Quotes by English Authors | Beyond Motive 268/434

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Quotes by English Authors

"I hope in God, I pray on, and look yet for the answer. They are not converted yet, but they will be."

"I hope in God, I pray on, and look yet for the answer. They are not converted yet, but they will be."

George Muller, English Clergyman

God, Hope, Will

34

"It is vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquillity: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it."

"It is vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquillity: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it."

Jacob Bronowski, English Scientist

34

"Always the following wind of historyOf others' wisdom makes a buoyant airTill we come suddenly on pockets where Is nothing loud but us; where voices seemAbrupt, untrained, competing with no lieOur fathers shouted once."

"Always the following wind of historyOf others' wisdom makes a buoyant airTill we come suddenly on pockets where Is nothing loud but us; where voices seemAbrupt, untrained, competing with no lieOur fathers shouted once."

W. H. Auden, English Poet

Knowledge, History, Truth, Memory, Hope

34

"When childhood dies, its corpses are called adults."

"When childhood dies, its corpses are called adults."

Brian Aldiss, English Writer

Family, Childhood

34

"Things aren't what they used to be' is the rallying cry of small minds. When men say things used to be better, they invariably mean they were better for them, because they were young, and had all their hopes intact. The world is bound to look a darker place as you slide into the grave."

"Things aren't what they used to be' is the rallying cry of small minds. When men say things used to be better, they invariably mean they were better for them, because they were young, and had all their hopes intact. The world is bound to look a darker place as you slide into the grave."

Joe Abercrombie, English Novelist

Aging, Perspective, Reality, Youth

34

"A living thing is distinguished from a dead thing by the multiplicity of the changes at any moment taking place in it."

"A living thing is distinguished from a dead thing by the multiplicity of the changes at any moment taking place in it."

Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher

Living, Multiplicity

34

"If you want to act, you have to devote yourself to it. Send out letters and photos every day, work all the hours under the sun, whatever it takes. If you're not determined, you won't get anywhere."

"If you want to act, you have to devote yourself to it. Send out letters and photos every day, work all the hours under the sun, whatever it takes. If you're not determined, you won't get anywhere."

Christopher Parker, English Actor

Work, Act, Day, Letters

34

"Be with me always - take any form - drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I can not live without my life! I can not live without my soul!"

"Be with me always - take any form - drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I can not live without my life! I can not live without my soul!"

Emily Bronte, English Novelist

Communication, Passion, Desperation, Love, Emotion

34

"There is no doubt fiction makes a better job of the truth."

"There is no doubt fiction makes a better job of the truth."

Doris Lessing, English Writer

Writing, Fiction, Truth, Story, Reality

34

"The First Law of Journalism: to confirm existing prejudice, rather than contradict it."

"The First Law of Journalism: to confirm existing prejudice, rather than contradict it."

Alexander Cockburn, English Lawyer

First, Law, Prejudice

34

"The law serves of nought else in these days but for to do wrong, for nothing is spread almost but false matters by color of the law for reward, dread and favor and so no remedy is had in the Court of Equity in any way."

"The law serves of nought else in these days but for to do wrong, for nothing is spread almost but false matters by color of the law for reward, dread and favor and so no remedy is had in the Court of Equity in any way."

Jack Cade, English Activist

Justice, Court, Law, Nothing, Reward

34

"Not to discriminate every moment some passionate attitude in those about us, and in the very brilliancy of their gifts some tragic dividing on their ways, is, on this short day of frost and sun, to sleep before evening."

"Not to discriminate every moment some passionate attitude in those about us, and in the very brilliancy of their gifts some tragic dividing on their ways, is, on this short day of frost and sun, to sleep before evening."

Walter Pater, English Critic

Attitude, Day, Evening, Gifts

34

"I was now ordered to have my writings copied, and put into the printer's hand."

"I was now ordered to have my writings copied, and put into the printer's hand."

Joanna Southcott, English Celebrity

34

"You despise the real bourgeois classes for all their snobbishness and their snobbish voices and ways. You do, don't you? Yet all you put in their place is a horrid little refusal to have nasty thoughts or do nasty things or be nasty in any way. Do you know that every great thing in the story of art and every beautiful thing in life is actually what you call nasty or has been caused by feelings that you would call nasty? By passion, by love, by hatred, by truth. Do you know that?"

"You despise the real bourgeois classes for all their snobbishness and their snobbish voices and ways. You do, don't you? Yet all you put in their place is a horrid little refusal to have nasty thoughts or do nasty things or be nasty in any way. Do you know that every great thing in the story of art and every beautiful thing in life is actually what you call nasty or has been caused by feelings that you would call nasty? By passion, by love, by hatred, by truth. Do you know that?"

John Fowles, English Novelist

Art, Life, Passion, Truth

34

"In her experience all her friends relied, Heaven was her help and nature was her guide."

"In her experience all her friends relied, Heaven was her help and nature was her guide."

George Crabbe, English Poet

Friendship, Experience, Nature, Friends, Heaven

34

"At the end of OK Computer we were playing big, big arenas and it wasn't right. You can do those things occasionally but at the time it didn't feel right."

