Short quotes — Page 4

Up from Slavery, Chapter XVI, “Europe,” Project Gutenberg #2376. While discussing Henry O. Tanner and recognition for excellent work, Washington restates his Tuskegee principle that advancement depends on doing useful work so thoroughly that its value becomes difficult to ignore.

Working With the Hands, Chapter I; Project Gutenberg #64504. This is an autobiographical fragment whose surrounding paragraph describes repeated attempts before improvement.

Working With the Hands, Chapter I; Project Gutenberg #64504. This short excerpt precedes Washington’s discussion of poverty, family responsibility and practical education.

Dracula, Chapter XIV, Mina Harker’s journal entry for 25 September, Project Gutenberg #345. Professor Van Helsing tells Mina, “There are darknesses in life, and there are lights; you are one of the lights,” while thanking her for the records assisting his investigation. It is fictional praise by Van Helsing within the novel.

The Jewel of Seven Stars, Project Gutenberg #3781. Mr Corbeck recounts Mr Trelawny’s behavior after his wife’s death. This is fictional characterization, not mental-health advice that work is the best response to grief.

The Lady of the Shroud, Project Gutenberg #3095. The wording is quoted in a letter as the remembered wisdom of Rupert’s mother; “wants” and “want” are deliberately contrasted.

The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, Introduction, represented by Project Gutenberg #2300. Darwin writes that 'ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge' while rejecting confident claims that human origins could never be solved by science. The frozen quotation capitalizes the clause as a standalone sentence although it appears after a colon in the witness; it remains a historical scientific argument, not a universal quantitative law about confidence.

Journal of Researches / The Voyage of the Beagle, concluding chapter, represented by the public-domain Project Gutenberg work. Darwin continues by describing novelty, comparison and self-reliance as benefits of travel; the recommendation reflects nineteenth-century natural-history practice and its historical colonial setting.

A Christmas Carol; Tiny Tim’s blessing.

A Christmas Carol, Stave Five.

Stave Three; excerpted from a longer sentence.

A Tale of Two Cities, opening sentence.

David Copperfield; Mr. Micawber’s advice.

Dombey and Son, Chapter 16, Project Gutenberg #821. The words are associated with the dying child Paul and his sister Florence; they are fictional dialogue, not Dickens autobiography.

Dombey and Son, Chapter 59, Project Gutenberg #821. Florence invites Mr Dombey to return with her and meet her son Paul.

Dombey and Son, Chapter 59, Project Gutenberg #821. Florence speaks to Mr Dombey about how she and Walter will raise their child.

Dombey and Son, Chapter 30, Project Gutenberg #821. Edith speaks to Florence while inviting her into closer confidence.

Dombey and Son, Chapter 59, Project Gutenberg #821. Florence speaks while embracing her father after returning to him.

Dombey and Son, Chapter 35, Project Gutenberg #821. Edith speaks to Florence; the line belongs to their fictional relationship inside the Dombey household.

Dombey and Son, Chapter 59, Project Gutenberg #821. Florence returns to Mr Dombey after his collapse and asks for reconciliation.

Dombey and Son, Chapter 59, Project Gutenberg #821. Florence explains to Mr Dombey how the birth of her child affected her understanding of their estrangement.

Great Expectations (1861), global Chapter XIX / Volume I Chapter XIX in the Chapman & Hall three-volume first book edition. As Pip leaves the village and breaks into tears, the retrospective narrator says that “we need never be ashamed of our tears” before reflecting on ingratitude toward Joe. Verified against the scan-backed Wikisource Chapter XIX transcription and cross-checked with Project Gutenberg #1400. The passage remains literary reflection on Pip’s remorse rather than modern clinical or grief-treatment evidence.

Great Expectations (1861), global Chapter XVII / Volume I Chapter XVII in the Chapman & Hall three-volume first book edition. Pip tells Biddy that the simpler life he might have led at the forge was “much to be regretted,” then admits that his ambitions make that lost alternative impossible to restore. Verified against the scan-backed Wikisource Chapter XVII transcription and cross-checked with Project Gutenberg #1400. This remains Pip’s retrospective fictional narration and dialogue, not Dickens autobiography.

Great Expectations (1861), global Chapter XL / Volume III Chapter I in the Chapman & Hall three-volume first book edition. Mr. Jaggers tells Pip “Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There’s no better rule” while insisting that he has stayed to the strict line of fact about Pip’s benefactor. Verified against the scan-backed Wikisource Volume III Chapter I transcription and cross-checked with Project Gutenberg #1400. This remains fictional legal dialogue and character method rather than a modern legal or scientific standard.

