Novelist

Explore 912 quotes by Novelists

We work in the dark—we do what we can—we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.

Henry James

More information about this quote

Topic

Creation Creativity Art

Speaker

Dencombe

Author

Henry James

Source

The Middle Years Scribner's Magazine

Medium

Short story Magazine

Language

English

Time

1893 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

James, Henry. "The Middle Years." Scribner's Magazine. New York City: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1893.

Current Citation

James, Henry. "The Middle Years." Henry James: Complete Stories 1892-1898. Vol. 4. Library of America, 1996.

God is Love-I dare say. But what a mischievous devil Love is!

Samuel Butler (Novelist)

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of God

Author

Samuel Butler (Novelist)

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1902 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Samuel Butler. The Note-Books of Samuel Butler, edited by Henry Festing Jones. A. C. Fifield, 1912, ch. 14.

What a heavy oar the pen is, and what a strong current ideas are to row in.

Gustave Flaubert

More information about this quote

Topic

Challenges of writing Writing

Author

Gustave Flaubert

Source

Letters of Gustave Flaubert

Medium

Letter

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

French

Time

1851 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. Letter to Louise Colet. 23 Oct. 1851.

Current Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. The Letters of Gustave Flaubert 1830-1857, translated and edited by Francis Steegmuller. Faber and Faber, 1981.

If there wasn't death, I think you couldn't go on.

Stevie Smith

More information about this quote

Topic

Immortality Death

Author

Stevie Smith

Source

Observer

Medium

Newspaper

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

1969 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Smith, Stevie. Observer. 9 Nov. 1969.

If there's no money in poetry, neither is there poetry in money.

Robert Graves

More information about this quote

Topic

Poetry

Author

Robert Graves

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1963 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Graves, Robert. Speech in London. 6 Dec. 1963, London School of Economics, London, England, UK.

All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it.

Samuel Butler (Novelist)

The Way of All Flesh

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More information about this quote

Topic

Man and animals Purpose of life Life

Author

Samuel Butler (Novelist)

Source

The Way of All Flesh

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1902 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Butler, Samuel. The Way of All Flesh. Grant Richards, 1903, ch. 19.

Current Citation

Butler, Samuel. The Way of All Flesh. Everyman's Library, 1993, ch. 19.

All women are stimulated by the news that any wife has left any husband.

Anthony Powell

The Acceptance World

More information about this quote

Topic

Gossip

Author

Anthony Powell

Source

The Acceptance World A Dance to the Music of Time

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1955 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Powell, Anthony. A Dance to the Music of Time: The Acceptance World. Vol. 3, London: Heinemann, 1955, ch. 4.

Bigamy is having one husband too many. Monogamy is the same.

Erica Jong

Fear of Flying

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More information about this quote

Topic

Marriage

Author

Erica Jong

Source

Fear of Flying

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Joke

Language

English

Time

1973 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Anonymous woman quoted in Fear of Flying, written by Erica Jong. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973.

Actions receive their tincture from the times,
And as they change, are virtues made or crimes.

Daniel Defoe

More information about this quote

Topic

Custom and convention Moral relativism Moral theory Morality

Author

Daniel Defoe

Source

A Hymn to the Pillory

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1703 1700s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Defoe, Daniel. A Hymn to the Pillory. London: 1703, I. 29.

The fate of love is that it always seems too little or too much.

Amelia E. Barr

The Belle of Bowling Green

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of love Love

Author

Amelia E. Barr

Source

The Belle of Bowling Green

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1904 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Barr, Amelia E. The Belle of Bowling Green. Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1904.

To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.

Robert Louis Stevenson

More information about this quote

Topic

Purpose of life Authenticity Personal growth

Author

Robert Louis Stevenson

Source

Familiar Studies of Men and Books

Genre

Travel writing

Language

English

Time

1882 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Stevenson, Robert Louis. Familiar Studies of Men and Books. London: Chatto & Windus, 1882.

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.

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

More information about this quote

Topic

Intelligence Contradiction Ideas

Author

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Source

The Crack-Up Esquire

Medium

Essay Magazine

Language

English

Time

1936 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. "The Crack-Up." Esquire, Feb. 1936.

Current Citation

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. "The Crack-Up." My Lost City: Personal Essays, 1920-1940, edited by James L.W. West, III. Cambridge UP, 2005.

Don't you find it a beautiful clean thought, a world empty of people, just uninterrupted grass, and a hare sitting up?

D.H. Lawrence

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature Grass Rabbits

Speaker

Rupert Birkin

Author

D.H. Lawrence

Source

Women in Love

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Question

Language

English

Time

1920 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lawrence, D.H. Women in Love. Thomas Seltzer, 1920, ch. 11.

What can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves if our lives have not turned out quite as we might have wished? The hard reality is, surely, that for the likes of you and I, there is little choice other than to leave our fate, ultimately, in the hands of those great gentlemen at the hub of this world who employ our services. What is the point in worrying oneself too much about what one could or could not have done to control the course one’s life took? Surely it is enough that the likes of you and I at least try to make our small contribution count for something true and worthy. And if some of us are prepared to sacrifice much in life in order to pursue such aspirations, surely that is in itself, whatever the outcome, cause for pride and contentment.

Kazuo Ishiguro

The Remains of the Day

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More information about this quote

Topic

Dwelling on the past Regrets The past

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.

It is splendid to be a great writer, to put men into the frying pan of your words and make them pop like chestnuts.

Gustave Flaubert

More information about this quote

Topic

Pleasures of writing Writing

Author

Gustave Flaubert

Source

Letters of Gustave Flaubert

Medium

Letter

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

French

Time

1851 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. Letter to Louise Colet. 3 Nov. 1851.

Current Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. The Letters of Gustave Flaubert 1830-1857, translated and edited by Francis Steegmuller. Faber and Faber, 1981.

Land is the only thing in the world that amounts to anything, for 'tis the only thing in this world that lasts...'Tis the only thing worth working for, worth fighting for—worth dying for.

Margaret Mitchell

Gone with the Wind

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More information about this quote

Topic

Land Property rights

Author

Margaret Mitchell

Source

Gone with the Wind

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1936 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Mitchell, Margaret. Gone with the Wind. Macmillan Publishers, 1936, pt. 1, ch. 2.

Current Citation

Mitchell, Margaret. Gone with the Wind. Scribner, 2007, pt. 1, ch. 2.

Comedy is tragedy that happens to other people.

Angela Carter

More information about this quote

Topic

Comedy Tragedy

Author

Angela Carter

Source

Wise Children

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1991 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Carter, Angela. Wise Children. Chatto & Windus, 1991, ch. 5.

Current Citation

Carter, Angela. Wise Children. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007, ch. 5.

That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you're not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

More information about this quote

Topic

Power of literature Literature

Speaker

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Language

English

Time

1938 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. Quoted in Beloved Infidel: The Education of a Woman, written by Sheilah Graham and Gerold Frank. Henry Holt, 1958, ch. 22.

One can't love humanity. One can only love people.

Graham Greene

More information about this quote

Topic

Loving others

Author

Graham Greene

Source

The Ministry of Fear

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1943 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Greene, Graham. The Ministry of Fear. William Heinemann, 1943, bk. 3, ch. 2.