"At the end of OK Computer we were playing big, big arenas and it wasn't right. You can do those things occasionally but at the time it didn't feel right."

Ed O'Brien, English Musician

Time, Computer, End, Right

34

"Talent, lying in the understanding, is often inherited; genius, being the action of reason or imagination, rarely or never."

"Talent, lying in the understanding, is often inherited; genius, being the action of reason or imagination, rarely or never."

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English Poet

Imagination, Talent, Genius, Action

34

"O earth, what changes hast thou seen!"

"O earth, what changes hast thou seen!"

Alfred Lord Tennyson, English Poet

34

"I believe I may assert that they were really in possession of deep and growing happiness. It ended. Well, we must be for ourselves in the long run; the mild and generous are only more justly selfish than the domineering- and it ended when circumstances caused each to feel that the one's interest was not in the chief consideration in the other's thoughts."

"I believe I may assert that they were really in possession of deep and growing happiness. It ended. Well, we must be for ourselves in the long run; the mild and generous are only more justly selfish than the domineering- and it ended when circumstances caused each to feel that the one's interest was not in the chief consideration in the other's thoughts."

Emily Bronte, English Novelist

Happiness, Selfishness, Relationship, Love

34

"My mother's illness fitted into this protest against the treatment of the sick who could not pay, the inefficiency of commercialism, the waste, the extravagance, and the poverty."

"My mother's illness fitted into this protest against the treatment of the sick who could not pay, the inefficiency of commercialism, the waste, the extravagance, and the poverty."

Ellen Wilkinson, English Politician

Family, Mother, Commercialism, Extravagance, Illness

34

"He had the hypocrisy to represent a mourner: and previous to following with Hareton, he lifted the unfortunate child on to the table and muttered, with peculiar gusto, 'Now, my bonny lad, you are mine! And we'll see if one tree won't grow as crooked as another, with the same wind to twist it!"

"He had the hypocrisy to represent a mourner: and previous to following with Hareton, he lifted the unfortunate child on to the table and muttered, with peculiar gusto, 'Now, my bonny lad, you are mine! And we'll see if one tree won't grow as crooked as another, with the same wind to twist it!"

Emily Bronte, English Novelist

Silence, Control, Power, Possession, Family

34

"Perhaps no person can be a poet, or even enjoy poetry, without a certain unsoundness of mind."

"Perhaps no person can be a poet, or even enjoy poetry, without a certain unsoundness of mind."

Thomas B. Macaulay, English Historian

34

"They only babble who practise not reflection."

"They only babble who practise not reflection."

Edward Young, English Poet

34

"People's backyards are much more interesting than their front gardens, and houses that back on to railways are public benefactors."

"People's backyards are much more interesting than their front gardens, and houses that back on to railways are public benefactors."

John Betjeman, English Poet

People, Gardens, Houses, Public

34

"I was never afraid of failure, for I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest."

"I was never afraid of failure, for I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest."

John Keats, English Poet

Motivation, Failure, Success, Ambition, Courage

34

"I used to think that anyone doing anything weird was weird. I suddenly realized that anyone doing anything weird wasn't weird at all and it was the people saying they were weird that were weird."

"I used to think that anyone doing anything weird was weird. I suddenly realized that anyone doing anything weird wasn't weird at all and it was the people saying they were weird that were weird."

Paul McCartney, English Musician

34

"I learnt a lot about myself, I learnt a lot about other people and the problems they have. If I was lucky enough to live to a hundred, how I will feel about two per cent of my life being that way, I don't know."

"I learnt a lot about myself, I learnt a lot about other people and the problems they have. If I was lucky enough to live to a hundred, how I will feel about two per cent of my life being that way, I don't know."

Jeffrey Archer, English Politician

Life, People, Being, Problems

34

"When Culture Club broke up, I hadn't been going out a lot because we'd been working all the time, so I suddenly had this period of leisure. And it was just around the time that the whole acid house thing kicked off in London."

"When Culture Club broke up, I hadn't been going out a lot because we'd been working all the time, so I suddenly had this period of leisure. And it was just around the time that the whole acid house thing kicked off in London."

Boy George, English Musician

Time, Culture, Leisure, London

34

"I like shape very much. A novel has to have shape, and life doesn't have any."

"I like shape very much. A novel has to have shape, and life doesn't have any."

Jean Rhys, English Novelist

34

"When you share work, and you have the opportunity of seeing people you like doing what they do best, and you also interchange socially with them, it's very addictive."

"When you share work, and you have the opportunity of seeing people you like doing what they do best, and you also interchange socially with them, it's very addictive."

Jacqueline Bisset, English Actress

Work, People, Opportunity

34

"It is easily and often overlooked that when Thomas Jefferson asserted that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were inalienable human rights, he did so on the ground that they had been endowed by God, our Creator."

"It is easily and often overlooked that when Thomas Jefferson asserted that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were inalienable human rights, he did so on the ground that they had been endowed by God, our Creator."

Tom Stoppard, English Dramatist

Liberty, Rights, Freedom, Faith, History

34

"The rare pleasure of being seen for what one is, compensates for the misery of being it."