Our Mutual Friend, Book III, Chapter IX (“Somebody Becomes the Subject of a Prediction”), verified against Project Gutenberg #883 and the stable Wikisource chapter transcription. John Rokesmith (the Secretary) answers Bella Wilfer after she calls herself “useless enough in this world.” This older catalog row modernizes Dickens’s represented wording “who lightens the burden of it for any one else” to “who lightens the burden of it to anyone else”; the frozen quotation remains unchanged and is explicitly treated as a wording variant of the same passage. This is fictional character dialogue about practical usefulness, not an empirical or clinical definition of human worth.

Our Mutual Friend, Book III, Chapter IX (“Somebody Becomes the Subject of a Prediction”), verified against Project Gutenberg #883 and the stable Wikisource chapter transcription. John Rokesmith (the Secretary) says “No one is useless in this world ... who lightens the burden of it for any one else” after Bella Wilfer calls herself useless. This row preserves the represented primary-text wording and is the same underlying passage as the older modernized catalog variant; it remains fictional dialogue rather than Dickens autobiography or modern psychological evidence.

Sketches by Boz, “Characters,” Chapter II, “A Christmas Dinner,” verified against Project Gutenberg #882 and the scan-backed 1836 Volume I transcription on Wikisource. “There seems a magic in the very name of Christmas” begins the following paragraph, where Dickens describes old jealousies and family estrangements giving way to renewed social feeling and reconciliation. It is early Dickens narrator commentary about Christmas, memory and family relations rather than an empirical claim that holidays automatically repair conflict.

The Pickwick Papers, near the closing chapter, Project Gutenberg #580. The narrator deliberately leaves Pickwick and his companions in a moment of happiness and contrasts life’s “dark shadows” with its stronger lights; this is literary narration, not a promise that suffering always ends well.

Hypatia — or New Foes with an Old Face, Chapter XXIV, “Lost Lambs,” Project Gutenberg #6308. Pelagia tells Philammon that men love women for their own sakes while women love “for love’s sake” during a distressed reflection on betrayal, dependence and the absent Amal. It is fictional dialogue in Kingsley’s historical novel, not a universal claim about men and women.

The Simple Life, Chapter IV, “Simplicity of Speech,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; Wagner contrasts honorable speech with duplicity.

The Simple Life, Chapter IV, “Simplicity of Speech,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; Wagner joins just thought with frank speech.

The Simple Life, Chapter II, Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; the phrase appears in Wagner’s argument for returning attention to essentials.

The Simple Life, Chapter II, Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; Wagner is defining the “essence of simplicity.”

The Simple Life, Chapter IV, “Simplicity of Speech,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; Wagner recommends silence after criticizing needless verbal noise.

The Simple Life, Chapter IV, “Simplicity of Speech,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; the sentence introduces Wagner’s appeal for plainer speech.

The Simple Life, Chapter V, “Simple Duty,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; the phrase condenses his argument about nearby obligations.

The Simple Life, Chapter II, Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; Wagner explicitly rejects class ownership of simplicity.

The Simple Life, Chapter IV, “Simplicity of Speech,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; the sentence develops Wagner’s argument for cultivated silence.

The Simple Life, later chapter on simple living and wealth, Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; Wagner distinguishes possession from personal identity.

The Simple Life, Chapter IV, “Simplicity of Speech,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; the surrounding paragraph discusses sincerity and confidence.

The Simple Life, Chapter IV, “Simplicity of Speech,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; the claim is rhetorical advice about plain expression.

The Simple Life, Chapter II, Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; the sentence belongs to Wagner’s moral account of inward order.

The Simple Life, Chapter IV, “Simplicity of Speech,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; Wagner criticizes language that replaces fact with display.

The Simple Life, Chapter V, “Simple Duty,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; the sentence appears in Wagner’s discussion of everyday obligations.

The Simple Life, Chapter IV, “Simplicity of Speech,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; Wagner links sincerity, moderation and plain expression.

The Simple Life, Chapter II, Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; Wagner closes the section by describing simplicity as something a person can recover.

The Simple Life, Chapter V, “Simple Duty,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; Wagner contrasts ordinary duty with inflated moral ambition.

The Simple Life, Chapter IV, “Simplicity of Speech,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; Wagner is arguing that deep feeling often appears plainly.

The Simple Life, Chapter IV, “Simplicity of Speech,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; the line follows Wagner’s appeal for the “speech of honor.”

