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.

Illustrated Quote

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

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man-when I could get it-and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?

Sojourner Truth

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More information about this quote
Topic
Intersectionality Women's rights Racism
Speaker
Sojourner Truth
Medium
Speech
Genre
Political speech
Statement Type
Question
Language
English
Time
1851 1850s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Truth, Sojourner. Speech in Ohio. Woman's convention. May 1851, Akron, Ohio, USA.

Current Citation

Truth, Sojourner. "Ain't I a Woman?" Great Speeches by African Americans, edited by James Daley. Dover Publications, 2006.

Another quote about Progress

The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it.

Karl Marx

Theses on Feurbach

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More information about this quote
Topic
Revolution Words vs. actions Political progress Progress

Author

Karl Marx
Source
Theses on Feurbach
Genre
Philosophical literature
Language
German
Time
1845 1840s 19th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Marx, Karl. Theses On Feuerbach. Friedrich Engels, c. 1888.

Current Citation

Marx, Karl. The German Ideology, including Theses on Feuerbach, translated by Friedrich Engels. Prometheus, 1998.

Another quote from 1859

Owing to this struggle for life, any variation, however slight and from whatever cause proceeding, if it be in any degree profitable to an individual of any species, in its infinitely complex relations to other organic beings and to external nature, will tend to the preservation of that individual, and will generally be inherited by its offspring. The offspring, also, will thus have a better chance of surviving.

Charles Darwin

On the Origin of Species

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Topic
Natural selection Evolution

Author

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

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

Current Citation

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

Another quote of the following type Proverbs, aphorisms and adages

He that lieth down with Dogs, shall rise up with Fleas.

Poor Richard (Benjamin Franklin)

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More information about this quote
Topic
Negative influences The company one keeps Influences Reputation Character

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
1733 1730s 18th century
Era
Colonial America
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Franklin, Benjamin [published as Richard Saunders]. Poor Richard's Almanack. Philadelphia, 1733.

Current Citation

Franklin, Benjamin. "Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1733." Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography, Poor Richard, and Later Writings, edited by J. A. Leo Lemay. Library of America, 2005.