Novelist

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I would always rather be happy than dignified.

Charlotte Brontë

Jane Eyre: An Autobiography

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Topic

Happiness Dignity

Speaker

Jane Eyre

Author

Charlotte Brontë

Source

Jane Eyre: An Autobiography

Medium

Novel

Genre

Coming of age story

Language

English

Time

1847 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Brontë, Charlotte, [published as Currer Bell]. Jane Eyre: An Autobiography. Vol. 1, London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1847, ch. 34.

Current Citation

Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Penguin Classics, 2006, ch. 34.

I wish I were a girl again, half savage and hardy, and free.

Emily Brontë

Wuthering Heights

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Topic

Freedom of youth Girlhood Youth

Speaker

Catherine Earnshaw

Author

Emily Brontë

Source

Wuthering Heights

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1847 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Brontë, Emily, [published as Ellis Bell]. Wuthering Heights. Vol. 1, London: Thomas Cautley Newby, 1847, ch. 12.

Current Citation

Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights, edited by Alexandra Lewis. W. W. Norton & Company, 2019, ch. 12.

As she frequently remarked when she made any such mistake, it would be all the same a hundred years hence.

Charles Dickens

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

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Topic

Mistakes Perspective

Speaker

Mrs. Squeers

Author

Charles Dickens

Source

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1838 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. London: Chapman and Hall, May 1838, issue 3, ch. 9.

Current Citation

Dickens, Charles. Nicholas Nickleby, edited by Mark Ford. Penguin, 1999, ch. 9.

If you're happy in a dream... does that count?

Arundhati Roy

The God of Small Things

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Topic

Happiness Dreams

Speaker

Estha

Author

Arundhati Roy

Source

The God of Small Things

Medium

Novel

Genre

Post-colonial literature

Statement Type

Question

Language

English

Time

1997 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. Random House, 1997, ch. 11.

I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she's going to adopt me and sivilize me and I can't stand it. I been there before.

Mark Twain

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

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Topic

Escape Wide open spaces

Author

Mark Twain

Source

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Medium

Novel

Genre

Children's literature Adventure novel

Language

English

Time

1884 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. London: Chatto & Windus, 1884, ch. 43.

Current Citation

Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, edited by R. Kent Rasmussen. Penguin Classics, 2014, ch. 43.

The girl really worth having won't wait for anybody.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

This Side of Paradise

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Topic

Shoot your shot Missed opportunities Love

Speaker

Amory Blaine

Author

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Source

This Side of Paradise

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1920 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. This Side of Paradise. Scribner, 1920, bk. 2, ch. 2.

Pride helps us; and pride is not a bad thing when it only urges us to hide our own hurts-not to hurt others.

George Eliot

Middlemarch

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Topic

Pride

Author

George Eliot

Source

Middlemarch

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1872 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Eliot, George. Middlemarch. Edinburgh/London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1871–1872, bk. 1, ch. 6.

Current Citation

Eliot, George. Middlemarch, edited by Rosemary Ashton. Penguin Classics, 2003, bk. 1, ch. 6.

In historical events great men-so called-are but labels serving to give a name to the event, and like labels they have the least possible connection with the event itself.

Leo Tolstoy

War and Peace

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Topic

Nature of history Great man theory of history History

Author

Leo Tolstoy

Source

War and Peace

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1869 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Tolstoy, Leo. "Война и миръ [War and Peace]." The Russian Messenger, 1865-1867. Serial.

Current Citation

Tolstoy, Leo. War and Peace, translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude. Oxford University Press, 2010.

Irreverence is the champion of liberty and its only sure defense.

Mark Twain

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Topic

Irreverence Sacred cows Freedom

Author

Mark Twain

Source

Journals of Mark Twain

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1889 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Twain, Mark. Mark Twain's Notebook, edited by Albert Bigelow Paine. The Mark Twain Company, 1932, ch. 20. Originally from Notebook, c. 1889.

Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded.

Mary Shelley

Frankenstein

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Topic

FOMO Isolation Unhappiness

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, ch. 10.

Current Citation

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein: The 1818 Text. Penguin Classics, 2018, ch. 10.

I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.

