We cannot reform our forefathers.

George Eliot

Adam Bede

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More information about this quote

Topic

Morality of the past The past Progress

Author

George Eliot

Source

Adam Bede

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Proverbs, aphorisms and adages

Language

English

Time

1859 1850s 19th century

Occupation

Novelist Writer

From

United Kingdom Europe

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Eliot, George. Adam Bede. Edinburgh/London: William Blackwood & Sons, 1859, ch. 53.

Current Citation

Eliot, George. Adam Bede, edited by Carol A. Martin. Oxford University Press, 2008, ch. 53.

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A quote by George Eliot about morality of the past: “We cannot reform our forefathers.”
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A quote by George Eliot about morality of the past: “We cannot reform our forefathers.”
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A quote by George Eliot about morality of the past: “We cannot reform our forefathers.”
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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote from the 1850s

I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term of Natural Selection.

Charles Darwin

On the Origin of the Species

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More information about this quote
Topic
Natural selection Evolution

Author

Charles Darwin
Source
On the Origin of the Species
Genre
Scientific literature
Language
English
Time
1859 1850s 19th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of the Species. London: John Murray, 1859, ch. 3.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Origin of the Species, edited by William Bynum. Penguin, 2009, ch. 3.

Another quote about Progress

Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.

Frederick Douglass

More information about this quote
Topic
Power relations Fighting for justice Political progress Politics Progress
Speaker
Frederick Douglass
Medium
Speech
Genre
Political speech
Language
English
Time
1857 1850s 19th century
Authentication Score 0
Citation

Douglass, Frederick. "West India Emancipation." 3 Aug. 1857, Canandaigua, NY, USA.

Another quote from 1859

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities

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More information about this quote
Topic
Looking back

Author

Charles Dickens
Source
A Tale of Two Cities
Medium
Novel
Genre
Historical literature
Statement Type
Opening lines
Language
English
Time
1859 1850s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Dickens, Charles. "A Tale of Two Cities." London: Chapman & Hall. April-Nov. 1859. Weekly serial.

Current Citation

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities, edited by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst. W. W. Norton & Company, 2019, bk. 1, ch. 1.

Another quote of the following type Proverbs, aphorisms and adages

When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.

Poor Richard (Benjamin Franklin)

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Read this proverb at the National Archives website
More information about this quote
Topic
Appreciation Scarcity

Author

Poor Richard (Benjamin Franklin)
Source
Poor Richard's Almanack
Medium
Almanac
Statement Type
Proverbs, aphorisms and adages Metaphor, analogy and simile
Language
English
Time
1746 1740s 18th century
Era
Colonial America
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Franklin, Benjamin [published as Richard Saunders]. Poor Richard's Almanack. Philadelphia, 1746.

Current Citation

Franklin, Benjamin. "Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1746." Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography, Poor Richard, and Later Writings, edited by J. A. Leo Lemay. Library of America, 2005.