Novelist

Explore 912 quotes by Novelists

Casting aspersions on those we love always does something to loosen our ties. We shouldn't maltreat our idols; the gilt comes off in our hands.

Gustave Flaubert

Madame Bovary

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Topic

Criticizing others

Author

Gustave Flaubert

Source

Madame Bovary

Medium

Novel

Language

French

Time

1856 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary: Moeurs de Province [Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners]. Revue de Paris, 1 Oct. 1856 - 15 Dec. 1856. Serial.

Current Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary, edited and translated by Lydia Davis. Penguin Classics, 2011, pt. 3, ch. 6.

All human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good and evil.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

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Topic

Duality of man Good and evil Human nature

Author

Robert Louis Stevenson

Source

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Medium

Novella

Genre

Science fiction

Language

English

Time

1886 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Stevenson, Robert Louis. "Henry Jekyll's Full Statement of the Case." Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1886.

Current Citation

Stevenson, Robert Louis. "Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Tales. Oxford University Press, 2008, ch. 10.

Each race determines for itself what indecencies are. Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them.

Mark Twain

More information about this quote

Topic

Custom and convention Moral relativism Moral theory Morality

Author

Mark Twain

Source

Journals of Mark Twain

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1896 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Twain, Mark. Mark Twain's Notebook, edited by Albert Bigelow Paine. The Mark Twain Company, 1932, ch. 25. Originally from Notebook, c. 1896.

This was the trouble with families. Like invidious doctors, they knew just where it hurt.

Arundhati Roy

The God of Small Things

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Topic

Hurting others Family

Author

Arundhati Roy

Source

The God of Small Things

Medium

Novel

Genre

Post-colonial literature

Language

English

Time

1997 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. Random House, 1997, ch. 2.

To arrive at a just estimate of a renowned man's character one must judge it by the standards of his time, not ours.

Mark Twain

Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc

More information about this quote

Topic

Historical criticism Custom and convention Moral relativism Morality

Author

Mark Twain

Source

Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1896 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Twain, Mark, [published anonymously]. "Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc." Harper's Magazine. New York, Apr. 1895-Apr. 1896.

Current Citation

Twain, Mark. "Translator's Preface." Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc. Dover Publications, 2002.

A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.

James Joyce

Ulysses

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Topic

Learning from mistakes Mistakes Genius

Speaker

Stephen Dedalus

Author

James Joyce

Source

Ulysses

Medium

Novel

Genre

Modernist literature

Language

English

Time

1922 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Joyce, James. Ulysses. Shakespeare and Company, 1922, bk. 2, ch. 9.

Current Citation

Joyce, James. The Cambridge Centenary Ulysses: The 1922 Text with Essays and Notes, edited by Catherine Flynn. Cambridge University Press, 2022, ch. 9.

Any one watching keenly the stealthy convergence of human lots, sees a slow preparation of effects from one life on another, which tells like a calculated irony on the indifference or the frozen stare with which we look at our unintroduced neighbor.

George Eliot

Middlemarch

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Topic

Interconnectedness of all people

Author

George Eliot

Source

Middlemarch

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1872 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Eliot, George. Middlemarch. William Edinburgh/London: Blackwood and Sons, 1871–1872, bk. 1, ch. 11.

Current Citation

Eliot, George. Middlemarch, edited by Rosemary Ashton. Penguin Classics, 2003, bk. 1, ch. 11.

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.

Mark Twain

More information about this quote

Topic

Confidence How to succeed Success

Author

Mark Twain

Source

Letters of Mark Twain

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1887 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Twain, Mark. Letter to Mrs. Foote. 2 Dec. 1887.

Rest and be kind, you don't have to prove anything.

Jack Kerouac

The Dharma Bums

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Topic

Nothing to prove Self-acceptance Kindness

Author

Jack Kerouac

Source

The Dharma Bums

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Advice

Language

English

Time

1958 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Kerouac, Jack. The Dharma Bums. Viking Press, 1958, ch. 11.

Principles have no real force except when one is well fed.

Mark Twain

More information about this quote

Topic

Moral principles Moral theory Morality

Author

Mark Twain

Source

Extracts from Adam's Diary

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1893 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Twain, Mark. "Extracts from Adam's Diary: Translated from the Original Ms." The Niagara Book. Buffalo: Underhill and Nichols, 1893.

Current Citation

Twain, Mark. "Extracts from Adam's Diary." The Best Short Stories of Mark Twain, edited by Lawrence Berkove. Modern Library, 2004.

