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

Let men tremble to win the hand of woman, unless they win along with it the utmost passion of her heart!

Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Scarlet Letter

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More information about this quote
Topic
Pursuing women Men and women

Author

Nathaniel Hawthorne
Source
The Scarlet Letter
Medium
Novel
Language
English
Time
1850 1850s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter: A Romance. Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields, 1850, ch. 15.

Current Citation

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter, edited by Brian Harding. Oxford University Press, 2009, ch. 15.

Another quote about Progress

Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms, greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind.

Gordon Gekko

Wall Street

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More information about this quote
Topic
Greed Capitalism Progress Human nature
Speaker
Gordon Gekko
Actor
Michael Douglas
Source
Wall Street
Medium
Film
Genre
Drama (film) Drama
Language
English
Time
1987 1980s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Wall Street. Directed by Oliver Stone, American Entertainment Partners/American Films, 1987.

Another quote from 1859

An opinion that corn-dealers are starvers of the poor, or that private property is robbery, ought to be unmolested when simply circulated through the press, but may justly incur punishment when delivered orally to an excited mob assembled before the house of a corn-dealer.

John Stuart Mill

On Liberty

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Topic
Limits on freedom of speech Freedom of speech and expression

Author

John Stuart Mill
Source
On Liberty
Medium
Essay
Genre
Philosophical literature Political literature
Language
English
Time
1859 1850s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty. London: J.W. Parker and Son, 1859, ch. 3.

Current Citation

Mill, John Stuart. "On Liberty." On Liberty, Utilitarianism and Other Essays, edited by Mark Philp and Frederick Rosen. Oxford University Press, 2015, ch. 3.

Another quote of the following type Proverbs, aphorisms and adages

If a person knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.

Seneca the Younger

More information about this quote
Topic
Goals Aimlessness

Author

Seneca the Younger
Source
Letters of Seneca the Younger
Medium
Letter
Statement Type
Proverbs, aphorisms and adages Metaphor, analogy and simile
Language
Latin
Time
65 60s 1st century
Era
Classical antiquity
Authentication Score 0
Original Citation

Seneca the Younger. Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium [Moral Letters to Lucilius]. c. 65 AD.

Current Citation

Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. Letters on Ethics, translated by Margaret Graver and A. A. Long. University of Chicago Press, 2017.