Share this page: There is no royal road to learning; no short cut to the acquirement of any art. -- Barchester Towers (1857) There is no happiness in love, except at the end of an English novel. -- Barchester Towers (1857) The end of a novel, like the end of a children's dinner-party, must be made up of sweetmeats and sugar-plums. -- Barchester Towers (1857) There is no road to wealth so easy and respectable as that of matrimony. -- Doctor Thorne (1858) In these days a man is nobody unless his biography is kept so far posted up that it may be ready for the national breakfast-table on the morning after his demise. -- Doctor Thorne (1858) It is a remarkable thing with reference to men who are distressed for money... they never seem at a loss for small sums, or deny themselves those luxuries which small sums purchase. Cabs, dinners, wine, theatres, and new gloves are always at the command of men who are drowned in pecuniary embarrassments, whereas those who don't owe a shilling are so frequently obliged to go without them! -- Framley Parsonage (1861) It is because we put up with bad things that hotelkeepers continue to give them to us. -- Orley Farm (1862) There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people. -- North America (1862) I have sometimes thought that there is no being so venomous, so bloodthirsty as a professed philanthropist. -- North America (1862) Above all things, never think that you're not good enough yourself. A man should never think that. My belief is that in life people will take you very much at your own reckoning. -- The Small House at Allington (1864) Mr Palliser was one of those politicians in possessing whom England has perhaps more reason to be proud than of any other of her resources, and who, as a body, give to her that exquisite combination of conservatism and progress which is her present strength and best security for the future. -- Can You Forgive Her? (1864) She understood how much louder a cock can crow in his own farmyard than elsewhere. -- The Last Chronicle of Barset (1867) It has been the great fault of our politicians that they have all wanted to do something. -- Phineas Finn (1869) She knew how to allure by denying, and to make the gift rich by delaying it. -- Phineas Finn (1869) We cannot have heroes to dine with us. There are none. And were those heroes to be had, we should not like them ... the persons you cannot care for in a novel, because they are so bad, are the very same that you so dearly love in your life, because they are so good. -- The Eustace Diamonds (1873) Newspaper editors sport daily with the names of men of whom they do not hesitate to publish almost the severest words that can be uttered; but let an editor be himself attacked, even without his name, and thinks that the thunderbolt of heaven should fall upon the offender. -- Phineas Redux (1874) Is it not singular how some men continue to obtain the reputation of popular authorship without adding a word to the literature of their country worthy of note? ... To puff and get oneself puffed have become different branches of a new profession. -- The Way We Live Now (1875) It is easy for most of us to keep our hands from picking and stealing when picking and stealing plainly lead to prison diet and prison garments. But when silks and satins come of it, and with the silks and satins general respect, the net result of honesty does not seem to be so secure. -- The Prime Minister (1876) He must have known me had he seen me as he was wont to see me, for he was in the habit of flogging me constantly. Perhaps he did not recognise me by my face. -- An Autobiography (1883) Three hours a day will produce as much as a man ought to write. -- An Autobiography (1883) Share this page:

The selection of the above quotes and the writing of the accompanying notes was performed by the author David Paul Wagner. About Us • Contact Us • Privacy • Terms of Use © 2005-23 Wide World of Quotes. All Rights Reserved.