Novel

Explore 898 quotes from the following medium: Novel

But time...how time first grounds us and then confounds us. We thought we were being mature when we were only being safe. We imagined we were being responsible but were only being cowardly. What we called realism turned out to be a way of avoiding things rather than facing them. Time...give us enough time and our best-supported decisions will seem wobbly, our certainties whimsical.

Julian Barnes

The Sense of an Ending

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Topic

Effects of time

Author

Julian Barnes

Source

The Sense of an Ending

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

2011 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Barnes, Julian. The Sense of an Ending. Jonathan Cape/Alfred A. Knopf, 2011, ch. 2.

Our national drug is alcohol. We tend to regard the use of any other drug with special horror.

William S. Burroughs

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Topic

Alcohol

Author

William S. Burroughs

Source

Naked Lunch

Medium

Novel

Genre

Science fiction

Language

English

Time

1959 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Burroughs, William Seward. The Naked Lunch. Olympia Press/Grove Press, 1959, appendix.

I certainly believe we all suffer damage, one way or another. How could we not, except in a world of perfect parents, siblings, neighbours, companions? And then there is the question, on which so much depends, of how we react to the damage: whether we admit it or repress it, and how this affects our dealings with others. Some admit the damage, and try to mitigate it; some spend their lives trying to help others who are damaged; and then there are those whose main concern is to avoid further damage to themselves, at whatever cost. And those are the ones who are ruthless, and the ones to be careful of.

Julian Barnes

The Sense of an Ending

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Topic

Suffering Pain

Author

Julian Barnes

Source

The Sense of an Ending

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

2011 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Barnes, Julian. The Sense of an Ending. Jonathan Cape/Alfred A. Knopf, 2011, ch. 1.

Our inventions mirror our secret wishes.

Lawrence Durrell

Mountolive

More information about this quote

Topic

Creativity Innovation Invention

Speaker

Clea

Author

Lawrence Durrell

Source

Mountolive

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1958 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Durrell, Lawrence. Mountolive. Faber and Faber, 1958.

The Social Contract is nothing more or less than a vast conspiracy of human beings to lie to and humbug themselves and one another for the general Good. Lies are the mortar that bind the savage individual man into the social masonry.

H.G. Wells

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Topic

Social Contract Individual vs. the collective

Speaker

Mr. Chaffery

Author

H.G. Wells

Source

Love and Mr. Lewisham

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1899 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Wells, H. G. Love and Mr. Lewisham. Harper & Brothers, 1900, ch. 23.

Current Citation

Wells, H. G. Love and Mr. Lewisham, edited by Simon James. Penguin Classics, 2005, ch. 23.

I am convinced that everything that is worth while in the world has been accomplished by the free, inquiring, critical spirit, and that the preservation of this spirit is more important than any social system whatsoever. But the men of ritual and the men of barbarism are capable of shutting up the men of science and of silencing them forever.

Sinclair Lewis

It Can't Happen Here

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Topic

Intellectual freedom Critical thinking Scientific progress Progress

Speaker

Doremus Jessup

Author

Sinclair Lewis

Source

It Can't Happen Here

Medium

Novel

Genre

Dystopian fiction

Language

English

Time

1935 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lewis, Sinclair. It Can't Happen Here. Doubleday, Doran and Company, 1935, ch. 36.

To love for the sake of being loved is human, but to love for the sake of loving is angelic.

Alphonse de Lamartine

Graziella

More information about this quote

Topic

Selflessness Love Human nature

Author

Alphonse de Lamartine

Source

Graziella

Medium

Novel

Language

French

Time

1849 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

De Lamartine, Alphonse. "Graziella." Les Confidences, 1849.

Current Citation

De Lamartine, Alphonse. Graziella, translated by Raymond N. MacKenzie. University of Minnesota Press, 2018, pt. 4, ch. 5.

Literature is humanity talking to itself.

Norman Rush

Mortals

More information about this quote

Topic

Literature

Author

Norman Rush

Source

Mortals

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

2003 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Rush, Norman. Mortals. Alfred A. Knopf, 2003.

I preach that there are all kinds of truth, your truth and somebody else's, but behind all of them there's only one truth and that is that there's no truth.

Flannery O'Connor

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Topic

Nature of truth Truth

Speaker

Hazel Motes

Author

Flannery O'Connor

Source

Wise Blood

Medium

Novel

Genre

Southern Gothic

Language

English

Time

1952 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

O'Connor, Flannery. Wise Blood. Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1952, ch. 10.

Does character develop over time? In novels, of course it does: otherwise there wouldn't be much of a story. But in life? I sometimes wonder. Our attitudes and opinions change, we develop new habits and eccentricities; but that's something different, more like decoration. Perhaps character resembles intelligence, except that character peaks a little later: between twenty and thirty, say. And after that, we're just stuck with what we've got. We're on our own. If so, that would explain a lot of lives, wouldn't it? And also—if this isn't too grand a word—our tragedy.

Julian Barnes

The Sense of an Ending

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Topic

Character Personal growth The human condition

Author

Julian Barnes

Source

The Sense of an Ending

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

2011 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Barnes, Julian. The Sense of an Ending. Jonathan Cape/Alfred A. Knopf, 2011, ch. 2.