J.R.R. Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

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Topic

Crying Vulnerability

Speaker

Gandalf

Author

J.R.R. Tolkien

Source

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Medium

Novel

Genre

Fantasy

Language

English

Time

1955 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. George Allen & Unwin, 1955, bk. 6, ch. 9.

Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.

Mark Twain

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

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Topic

Interpretation and analysis Literature

Author

Mark Twain

Source

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Medium

Novel

Genre

Children's literature Adventure novel

Statement Type

Warning

Language

English

Time

1884 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. London: Chatto & Windus, 1884, notice.

Current Citation

Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, edited by R. Kent Rasmussen. Penguin Classics, 2014, notice.

She is a friend of my mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order.

Toni Morrison

Beloved

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Topic

Friends Nature of friendship Friendship

Speaker

Sixto

Author

Toni Morrison

Source

Beloved

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1987 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. Alfred A. Knopf, 1987.

Isn't it pretty to think so?

Ernest Hemingway

The Sun Also Rises

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Topic

Wishful thinking

Speaker

Jake Barnes

Author

Ernest Hemingway

Source

The Sun Also Rises

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Question

Language

English

Time

1926 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1926, bk. 3, ch. 19.

Ride on! Rough-shod if need be, smooth-shod if that will do, but ride on! Ride over all obstacles, and win the race!

Charles Dickens

The Personal History of David Copperfield

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Topic

Overcoming obstacles

Author

Charles Dickens

Source

The Personal History of David Copperfield

Medium

Novel

Genre

Coming of age story

Language

English

Time

1850 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Dickens, Charles. The Personal History of David Copperfield. London: Bradbury & Evans, Feb. 1850, issue 10, ch. 28.

Current Citation

Dickens, Charles. David Copperfield, edited by Jeremy Tambling. Penguin Classics, 2004, ch. 28.

Everything has its limit—iron ore cannot be educated into gold.

Mark Twain

More information about this quote

Topic

Human nature Limits of education Education

Speaker

Young Man

Author

Mark Twain

Source

What is Man?

Medium

Short story

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1906 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Twain, Mark, [published anonymously]. What is Man? De Vinne Press, 1906.

Current Citation

Twain, Mark. "What is Man?" What Is Man? and Other Essays. Dover Publications, 2019.

Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilised by education.

Charlotte Brontë

Jane Eyre: An Autobiography

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Topic

Prejudice and bias Education

Author

Charlotte Brontë

Source

Jane Eyre: An Autobiography

Medium

Novel

Genre

Coming of age story

Language

English

Time

1847 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Brontë, Charlotte, [published as Currer Bell]. Jane Eyre: An Autobiography. Vol. 3, London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1847, ch. 29.

Current Citation

Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Penguin Classics, 2006, ch. 29.

Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is, knows how deep a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our race. He brought death into the world.

Mark Twain

Pudd'nhead Wilson

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Topic

Death as a blessing Death Adam Original sin

Author

Mark Twain

Source

Pudd'nhead Wilson

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Misdirection

Language

English

Time

1894 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Twain, Mark. "Pudd'nhead Wilson." The Century Magazine, Nov. 1893-Oct. 1894.

Current Citation

Twain, Mark. "Pudd'nhead Wilson." Pudd'nHead Wilson and Other Tales, edited by R.D. Gooder. Oxford University Press, 2009.

No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been married a quarter of a century.

Mark Twain

More information about this quote

Topic

Marriage Men and women Love

Author

Mark Twain

Source

Journals of Mark Twain

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1894 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Twain, Mark. Mark Twain's Notebook, edited by Albert Bigelow Paine. The Mark Twain Company, 1932, ch. 21. Originally from Notebook, c. 1894.

Old age is always wakeful; as if, the longer linked with life, the less man has to do with aught that looks like death.

Herman Melville

Moby-Dick; or, The Whale

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Topic

Old age Trouble sleeping Sleep Death

Author

Herman Melville

Source

Moby-Dick; or, The Whale

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1851 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. London: Richard Bentley/New York: Harper & Brothers, 1851, ch. 29.

Current Citation

Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick or, The Whale. Penguin Classics, 2002, ch. 29.