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

We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still.

John Stuart Mill

On Liberty

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More information about this quote
Topic
Suppression 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. 2.

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. 2.

Another quote about Progress

There can be no progress (real, that is, moral) except in the individual and by the individual himself.

Charles Baudelaire

More information about this quote
Topic
Personal growth Nature of progress Progress

Author

Charles Baudelaire
Language
French
Time
1867 1860s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Baudelaire, Charles. Mon Coeur mis a nu [My Naked Heart]. Paris, 1887, no. 15.

Current Citation

Baudelaire, Charles. "My Heart Laid Bare." Late Fragments: Flares, My Heart Laid Bare, Prose Poems, Belgium Disrobed, translated by Richard Sieburth. Yale University Press, 2022, no. 15.

Another quote from 1859

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 of the following type Proverbs, aphorisms and adages

Fortune, that arrant whore,
Ne’er turns the key to th’ poor.

William Shakespeare

King Lear

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More information about this quote
Topic
Fortune Good luck The poor
Speaker
Fool

Author

William Shakespeare
Source
King Lear
Medium
Play
Genre
Tragedy (play)
Statement Type
Proverbs, aphorisms and adages
Language
English
Time
1606 1600s 17th century
Era
European Renaissance
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. King Lear. King's Men, 26 Dec. 1606, Palace of Whitehall, Westminster, England, UK, act 2, sc. 4.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "The Tragedy of King Lear." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 2, sc. 4.