Novelist

Explore 912 quotes by Novelists

Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it.

Mark Twain

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Topic

Dark side of human nature Human nature Man and animals

Author

Mark Twain

Source

The Lowest Animal Letters from the Earth

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1910 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Twain, Mark. "The Lowest Animal." Letters from the Earth. Harper & Row, 1962.

Current Citation

Twain, Mark. "The Lowest Animal." Letters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings, edited by Bernard DeVoto. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2004.

There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.

Toni Morrison

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Topic

Culture Reconciliation Civilization

Author

Toni Morrison

Source

No Place for Self-Pity, No Room for Fear The Nation

Medium

Essay Magazine

Language

English

Time

2015 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Morrison, Toni. "No Place for Self-Pity, No Room for Fear." The Nation: 150th Anniversary Special, 23 Mar. 2015.

Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is the lightning that does the work.

Mark Twain

More information about this quote

Topic

Thunder Lightning Appearance vs. reality

Author

Mark Twain

Source

Letters of Mark Twain

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1908 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Twain, Mark. Letter to an unidentified person. 28 Aug. 1908.

Morning reading-like morning newspapers, morning sex, morning lie-ins, and morning running-is the luxury of childless people.

Zadie Smith

More information about this quote

Topic

Mornings Single life Parenting

Author

Zadie Smith

Source

The New York Times

Medium

Newspaper

Language

English

Time

2016 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Smith, Zadie. "Zadie Smith: By the Book." The New York Times, 20 Nov. 2016.

Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds, and until we know what has been or will be the peculiar combination of outward with inward facts, which constitutes a man's critical actions, it will be better not to think ourselves wise about his character.

George Eliot

Adam Bede

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Topic

Formation of character Character

Author

George Eliot

Source

Adam Bede

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1859 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Eliot, George. Adam Bede. Edinburgh/London: William Blackwood & Sons, 1859, ch. 29.

Current Citation

Eliot, George. Adam Bede, edited by Carol A. Martin. Oxford University Press, 2008, ch. 29.

Pride is one of the seven deadly sins; but it cannot be the pride of a mother in her children, for that is a compound of two cardinal virtues—faith and hope.

Charles Dickens

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

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Topic

Seven deadly sins Pride Mother's love Mothers and children

Author

Charles Dickens

Source

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1839 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. London: Chapman and Hall, Apr. 1839, issue 14, ch. 43.

Current Citation

Dickens, Charles. Nicholas Nickleby, edited by Mark Ford. Penguin, 1999, ch. 43.

In his younger days a man dreams of possessing the heart of the woman whom he loves; later, the feeling that he possesses the heart of a woman may be enough to make him fall in love with her.

Marcel Proust

In Search of Lost Time

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Topic

Men and women Relationships

Author

Marcel Proust

Source

Swann's Way In Search of Lost Time

Medium

Novel

Genre

Modernist literature

Language

French

Time

1913 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Proust, Marcel. Du côté de chez Swann [The Way by Swann's]. Paris: Grasset, 1913.

Current Citation

Proust, Marcel. Swann's Way, edited and translated by Lydia Davis. Penguin Classics, 2004.

Politics in the middle of things that concern the imagination are like a pistol-shot in the middle of a concert.

Stendhal

The Red and the Black

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Topic

Politics and culture Politics

Speaker

Julien Sorel

Author

Stendhal

Source

The Red and the Black

Medium

Novel

Language

French

Time

1830 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Stendhal. Le Rouge et le Noir: Chronique du XIXe siècle [The Red and the Black: A Chronicle of the 19th Century]. Vol. 2, Paris: A. Levasseur, c. 1830, ch. 22.

Current Citation

Stendhal. The Red and the Black, translated by Catherine Slater. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 2, ch. 22.

Ah, life is a gate, a way, a path to Paradise anyway, why not live for fun and joy and love or some sort of girl by a fireside, why not go to your desire and LAUGH...

Jack Kerouac

Big Sur

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Topic

Enjoying life Life

Author

Jack Kerouac

Source

Big Sur

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1962 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Kerouac, Jack. Big Sur. Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1962, ch. 9.

