We cannot reform our forefathers.

George Eliot

Adam Bede

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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 celebrate myself and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.

Walt Whitman

Song of Myself

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Topic
Taking it easy Loving oneself

Author

Walt Whitman
Source
Song of Myself Leaves of Grass
Medium
Poem
Language
English
Time
1855 1850s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Brooklyn, New York: Self-published, 1855, poem 1.

Current Citation

Whitman, Walt. "Song of Myself." Leaves of Grass and Other Writings. W. W. Norton & Company, 2002, sect. 1, I. 1.

Another quote about Progress

Got to kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight.

Bruce Cockburn

Lovers in a Dangerous Time

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More information about this quote
Topic
Progress
Speaker
Bruce Cockburn
Source
Lovers in a Dangerous Time Stealing Fire
Medium
Song
Genre
Pop music
Statement Type
Metaphor, analogy and simile
Language
English
Time
1984 1980s 20th century
Authentication Score 2
Citation

Cockburn, Bruce. "Lovers in a Dangerous Time." Stealing Fire. True North Records, 1984.

Another quote from 1859

There is grandeur in this view of life...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.

Charles Darwin

On the Origin of Species

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More information about this quote
Topic
Human evolution Creation of man Evolution Human origins

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. 14.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Origin of the Species, edited by William Bynum. Penguin, 2009, ch. 14.

Another quote of the following type Proverbs, aphorisms and adages

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Beyond Good and Evil

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More information about this quote
Topic
Dangerous ideas Power of ideas

Author

Friedrich Nietzsche
Source
Beyond Good and Evil
Genre
Philosophical literature
Statement Type
Proverbs, aphorisms and adages
Language
German
Time
1886 1880s 19th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Jenseits von Gut und Böse: Vorspiel einer Philosophie der Zukunft [Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future]. Leipzig: C. G. Naumann, 1886, ch. 4, no. 146.

Current Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Beyond Good and Evil, translated by R. J. Hollingdale. Penguin Classics, 2003, ch. 4, no. 146.