19th century

Explore 1787 quotes from the 19th century

A woman can hardly ever choose...she is dependent on what happens to her. She must take meaner things, because only meaner things are within her reach.

George Eliot

Felix Holt, the Radical

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Topic

Oppression of women Women

Speaker

Esther Lyon

Author

George Eliot

Source

Felix Holt, the Radical

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1866 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Eliot, George. Felix Holt, the Radical. Edinburgh: William Blackwood & Sons, 1866, ch. 27.

Current Citation

Eliot, George. Felix Holt, the Radical, edited by Lynda Mugglestone. Penguin Classics, 1995, ch. 27.

In its widest possible sense, however, a man's Self is the sum total of all that he can call his, not only his body and his psychic powers, but his clothes and his house, his wife and children, his ancestors and friends, his reputation and works, his lands and horses, and yacht and bank account. All these things give him the same emotions. If they wax and prosper, he feels triumphant; if they dwindle and die away, he feels cast down.

William James

The Principles of Psychology

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Topic

The self

Author

William James

Source

The Principles of Psychology

Genre

Psychological literature

Language

English

Time

1890 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

James, William. The Principles of Psychology. Vol. 1, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1890, ch. 10.

I cannot exist without you. I am forgetful of everything but seeing you again—my Life seems to stop there—I see no further.

John Keats

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Topic

Being in love Love

Author

John Keats

Source

Letters of John Keats

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1819 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Keats, John. Letter to Fanny Brawne. 13 Oct. 1819.

Current Citation

Keats, John. "Letter to Fanny Brawne, October 13, 1819." The Selected Letters of John Keats, edited by John Barnard. Penguin Classics, 2015.

I am certain of nothing but of the holiness of the Heart's affections and the truth of Imagination—What the imagination seizes as Beauty must be truth—whether it existed before or not.

John Keats

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Topic

Intuition Imagination

Author

John Keats

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1817 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Keats, John. Letter to Benjamin Bailey. 22 Nov. 1817.

Current Citation

Keats, John. "Benjamin Bailey 22 November 1817." John Keats: Selected Letters, edited by John Barnard. Penguin Classics, 2015.

I saw old Autumn in the misty morn
Stand shadowless like Silence, listening
To silence.

Thomas Hood

More information about this quote

Topic

Autumn

Author

Thomas Hood

Source

Ode: Autumn

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1827 1820s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hood, Thomas. "Ode: Autumn." The Plea of the Midsummer Fairies, Hero and Leander, Lycus the Centaur and Other Poems. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green/Philadelphia: E. Littell, 1827.

Current Citation

Hood, Thomas. "Ode: Autumn." Selected Poems of Thomas Hood. Harvard University Press, 1970.

Every man, in his own opinion, forms an exception to the ordinary rules of morality.

William Hazlitt

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Topic

Uniqueness of each person

Author

William Hazlitt

Source

Characteristics

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1823 1820s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hazlitt, William. Characteristics: In the Manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims. London, 1823, no. 305.

People say the native stands on the edge of a chasm. It is not he who stands on the edge of a chasm; his claims are not false. They are just... Every step the Indian takes is based on a profound sense of fairness.

Louis Riel

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Topic

Native Americans

Author

Louis Riel

Medium

Personal journal

Language

French

Time

1885 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Riel, Louis. Diary entry. 6 May 1885.

Current Citation

Riel, Louis. The Diaries of Louis Riel, edited by Thomas Flanagan. Hurtig, 1976.

There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse... It is often a comfort to shift one's position and be bruised in a new place.

Washington Irving

More information about this quote

Topic

Change New experiences

Author

Washington Irving

Language

English

Time

1824 1820s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Irving, Washington. "To the Reader." Tales of a Traveller. London: John Murray/Philadelphia: H.C. Cary & I. Lee, 1824.

Whatever government is not a government of laws, is a despotism, let it be called what it may.

Daniel Webster

More information about this quote

Topic

Rule of law Law Government Tyranny

Speaker

Daniel Webster

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1835 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Webster, Daniel. "Remarks Made at Reception." 25 Aug. 1835, Bangor, ME, USA.

It is a test of true theories not only to account for but to predict phenomena.

William Whewell

The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences

More information about this quote

Topic

Scientific theory

Author

William Whewell

Source

The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1840 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Whewell, William. The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences: Founded Upon Their History. Vol. 1, London: John W. Parker, 1840.

