy Bysshe Shelley: The Major Works, edited by Zachary Leader and Michael O'Neill. Oxford University Press, 2009, I. 1.

If a man could pass through Paradise in a dream, and have a flower presented to him as a pledge that his soul had really been there, and if he found the flower in his hand when he awoke-Aye! and what then?

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

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Topic

Dreams Heaven

Author

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Source

Anima Poetae

Medium

Personal journal

Statement Type

Hypothetical situations

Language

English

Time

1816 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Notebook entry. c. 1816.