Jane Eyre, Lowood sequence, Project Gutenberg #1260. Helen Burns says this after Jane recounts Mrs. Reed’s cruelty. Helen then explicitly says she can forgive the person while abhorring the crime, so the passage does not require pretending the wrong was acceptable.

Jane Eyre, Project Gutenberg #1260. Rochester says this to Jane while recounting his own decline. Jane replies that repentance is said to cure remorse; Rochester answers that reformation may be its cure. This is fictional character dialogue, not Charlotte Brontë’s direct psychological advice.

Jane Eyre; Jane insists on moral and personal independence during a decisive conversation with Rochester.

Shirley; fictional narrative description within the novel’s relationship context. The line describes a character’s restraint and must not be presented as a direct autobiographical maxim by Charlotte Brontë.

The Professor; fictional narration describing Frances Henri. The elevated phrasing belongs to the novel’s characterization and is not presented as a context-free statement of Brontë’s own life.

Villette; excerpt from Lucy Snowe’s reflection on how to advance toward a more independent position. This is fictional first-person narration, and the excerpt is not presented as Brontë speaking autobiographically.

The Yellow Wallpaper, represented by Project Gutenberg #1952. The words are spoken by the unnamed narrator to John at the story’s disturbing climax; the scene depicts psychological breakdown inside fiction and is not presented as mental-health guidance.

Women and Economics, Chapter VIII, Project Gutenberg #57913. Gilman rejects the contemptuous category of a “female mind,” immediately adding that the brain is not an organ of sex and comparing “female mind” to “female liver.” It is a historical equality argument embedded in Gilman’s period-specific social/evolutionary framework, not a current neuroscience citation.

“A Better Resurrection,” in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862 first edition), Devotional Pieces, printed page 137 / scan leaf 153. “My life is in the falling leaf: O Jesus, quicken me” closes the first stanza as a direct Christian prayer for renewed life; the address to Jesus and resurrection frame are essential context and are not secularized into generic recovery advice.

‘Advent,’ second stanza, in Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg #16950. ‘The watch is long betimes and late, / The prize is slow to win’ belongs to Rossetti's explicitly Christian devotional waiting; later stanzas name Christ and Jesus Christ directly. It is devotional poetry rather than a secular guarantee that persistence produces a reward.

“Advent,” Project Gutenberg #16950. 'His' refers to Christ; the line remains Christian devotional poetry rather than being generalized into an evidence-free guarantee about outcomes.

“Another Spring,” Project Gutenberg #16950. The stanza begins conditionally—'If I might see another Spring'—so the present-focused conclusion grows from mortality and uncertainty.

“Remember,” first published in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862); Project Gutenberg #16950. The sonnet later softens this request by allowing compassionate forgetting rather than demanding perpetual grief.

Closing thought of Remember; Rossetti shifts from asking to be remembered toward permitting compassionate forgetting.

“Spring,” Project Gutenberg #16950. This is a lyric reflection on transience, not a literal biological generalization about all life.

“Spring,” in Goblin Market and Other Poems; Project Gutenberg #16950. The surrounding poem also stresses that spring passes and that spring-life is born to die.

“The First Spring Day,” Project Gutenberg #16950. The stanza continues into explicitly spiritual hope about renewal in this world or the world to come.

“The First Spring Day,” Project Gutenberg #16950. The alternative 'world to come' makes the Christian eschatological dimension explicit.

“Up-Hill,” in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862); Project Gutenberg #16950. The road is a spiritual-life allegory, so the line is not reduced to literal travel advice.

“Up-Hill,” Project Gutenberg #16950. The poem is an allegorical question-and-answer sequence about the soul’s journey, endurance and eventual rest.

The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, represented by Project Gutenberg #779. Faustus speaks to a supernatural apparition of Helen late in the tragedy; the line is fictional dramatic speech in a scene of temptation and damnation, not Marlowe’s autobiographical judgment.

Hero and Leander, posthumously published in 1598. The sentence is a narrator’s rhetorical claim inside mythological narrative poetry and should not be treated as psychological evidence about how real relationships develop.

“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” represented in Project Gutenberg #20356. The lyric survives through early printed witnesses and is a pastoral invitation by a poetic speaker; its promises are literary fantasy rather than a factual description of rural life.

Cato on Old Age, Shuckburgh translation, in a passage about older people planting for those who come after them.

Cato on Old Age, Shuckburgh translation.