"The rare pleasure of being seen for what one is, compensates for the misery of being it."

Margaret Drabble, English Novelist

Being, Misery, Pleasure

34

"I hate the noise and hurry inseparable from great Estates and Titles, and look upon both as blessings that ought only to be given to fools, for 'Tis only to them that they are blessings."

"I hate the noise and hurry inseparable from great Estates and Titles, and look upon both as blessings that ought only to be given to fools, for 'Tis only to them that they are blessings."

Mary Wortley Montagu, English Writer

Society, Blessings, Fools, Hate, Titles

34

"I shall go the way of the open sea, to the lands I knew before you came, and the cool ocean breezes shall blow from me the memory of your name."

"I shall go the way of the open sea, to the lands I knew before you came, and the cool ocean breezes shall blow from me the memory of your name."

Adela Florence Nicolson, English Poet

Memory, Name, Ocean, Open

34

"Silence does not always mark wisdom."

"Silence does not always mark wisdom."

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English Poet

Wisdom, Silence, Reflection, Truth

34

"When I had my first boy it all started and that male energy seemed to keep me awake but since my daughter, who's incredibly serene, I can't seem to stop sleeping because she's asleep all the time. It's a pattern."

"When I had my first boy it all started and that male energy seemed to keep me awake but since my daughter, who's incredibly serene, I can't seem to stop sleeping because she's asleep all the time. It's a pattern."

Sadie Frost, English Actress

Time, Daughter, Energy, First

34

"I had rather have a plain, russet-coated Captain, that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that which you call a Gentle-man and is nothing else."

"I had rather have a plain, russet-coated Captain, that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that which you call a Gentle-man and is nothing else."

Oliver Cromwell, English Soldier

34

"You can't treat royalty like people with normal perverted desires."

"You can't treat royalty like people with normal perverted desires."

Tom Stoppard, English Dramatist

Society, Power, Humanity, Observation, Behavior

34

"He found it both sad and fascinating that only through an artificial universe of video images could she establish contact with the real world."

"He found it both sad and fascinating that only through an artificial universe of video images could she establish contact with the real world."

Arthur C. Clarke, English Writer

Philosophy, Reality, Observation, Technology, Humanity

34

"When somebody is angry with us we draw a halo around his or her head in our minds. Does the person stop being angry then? Well we don't know! We know though that when we draw a halo around a person suddenly the person starts to look like an angel to us."

"When somebody is angry with us we draw a halo around his or her head in our minds. Does the person stop being angry then? Well we don't know! We know though that when we draw a halo around a person suddenly the person starts to look like an angel to us."

John Lennon, English Musician

Empathy, Anger, Perception, Kindness

34

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty."

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty."

John Keats, English Poet

Philosophy, Beauty, Truth, Observation

34

"It's amazing to see places like Madison Square Garden on the schedule again."

"It's amazing to see places like Madison Square Garden on the schedule again."

Roger Andrew Taylor, English Musician

Gardening, Garden

34

"To be a great game, one of the teams has to score first."

"To be a great game, one of the teams has to score first."

Mark Lawrenson, English Athlete

34

"You are fettered," said Scrooge, trembling. "Tell me why?""I wear the chain I forged in life," replied the Ghost. "I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it."

"You are fettered," said Scrooge, trembling. "Tell me why?""I wear the chain I forged in life," replied the Ghost. "I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it."

Charles Dickens, English Novelist

Responsibility, Regret, Life, Consequence

34

"The power of faith will often shine forth the most when the character is naturally weak."

"The power of faith will often shine forth the most when the character is naturally weak."

Augustus Hare, English Writer

Faith, Power, Character, Will

34

"Modern tragic writers have to write short stories; if they wrote long stories - cheerfulness would creep in. Such stories are like stings; brief, but purely painful."

"Modern tragic writers have to write short stories; if they wrote long stories - cheerfulness would creep in. Such stories are like stings; brief, but purely painful."

Gilbert K. Chesterton, English Writer

Tragedy, Cheerfulness, Pain, Storytelling

34

"So much depends on the performance, and here you are also tied up in the emotion the game evokes."

"So much depends on the performance, and here you are also tied up in the emotion the game evokes."

David Gower, English Athlete

Performance, Emotion

34

"Success seems to be that which forms the distinction between confidence and conceit."

"Success seems to be that which forms the distinction between confidence and conceit."

Charles Caleb Colton, English Writer

Courage, Success, Confidence, Pride, Truth

34

"The crown of life is neither happiness nor annihilation; it is understanding."

"The crown of life is neither happiness nor annihilation; it is understanding."

Winifred Holtby, English Novelist

Happiness, Life, Understanding

34

"The battle was over. Our casualties were some thirteen thousand killed--thirteen thousand minds, memories, loves, sensations, worlds, universes--because the human mind is more a universe than the universe itself--and all for a few hundred yards of useless mud."

"The battle was over. Our casualties were some thirteen thousand killed--thirteen thousand minds, memories, loves, sensations, worlds, universes--because the human mind is more a universe than the universe itself--and all for a few hundred yards of useless mud."

John Fowles, English Novelist

War, Loss, Humanity, Tragedy

34

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