The universe is no narrow thing and the order within it is not constrained by any latitude in its conception to repeat what exists in one part in any other part. Even in this world more things exist without our knowledge than with it and the order in creation which you see is that which you have put there, like a string in a maze, so that you shall not lose your way. For existence has its own order and that no man's mind can compass, that mind itself being but a fact among others.

Cormac McCarthy

Blood Meridian; or The Evening Redness in the West

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Topic

The universe

Author

Cormac McCarthy

Source

Blood Meridian; or The Evening Redness in the West

Medium

Novel

Genre

Western literature

Language

English

Time

1985 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

McCarthy, Cormac. Blood Meridian; or The Evening Redness in the West. Random House, 1985, ch. 17.

I often want to cry. That is the only advantage women have over men-at least they can cry.

Jean Rhys

More information about this quote

Topic

Crying Men and women Masculinity

Author

Jean Rhys

Source

Good Morning, Midnight

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Rhys, Jean. Good Morning, Midnight. Constable Press, 1939.

Current Citation

Rhys, Jean. Good Morning, Midnight. W. W. Norton & Company, 2020.

It doesn’t matter who you are or what you look like so long as somebody loves you.

Roald Dahl

The Witches

More information about this quote

Topic

Feeling loved Love

Author

Roald Dahl

Source

The Witches

Medium

Novel

Genre

Children's literature

Language

English

Time

1983 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dahl, Roald. The Witches. Jonathan Cape, 1983.

If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.

Giuseppe di Lampedusa

The Leopard

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Topic

The only constant is change Status quo Change

Speaker

Tancredi

Author

Giuseppe di Lampedusa

Source

The Leopard

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

Italian

Time

1957 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Lampedusa, Giuseppe Tomasi. Il Gattopard [The Leopard]. Feltrinelli, 1958, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Lampedusa, Giuseppe. The Leopard, translated by Archibald Colquhoun. Pantheon, 2007, ch. 1.

But I do know that about ten times as many people find their lives dull, and unnecessarily dull, as ever admit it; and I do believe that if we busted out and admitted it sometimes, instead of being nice and patient and loyal for sixty years, and then nice and patient and dead for the rest of eternity, why, maybe, possibly, we might make life more fun.

Sinclair Lewis

Babbitt

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Topic

Ennui Middle class conformity

Speaker

Paul Riesling

Author

Sinclair Lewis

Source

Babbitt

Medium

Novel

Genre

Satire

Language

English

Time

1922 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Lewis, Sinclair. Babbitt. Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1922, ch. 5.

Current Citation

Lewis, Sinclair. Babbitt, edited by Gordon Hutner. Oxford University Press, 2010, ch. 5.

Strange, isn't it? To have dedicated one's life to a certain venture, neglecting other aspects of one's life, only to have that venture, in the end, amount to nothing at all, the products of one's labors ultimately forgotten?

George Saunders

Lincoln in the Bardo

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Topic

Wasted life

Author

George Saunders

Source

Lincoln in the Bardo

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

2017 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Saunders, George. Lincoln in the Bardo. Random House, 2017.

Most troubles are unnecessary. We have Nature beaten; we can make her grow wheat; we can keep warm when she sends blizzards. So we raise the devil just for pleasure-wars, politics, race-hatreds, labor-disputes.

Sinclair Lewis

Main Street

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Topic

Man and nature The human condition

Speaker

Guy Pollock

Author

Sinclair Lewis

Source

Main Street

Medium

Novel

Genre

Satire

Language

English

Time

1920 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Lewis, Sinclair. Main Street. Harcourt, Brace and Howe, 1920, ch. 13.

Current Citation

Lewis, Sinclair. "Main Street." Sinclair Lewis: Main Street and Babbitt, edited by John Hersey. Library of America, 1992, ch. 13.

Gluttony is an emotional escape, a sign something is eating us.

Peter De Vries

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Topic

Gluttony Food Coping mechanisms

Speaker

Mrs. Thicknesse

Author

Peter De Vries

Source

Comfort Me With Apples

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1956 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

De Vries, Peter. Comfort Me with Apples. Little, Brown & Company, 1956.

I think perhaps we want a more conscious life. We're tired of drudging and sleeping and dying. We're tired of seeing just a few people able to be individualists. We're tired of always deferring hope till the next generation. We're tired of hearing politicians and priests and cautious reformers...coax us, "Be calm! Be patient! Wait! We have the plans for a Utopia already made; just give us a bit more time and we’ll produce it; trust us; we're wiser than you." For ten thousand years they've said that. We want our Utopia now-and we're going to try our hands at it.

Sinclair Lewis

Main Street

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Topic

Political progress Progress

Speaker

Carol Milford Kennicott

Author

Sinclair Lewis

Source

Main Street

Medium

Novel

Genre

Satire

Language

English

Time

1920 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Lewis, Sinclair. Main Street. Harcourt, Brace and Howe, 1920, ch. 16.

Current Citation

Lewis, Sinclair. "Main Street." Sinclair Lewis: Main Street and Babbitt, edited by John Hersey. Library of America, 1992, ch. 16.

Keep violence in the mind
Where it belongs.

Brian Aldiss

Barefoot in the Head

More information about this quote

Topic

Violent fantasies Violence

Author

Brian Aldiss

Source

Barefoot in the Head

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1969 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Aldiss, Brian. Barefoot in the Head. Faber & Faber, 1969.