Cato on Old Age, Shuckburgh translation, in Cicero’s discussion of the distinctive advantages of each season of life.

De Amicitia, chapter 21 / classical section 80, Andrew P. Peabody translation, Project Gutenberg #7491. Laelius says that unless self-love is transferred into friendship a true friend cannot be found, “for such a friend is, as it were, another self.” The familiar another-self formulation is presented in its philosophical context and not as a literal identity claim.

De Amicitia, chapter 8 / classical section 27, Andrew P. Peabody translation, Project Gutenberg #7491. Laelius argues that friendship springs from nature rather than need and from an inclination of the mind with consciousness of love rather than calculation of utility. This is Cicero’s philosophical position voiced through Laelius, not modern social-science evidence.

De Amicitia, chapter 6 / classical section 22, Andrew P. Peabody translation, Project Gutenberg #7491. “Friendship has more advantages than I can easily name” introduces Laelius’ catalogue of the many uses and consolations of friendship; the open-ended praise remains rhetorical/philosophical rather than a quantified claim about relationship outcomes.

De Amicitia, chapter 17 / classical section 62, Andrew P. Peabody translation, Project Gutenberg #7491. “Firm, steadfast, self-consistent men are to be chosen as friends” follows Laelius’ recollection of Scipio’s concern that people test possessions more carefully than friendships. The counsel remains ancient character ethics rather than a diagnostic rule for evaluating people.

De Officiis, Book II, section 32; Cicero lists kind services among the strongest ways of earning goodwill.

De Officiis, Book I, section 47; Cicero discusses how kindness already received creates a stronger duty of requital.

De Officiis, Book II, section 33, Project Gutenberg #47001. Cicero’s larger argument says public confidence depends on practical wisdom joined with justice; intelligence alone is not presented as sufficient for trust.

Laelius on Friendship; the surrounding passage pairs shared joy with support during misfortune.

Tusculan Disputations, Book V, section XIV, represented by Project Gutenberg #14988. Cicero defines security parenthetically as freedom from anxiety while arguing that a happy life must rest on stable goods and virtue rather than vulnerable externals. It remains ancient philosophical psychology mediated by translation, not modern clinical anxiety-treatment evidence.

The Analects of Confucius, James Legge’s public-domain English translation; Book XV states the principle in a compact sentence about access to teaching.

The Analects of Confucius, James Legge’s public-domain English translation; Book II connects moral recognition with the courage required for action.

The Analects of Confucius, James Legge’s public-domain English translation; Book XV gives the maxim as a concise rule for conduct toward others.

The Analects of Confucius, James Legge’s public-domain English translation; Book I pairs learning with the pleasure of welcoming distant friends.

The Analects of Confucius, James Legge’s public-domain English translation; Book I opens by connecting learning with steady practice.

The Analects of Confucius, James Legge’s public-domain English translation; Book IV contrasts careful speech with earnest conduct.

Analects 2:15 in James Legge’s translation; the saying balances study with independent reflection.

The Analects of Confucius, James Legge’s public-domain English translation; Book XV contrasts inward self-examination with dependence on others.

The Analects of Confucius, Book VII, Chapter XXXVI, James Legge translation, Project Gutenberg #3330.

The Analects of Confucius, James Legge’s public-domain English translation; Book XV distinguishes ordinary faults from the refusal to reform them.

Daniel 9:9 in the King James Version; part of Daniel’s confession and prayer.

A Journal of the Plague Year, Project Gutenberg #376. The remark follows a false rumor that meat in Newgate Market was infected. It is historical-literary plague narration, not modern psychological or medical guidance.

Moll Flanders, Project Gutenberg #370. The fictional first-person narrator uses weather metaphor while recalling an early relationship crisis and the family’s growing hostility toward her.

Robinson Crusoe, represented by Project Gutenberg #38705. Crusoe says this while reflecting on what he interprets as secret intimations of Providence; the sentence is fictional first-person religious reflection, not evidence for supernatural guidance.

An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, ‘Of Miracles,’ Part I, paragraph 87 in the represented Selby-Bigge text, Project Gutenberg #9662. ‘A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence’ follows Hume's discussion of varying degrees of assurance from experience. It is eighteenth-century epistemological argument and preserves the connective ‘therefore’; it is not a complete modern statistical or scientific decision rule.

John Halifax, Gentleman, represented by Project Gutenberg #2351. The phrase belongs to the first-person narrator Phineas Fletcher while describing the river; it is a literary simile inside the novel, not direct autobiography by Craik.