Thomas Hardy

Explore 12 quotes by Thomas Hardy

Pessimism (or rather what is called such) is, in brief, playing the sure game. You cannot lose at it; you may gain. It is the only view of life in which you can never be disappointed.

Thomas Hardy

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Topic

Pessimism Low expectations

Author

Thomas Hardy

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1902 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hardy, Thomas. Notebook entry. 1 Jan. 1902.

Current Citation

Hardy, Thomas. Quoted in The Poetry of Thomas Hardy: A Handbook and Commentary, written by J. O. Bailey. UNC Press Books, 2018.

Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened.

Thomas Hardy

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Topic

The improbable

Author

Thomas Hardy

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1871 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hardy, Thomas. Notebook entry. 12 Feb. 1871.

Current Citation

Hardy, Thomas. The Personal Notebooks of Thomas Hardy: with an Appendix Including the Unpublished Passages in the Original Typescripts of the Life of Thomas Hardy. Columbia University Press, 1979.

Uniform pleasantness is rather a defect than a faculty. It shows that a man hasn't sense enough to know whom to despise.

Thomas Hardy

A Pair of Blue Eyes

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Topic

How to behave

Speaker

Elfride Swancourt's father

Author

Thomas Hardy

Source

A Pair of Blue Eyes

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1872 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hardy, Thomas. "A Pair of Blue Eyes." Tinsley's Magazine, Sept. 1872 - July 1873.

Current Citation

Hardy, Thomas. A Pair of Blue Eyes. Wordsworth Editions, 1998.

Considering his position he became wonderfully free from the chronic melancholy which is taking hold of the civilized races with the decline of belief in a beneficent Power.

Thomas Hardy

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

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Topic

Disenchanted world

Author

Thomas Hardy

Source

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1891 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hardy, Thomas. "Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented." The Graphic, July–Dec. 1891.

Current Citation

Hardy, Thomas. Tess of the D'Urbervilles, edited by Scott Elledge. W. W. Norton & Company, 1990.

It is hard for a woman to define her feelings in a language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.

Thomas Hardy

Far From the Madding Crowd

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Topic

Women Gender relations Patriarchy Men and women

Speaker

Bathsheba Troy

Author

Thomas Hardy

Source

Far From the Madding Crowd

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1874 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Hardy, Thomas [published anonymously]. "Far From the Madding Crowd." Cornhill Magazine, 1874.

Current Citation

Hardy, Thomas. Far from the Madding Crowd, edited by Rosemarie Morgan. Penguin Classics, 2015.

Yes, quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You'd treat if met where any bar is,
Or help to half-a-crown.

Thomas Hardy

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Topic

Absurdity of war War

Author

Thomas Hardy

Source

The Man He Killed

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1902 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Hardy, Thomas. "The Man He Killed." Harper's Weekly, 8 Nov. 1902.

Current Citation

Hardy, Thomas. "The Man He Killed." Selected Poems. Penguin Classics, 1998.

And as the smart ship grew
In stature, grace, and hue,
In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too.

Thomas Hardy

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Topic

Disaster Foreboding

Author

Thomas Hardy

Source

The Convergence of the Twain

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1912 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hardy, Thomas. "The Convergence of the Twain." Souvenir Programme for the Titanic Disaster Fund, 1912, st. 8.

Current Citation

Hardy, Thomas. "The Convergence of the Twain." Thomas Hardy: Selected Poems, edited by Robert Mezey. Penguin Classics, 1998, st. 8.

It was at present a place perfectly accordant with man's nature-neither ghastly, hateful, nor ugly; neither commonplace, unmeaning, nor tame; but, like man, slighted and enduring; and withal singularly colossal and mysterious in its swarthy monotony. As with some persons who have long lived apart, solitude seemed to look out of its countenance. It had a lonely face, suggesting tragical possiblities.

Thomas Hardy

The Return of the Native

A description of Egdon Heath, a fictional place in southeast England.

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Topic

Landscape England

Author

Thomas Hardy

Source

The Return of the Native

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1878 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Hardy, Thomas. "The Return of the Native." Belgravia, 9 Jan. 1878 - 19 Dec. 1878.

Current Citation

Hardy, Thomas. The Return of the Native, edited by Simon Gatrell. Oxford University Press, 2009.

A lover without indiscretion is no lover at all.

Thomas Hardy

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Topic

Lovers

Speaker

Young Painter

Author

Thomas Hardy

Source

The Hand of Ethelberta

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1876 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hardy, Thomas. "The Hand of Ethelberta." Cornhill Magazine, July 1875-May 1876. Monthly serial.

Current Citation

Hardy, Thomas. The Hand of Ethelberta, edited by Tim Dolin. Penguin Classics, 1998.

The fundamental error of their matrimonial union; that of having based a permanent contract on a temporary feeling.

Thomas Hardy

Jude the Obscure

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Topic

Challenges of marriage Marriage

Author

Thomas Hardy

Source

Jude the Obscure

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1894 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hardy, Thomas. "Jude the Obscure." Harper's New Monthly, Dec. 1894.

Current Citation

Hardy, Thomas. Jude the Obscure, edited by Ralph Pite. W. W. Norton & Company, 2016.

War makes rattling good history; but Peace is poor reading.

Thomas Hardy

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Topic

War and peace War Peace

Author

Thomas Hardy

Source

The Dynasts

Medium

Play

Language

English

Time

1904 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Hardy, Thomas. The Dynasts. Vol. 1, MacMillan & Co., 1904, pt. 1, act 1, sc. 5.

A novel is an impression, not an argument.

Thomas Hardy

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

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Topic

Novels Literature Books

Author

Thomas Hardy

Source

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1891 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Hardy, Thomas. Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1892, preface.

Current Citation

Hardy, Thomas. Tess of the D'Urbervilles, edited by Scott Elledge. W. W. Norton & Company, 1990, preface.