Novelist

Explore 912 quotes by Novelists

The bonds between ourselves and another person exist only in our minds. Memory as it grows fainter loosens them, and notwithstanding the illusion by which we want to be duped and which, out of love, friendship, politeness, deference, duty, we dupe other people, we exist alone. Man is the creature who cannot escape from himself, who knows other people only in himself, and when he asserts the contrary, he is lying.

Marcel Proust

In Search of Lost Time

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Topic

Existential solitude Connecting with others Isolation The human condition

Author

Marcel Proust

Source

The Fugitive In Search of Lost Time

Medium

Novel

Genre

Modernist literature

Language

French

Time

1922 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Proust, Marcel. Albertine disparue [Albertine Gone]. Paris: Gallimard, 1927.

Current Citation

Proust, Marcel. The Fugitive, edited and translated by Peter Collier. Penguin Classics, 2021.

There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree, and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. And, dying, it rises above its own agony to out-carol the lark and the nightingale. One superlative song, existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen, and God in His heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of great pain.

Colleen McCullough

The Thorn Birds

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Topic

Bird songs Birds

Author

Colleen McCullough

Source

The Thorn Birds

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

1977 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

McCullough, Colleen. The Thorn Birds. Harper & Row, 1977, epigraph.

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.

Human contact seemed to her so frail a thing that the hope that two people might want each other in the same way, at the same time and with the possibility of doing something about it, seemed infinitely remote.

Margaret Drabble

The Waterfall

More information about this quote

Topic

Connecting with others

Author

Margaret Drabble

Source

The Waterfall

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1969 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Drabble, Margaret. The Waterfall. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1969.

Time has no divisions to mark its passage, there is never a thunderstorm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century beings it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols.

Thomas Mann

The Magic Mountain

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Topic

Nature of time

Author

Thomas Mann

Source

The Magic Mountain

Medium

Novel

Language

German

Time

1924 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Mann, Thomas. Der Zauberberg [The Magic Mountain]. S. Fischer Verlag, 1924, ch. 5.

Current Citation

Mann, Thomas. The Magic Mountain. Everyman's Library, 2005, ch. 5.

The strongest of all warriors are these two-Time and Patience.

Leo Tolstoy

War and Peace

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Topic

Time Patience

Speaker

Prince Mikhail Kutúzov

Author

Leo Tolstoy

Source

War and Peace

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1869 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

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.

Rummaging in our souls, we often dig up something that ought to have lain there unnoticed.

Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina

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Topic

Self-discovery Introspection

Speaker

Alexei Alexandrovich

Author

Leo Tolstoy

Source

Anna Karenina

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

Russian

Time

1877 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Tolstoy, Leo. Анна Каренина [Anna Karenina]. The Russian Messenger, 1875-1877. Serial.

Current Citation

Tolstoy, Leo. Anna Karenina, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. Penguin Classics, 2014.

But what will become of men then? I asked him, without God and immortal life?

Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Brothers Karamazov

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Topic

Decline of religion Death of God Existence of God God

Author

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Source

The Brothers Karamazov

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Question

Language

Russian

Time

1880 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. "Братья Карамазовы [The Brothers Karamazov]." The Russian Messenger, Jan. 1879 - Nov. 1880. Serial.

Current Citation

Dostoevsky, Feodor. The Brothers Karamazov, translated by David McDuff. Penguin Classics, 2003.

So long as man remains free he strives for nothing so incessantly and so painfully as to find someone to worship.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Brothers Karamazov

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Topic

Human needs Worship

Author

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Source

The Brothers Karamazov

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1879 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. "Братья Карамазовы [The Brothers Karamazov]." The Russian Messenger, Jan. 1879 - Nov. 1880. Serial.

Current Citation

Dostoevsky, Feodor. The Brothers Karamazov, translated by David McDuff. Penguin Classics, 2003.

You ought certainly to forgive them as a Christian, but never to admit them in your sight, or allow their names to be mentioned in your hearing.

Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice

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Topic

Forgiveness

Speaker

Mr. Bennet

Author

Jane Austen

Source

Pride and Prejudice

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Irony

Language

English

Time

1813 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Vol. 3, London: Thomas Egerton, 1813, ch. 15.

Current Citation

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Penguin Books, 2002, ch. 15.

Beauty will save the world.

