WIST Quotations

Hardy, Thomas -- “Christmas, 1924”

Dave — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:37:18 +0000

“Peace upon earth!” was said. We sing it,
And pay a million priests to bring it.
After two thousand years of mass
We’ve got as far as poison gas.

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) English novelist, poet
“Christmas, 1924”

Hardy, Thomas -- “God-Forgotten” (1901)

Dave — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:18:44 +0000

The Earth, say’st thou? The Human race?
By Me created? Sad its lot?
Nay: I have no remembrance of such place:
Such world I fashioned not.

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) English novelist, poet
“God-Forgotten” (1901)

Full text.

Hardy, Thomas -- “Oxen” (1915)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

If someone said on Christmas Eve,
‘Come see the oxen kneel . . .’
I should go with him in the gloom,
Hoping it might be so.

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) English novelist, poet
“Oxen” (1915)

Hardy, Thomas -- “The Man He Killed” (1902)

Dave — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 16:59:00 +0000

Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You’d treat if met where any bar is,
Or help to half-a-crown.

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) English novelist, poet
“The Man He Killed” (1902)
(Source)

Hardy, Thomas -- (Attributed)

Dave — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 10:51:50 +0000

The value of old age depends upon the person who reaches it. To some men of early performance it is useless. To others, who are late to develop, it just enables them to finish the job.

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) English novelist, poet
(Attributed)

Quoted in Florence Emily Hardy, The Later Years of Thomas Hardy, ch. 17 (1930)

Hardy, Thomas -- (Attributed)

Dave — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:13:52 +0000

Pessimism … is in brief, playing the sure game. You cannot lose at it; you may gain. It is the only view of life in which you can never be disappointed.

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) English novelist, poet
(Attributed)

In Florence Hardy, The Later Years of Thomas Hardy, ch. 7 (1930)

Hardy, Thomas -- Far from the Madding Crowd, ch. 18 (1874)

Dave — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 18:23:54 +0000

A resolution to avoid an evil is seldom framed till the evil is so far advanced as to make avoidance impossible.

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) English novelist, poet
Far from the Madding Crowd, ch. 18 (1874)
(Source)

Hardy, Thomas -- Jude the Obscure, Part I, ch. 11 (1895)

Dave — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:31:16 +0000

Their lives were ruined, he thought; ruined by the fundamental error of their matrimonial union: that of having based a permanent contract on a temporary feeling which had no necessary connection with affinities that alone render a lifelong comradeship tolerable.

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) English novelist, poet
Jude the Obscure, Part I, ch. 11 (1895)

Hardy, Thomas -- Jude the Obscure, Pt. I, ch. 4 (1895)

Dave — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:55:12 +0000

But nobody did come, because nobody does; and under the crushing recognition of his gigantic error Jude continued to wish himself out of the world.

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) English novelist, poet
Jude the Obscure, Pt. I, ch. 4 (1895)

Hardy, Thomas -- The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Some folks want their luck buttered.

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) English novelist, poet
The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886)

Hardy, Thomas -- Diary (1908-08-18)

Dave — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:06:33 +0000

If all hearts were open and all desires known — as they would be if people showed their souls — how many gapings, sighings, clenched fists, knotted brows, broad grins, and red eyes should we see in the market-place!

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) English novelist, poet
Diary (1908-08-18)
(Source)