The only reason for the existence of a novel is that it does attempt to represent life.

Henry James

More information about this quote

Topic

Purpose of literature Novels

Author

Henry James

Source

The Art of Fiction Longman's Magazine

Medium

Essay Magazine

Language

English

Time

1884 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

James, Henry. "The Art of Fiction." Longman's Magazine. London: C. J. Longman, 4 Sept. 1884.

Current Citation

James, Henry. "The Art of Fiction." The Portable Henry James. Penguin Classics, 2003.

A soggy little island huffing and puffing to keep up with Western Europe.

John Updike

More information about this quote

Topic

Great Britain England

Speaker

On England.

Author

John Updike

Source

Notes of a Temporary Resident

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1969 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Updike, John. "Notes of a Temporary Resident." The Listener. c. 1969.

It's a complex fate, being an American, and one of the responsibilities it entails is fighting against a superstitious valuation of Europe.

Henry James

More information about this quote

Topic

America and Europe

Author

Henry James

Source

Letters of Henry James

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1872 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

James, Henry. Letter to Charles Eliot Norton. 4 Feb. 1872.

Current Citation

James, Henry. Henry James: A Life in Letters, edited by Philip Horne. Penguin Classics, 2001.

Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent.

Stephen King

More information about this quote

Topic

Books

Speaker

Stephen King

Source

Entertainment Weekly

Medium

Magazine

Language

English

Time

2007 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

King, Steven. "Steven King'd Most Memorable Books of 2007." Entertainment Weekly, 21 Dec. 2007.

Our most intimate friend is not he to whom we show the worst, but the best of our nature.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

More information about this quote

Topic

Friendship

Author

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Source

Journals of Nathaniel Hawthorne

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1864 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Quoted in Nathaniel Hawthorne and His Wife: A Biography, by Julian Hawthorne. Vol. I, Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1893.

For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move.

Robert Louis Stevenson

More information about this quote

Topic

Purpose of travel Travel

Author

Robert Louis Stevenson

Source

Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes

Genre

Travel writing

Language

English

Time

1879 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Stevenson, Robert Louis. Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1879.

Current Citation

Stevenson, Robert Louis. Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes. Dover Publications, 2019.

We'll be remembered more for what we destroy than what we create.

Chuck Palahniuk

Invisible Monsters

More information about this quote

Topic

Human destructiveness Legacy

Author

Chuck Palahniuk

Source

Invisible Monsters

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1999 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Palahniuk, Chuck. Invisible Monsters. W. W. Norton & Company, 1999.

Statements, indictments, bills are circulated, shuffled between judges, prosecutors, the Attorney General, the Lord Chancellor’s office; each step in the process clear, logical, and designed to create corpses by due process of law.

Hilary Mantel

Bring Up the Bodies

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More information about this quote

Topic

Legal system Law

Author

Hilary Mantel

Source

Bring Up the Bodies

Medium

Novel

Genre

Historical literature

Language

English

Time

2012 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Mantel, Hilary. Bring Up the Bodies. Fourth Estate/Henry Holt and Co., 2012.

It's worth remembering this: freedom of expression sustains all the other freedoms we enjoy.

Ian McEwan

Read this speech at dickinson.edu

More information about this quote

Topic

Freedom of speech and expression Political theory Politics Freedom

Speaker

Ian McEwan

Source

2015 Dickson College commencement address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Commencement address

Language

English

Time

2015 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

McEwan, Ian. Commencement address. Commencement ceremony. 17 May 2015, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, USA.

Things get passed around so easily on the internet. And fact becomes fiction and fiction becomes fact, without anyone stepping in to arbitrate and say, what are your sources?

Hilary Mantel

More information about this quote

Topic

Fake news The internet Truth vs. fiction Truth

Speaker

Hilary Mantel

Source

Art of Fiction interview Paris Review

Medium

Interview Magazine

Language

English

Time

2015 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Mantel, Hilary. Quoted in "The Art of Fiction No. 226." Interviewed by Mona Simpson. Paris Review, no. 212, Spring 2015, www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6360/art-of-fiction-no-226-hilary-mantel.