Adelaida

Quoted in The Idiot, by Fyodor Dostoevsky

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Topic

Beauty Salvation

Speaker

Adelaida

Author

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Source

The Idiot

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1869 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. "Идиот [The Idiot]." The Russian Messenger, 1868–69.

Current Citation

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. The Idiot, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volkhonsky. Vintage, 2003, pt. 1, ch. 6.

Beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Brothers Karamazov

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Topic

Beauty

Author

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Source

The Brothers Karamazov

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1880 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. "Братья Карамазовы [The Brothers Karamazov]." The Russian Messenger, Jan. 1879 - Nov. 1880. Serial.

Current Citation

Dostoevsky, Feodor. The Brothers Karamazov, translated by David McDuff. Penguin Classics, 2003.

Nobody dies from lack of sex. It's lack of love we die from.

Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid's Tale

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Topic

Need for love Lack of love Love

Author

Margaret Atwood

Source

The Handmaid's Tale

Medium

Novel

Genre

Dystopian fiction

Language

English

Time

1985 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. McClelland and Stewart/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1985, ch. 18.

Ask no questions, and you'll be told no lies.

Charles Dickens

Great Expectations

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Topic

Curiosity Questions

Author

Charles Dickens

Source

Great Expectations

Medium

Novel

Genre

Coming of age story

Statement Type

Proverbs, aphorisms and adages

Language

English

Time

1860 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Dickens, Charles. "Great Expectations." All the Year Round. London: Chapman and Hall, 1 Dec. 1860, issue 1, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. Penguin Classics, 2002, ch. 2.

Oh! but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire, secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.

Charles Dickens

A Christmas Carol

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Topic

Stinginess

Author

Charles Dickens

Source

A Christmas Carol

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1843 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol. London: Chapman & Hall, 1843, stave 1.

Current Citation

Dickens, Charles. "A Christmas Carol." A Christmas Carol and Other Writings, edited by Michael Slater. Penguin, 2003, stave 1.

The subject of history is the life of peoples and of humanity. To catch and pin down in words-that is, to describe directly the life, not only of humanity, but even of a single people, appears to be impossible.

Leo Tolstoy

War and Peace

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Topic

History

Author

Leo Tolstoy

Source

War and Peace

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1869 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

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.

That's the nature of women... Not to love when we love them, and to love when we love them not.

Miguel de Cervantes

Don Quixote

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Topic

Nature of women

Speaker

Don Quixote

Author

Miguel de Cervantes

Source

Don Quixote

Medium

Novel

Language

Spanish

Time

1605 1600s 16th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

De Cervantes, Miguel. El ingenioso hidalgo don Quixote de la Mancha [The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha]. Madrid: Francisco de Robles, 1605.

Current Citation

De Cervantes, Miguel. Don Quixote, translated and edited by John Rutherford. Penguin Classics, 2003.

Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He surveyed the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit. Thirty yards of board fence nine feet high. Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden.

Mark Twain

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

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Topic

Alienating work Work

Author

Mark Twain

Source

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Medium

Novel

Genre

Children's literature Adventure novel

Language

English

Time

1876 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Hartford: American Publishing Company, 1876, ch. 2.

Current Citation

Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, edited by Peter Stoneley. Oxford University Press, 2008, ch. 2.

I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship.

Louisa May Alcott

Little Women

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Topic

Adversity

Speaker

Amy Curtis March

Author

Louisa May Alcott

Source

Little Women

Medium

Novel

Genre

Coming of age story

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1868 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1868, ch. 44.

Current Citation

Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women. Puffin Books, 2014, ch. 44.

Now blessings light on him that first invented this same sleep! It covers a man all over, thoughts and all, like a cloak; "Tis meat for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, heat for the cold, and cold for the hot." Tis the current coin that purchases all the pleasures of the world cheap; and the balance that sets the king and the shepherd, the fool and the wise man even.

Miguel de Cervantes

Don Quixote

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Topic

Sleep

Speaker

Sancho Panza

Author

Miguel de Cervantes

Source

Don Quixote

Medium

Novel

Language

Spanish

Time

1615 1600s 16th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

De Cervantes, Miguel. Segunda Parte Del ingenioso caballero don Quixote de la Mancha [The Second Part of Don Quixote de la Mancha]. Spain: Francisco de Robles, 1615.

Current Citation

De Cervantes, Miguel. Don Quixote, translated and edited by John Rutherford. Penguin Classics, 2003.