Current Citation

Whewell, William. The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences: Founded Upon Their History. Vol. 1, Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Alfred Tennyson

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Topic

Fresh start Progress New Year

Author

Alfred Tennyson

Source

In Memoriam A.H.H.

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1850 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Tennyson, Alfred, Lord. In Memoriam A.H.H. London: Edward Moxon, 1850, pt. 106, st. 1.

Current Citation

Tennyson, Alfred, Lord. "In Memoriam A.H.H." Alfred Tennyson: The Major Works, edited by Adam Roberts. Oxford University Press, 2009 pt. 106, st. 1.

A great nose indicates a great man-
Genial, courteous, intellectual,
Virile, courageous.

Edmond Rostand

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Topic

Noses Body parts

Speaker

Cyrano de Bergerac

Author

Edmond Rostand

Source

Cyrano de Bergerac

Medium

Play

Language

French

Time

1897 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Rostand, Edmond. Cyrano de Bergerac. 27 Dec. 1897, Theatre de la Porte Saint-Martin, Paris, France, act 1, sc. 4.

Current Citation

Rostand, Edmond. Cyrano de Bergerac, translated by Lowell Bair. Signet, 2012, act 1, sc. 4.

Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.

Charles Mackay

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

More information about this quote

Topic

Groupthink The mob Human nature

Author

Charles Mackay

Source

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

Language

English

Time

1841 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Mackay, Charles. "National Delusions." Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions. Vol. 1, London: Richard Bentley, 1841.

The heart gets tired too; and it falls apart bit by bit, like an old cloth wears out in the wash.

Giovanni Verga

More information about this quote

Topic

Tired heart The heart

Speaker

Marizza la Longa

Author

Giovanni Verga

Source

The House by the Medlar Tree

Medium

Novel

Language

Italian

Time

1881 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Verga, Giovanni. I Malavoglia. Italy, 1881, ch. 11.

Current Citation

Verga, Giovanni. The House by the Medlar Tree, translated by Raymond Rosenthal. University of California Press, 1984, ch. 11.

Human life is a sad show, undoubtedly: ugly, heavy and complex. Art has no other end, for people of feeling, than to conjure away the burden and bitterness.

Gustave Flaubert

More information about this quote

Topic

Purpose of art Art Life The human condition

Author

Gustave Flaubert

Source

Letters of Gustave Flaubert

Medium

Letter

Language

French

Time

1864 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. Letter to Amelie Bosquet. July 1864.

These are my politics: to change what we can; to better what we can; but still to bear in mind that man is but a devil weakly fettered by some generous beliefs and impositions; and for no word however nobly sounding, and no cause however just and pious, to relax the stricture of these bonds.

Robert Louis Stevenson

More information about this quote

Topic

Politics and human nature Human nature Political theory

Author

Robert Louis Stevenson

Language

English

Time

1885 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Stevenson, Robert Louis and Fanny Stevenson. "Epilogue of the Cigar Divan." More New Arabian Nights: The Dynamiter. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1885.

The original writer is not he who refrains from imitating others, but he who can be imitated by none.

François-Rene de Chateaubriand

More information about this quote

Topic

Originality Writers

Author

François-Rene de Chateaubriand

Source

The Genius of Christianity

Genre

Religious literature

Language

French

Time

1802 1800s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

De Chateaubriand, Francois Rene. Genie du christianisme [The Genius of Christianity]. Paris: Chez Migneret, 1802, pt. 2, bk. 1, ch. 3.

That great business of ours, of learning how to be, to do, to do without, and to depart.

John Viscount Morley

More information about this quote

Topic

How to live The human condition

Speaker

John Viscount Morley

Language

English

Time

1887 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Morley, John. "Aphorisms." 11 Nov. 1887, The Edinburgh Philosophical Institution, Edinburgh, Scotland. Address.

Honesty is the best policy; but he who acts on that principle is not an honest man.

Richard Whately

More information about this quote

Topic

Honesty

Author

Richard Whately

Medium

Epigram

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Whately, Richard. Thoughts and Apophthegms. London: Blackader and Company, 1854, ch. 18.

We have unmistakable proof that throughout all past time, there has been a ceaseless devouring of the weak by the strong.

Herbert Spencer

The Principles of Biology

More information about this quote

Topic

Predator and prey

Author

Herbert Spencer

Source

The Principles of Biology

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1865 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Spencer, Herbert. The Principles of Biology. Vol. 1, London: Williams and Norgate, 1864, pt. 3, ch. 2.