The sea... The snotgreen sea, the scrotumtightening sea.

James Joyce

Ulysses

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Topic

Ocean and sea

Speaker

Buck Mulligan

Author

James Joyce

Source

Ulysses

Medium

Novel

Genre

Modernist literature

Language

English

Time

1922 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Joyce, James. Ulysses. Shakespeare and Company, 1922, bk. 1, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Joyce, James. The Cambridge Centenary Ulysses: The 1922 Text with Essays and Notes, edited by Catherine Flynn. Cambridge University Press, 2022, ch. 1.

He said he should prefer not to know the sources of the Nile, and that there should be some unknown regions preserved as hunting-grounds for the poetic imagination.

George Eliot

Middlemarch

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Topic

Disenchanted world Nile River Imagination

Speaker

Edward Casaubon

Author

George Eliot

Source

Middlemarch

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1872 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Eliot, George. Middlemarch. William Edinburgh/London: Blackwood and Sons, 1871–1872, bk. 1, ch. 9.

Current Citation

Eliot, George. Middlemarch, edited by Rosemary Ashton. Penguin Classics, 2003, bk. 1, ch. 9.

Popularity? It is glory's small change.

Victor Hugo

More information about this quote

Topic

Popularity Glory Fame

Speaker

Don Salluste

Author

Victor Hugo

Source

Ruy Blas

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragedy (play) Drama (play)

Language

French

Time

1838 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hugo, Victor. Ruy Blas. 8 Nov. 1838, Theatre de la Renaissance, Paris, France.

Current Citation

Hugo, Victor. "Ruy Blas." Victor Hugo: Four Plays, translated by William D. Howarth and John Golder. Methuen Drama, 2004.

It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it.

Charlotte Brontë

Jane Eyre: An Autobiography

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Topic

Human nature

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. 12.

Current Citation

Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Penguin Classics, 2006, ch. 12.

No fear can stand up to hunger, no patience can wear it out, disgust simply does not exist where hunger is; and as to superstition, beliefs, and what you may call principles, they are less than chaff in a breeze.

Joseph Conrad

Heart of Darkness

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Topic

Hunger and desperation Hunger

Author

Joseph Conrad

Source

Heart of Darkness

Medium

Novella

Language

English

Time

1899 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Conrad, Joseph. "Heart of Darkness." Blackwood's Magazine. London and Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, Feb. 1899 - Apr. 1899.

Current Citation

Conrad, Joseph. "Heart of Darkness." Heart of Darkness and Other Tales, edited by Cedric Watts. Oxford University Press, 2008, ch. 2.

Every trail has its end, and every calamity brings its lesson!

James Fenimore Cooper

The Last of the Mohicans

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Topic

Learning from adversity

Speaker

The Scout

Author

James Fenimore Cooper

Source

The Last of the Mohicans

Medium

Novel

Genre

Historical

Language

English

Time

1826 1820s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Cooper, James Fenimore. The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757. Philadelphia: H.C. Carey & I. Lea, 1826, ch. 25.

Current Citation

Cooper, James Fenimore. "The Last of the Mohicans." James Fenimore Cooper: The Leatherstocking Tales. Vol. 1, Library of America, 1985, ch. 25.

The rest of my life stretches out as an emptiness before me.

Kazuo Ishiguro

The Remains of the Day

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Topic

The future

Speaker

Miss Kenton

Author

Kazuo Ishiguro

Source

The Remains of the Day

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1989 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Ishiguro, Kazuo. The Remains of the Day. Faber & Faber, 1989.

Such is the human race. Often it does seem such a pity that Noah and his party did not miss the boat.

Mark Twain

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Topic

Noah's Ark Misanthropy The human condition

Author

Mark Twain

Source

The Church Edifice Christian Science

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1907 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Twain, Mark. "The Church Edifice." Christian Science. Harper & Brothers, 1907.

He loved the People just as much as he feared and detested Persons.

Sinclair Lewis

It Can't Happen Here

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Topic

Individual vs. the collective Misanthropy

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. 35.

And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.

Stephen Chbosky

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

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Topic

Connecting with others Friendship

Speaker

Charlie (Perks of Being a Wallflower)

Author

Stephen Chbosky

Source

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Medium

Novel

Genre

Coming of age story

Language

English

Time

1999 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Chbosky, Stephen. The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Pocket Books, 1999.