George Meredith Quotes
1828 - 1909
Read George Meredith biography
More George Meredith Quotes
Cynicism is intellectual dandyism.
George Meredith— 1879 The Egoist, ch.7.
Don't count your years, make your years count.
George Meredith
He fainted on his vengefulness, and strove To ape the magnanimity of love.
George Meredith— 1862 Modern Love, 2.
A dainty rogue in porcelain.
George Meredith— The Egoist, chapter 5 (1879)
'But do care a bit for flattery, my lady,'said De Craye.''Tis the finest of the Arts; we might call it moral sculpture. Adepts in it can cut their friends to any shape they like.'
George Meredith— 1879 De Craye to Lady Busshe. The Egoist, ch.36.
Happy happy time, when the white star hovers Low over dim fields fresh with blooming dew, Near the face of dawn, that draws athwart the darkness, Threading it with colour, like yewberries the yew.
George Meredith— 1851Poems,'Love in the Valley', stanza 7. The poem was revised and republished in1878.
I expect that Woman will be the last thing civilized by Man.
George Meredith— 1859 The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, ch.1.
Kissing don't last: cookery do!
George Meredith— 1859 The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, ch.28.
Speech is the small change of silence.
George Meredith— 1859 The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, ch.34.
Enter these enchanted woods, You who dare.
George Meredith— 1883 Poems and Lyrics of the Joy of Earth,'The Woods of Westermain'.
Soaring through wider zones that pricked his scars With memory of the old revolt from Awe, He reached the middle height, and at the stars, Which are the brain of heaven, he looked, and sank. Around the ancient track marched, rank on rank, The army of unalterable law.
George Meredith— 1883 Poems and Lyrics of the Joy of Earth,'Lucifer in Starlight'.
For singing till his heaven fills 'Tis love of earth that he instils, And ever winging up and up, Our valley is his golden cup, And he the wine which overflows.
George Meredith— 1883 Poems and Lyrics of the Joy of Earth,'The Lark Ascending'.
Into the breast that gives the rose, Shall I with shuddering fall?
George Meredith— Ode to the Spirit of Earth in Autumn, st. 13 (1862).
Earth, the mother of all, Moves on her stedfast way, Gathering, flinging, sowing. Mortals, we live in her day, She in her children is growing.
George Meredith— Ode to the Spirit of Earth in Autumn, st. 14.
For singing till his heaven fills, 'Tis love of earth that he instils, And ever winging up and up, Our valley is his golden cup, And he the wine which overflows To lift us with him as he goes.
George Meredith— The Lark Ascending, l. 65-70 (1881).
The song seraphically free Of taint of personality, So pure that it salutes the suns The voice of one for millions, In whom the millions rejoice For giving their one spirit voice.
George Meredith— The Lark Ascending, l. 95-100.
With patient inattention hear him prate.
George Meredith— Bellerophon, st. 4 (1887).
Full lasting is the song, though he, The singer, passes
George Meredith— The Thrush in February, st. 17 (1888).
Behold the life at ease; it drifts, The sharpened life commands its course.
George Meredith— Hard Weather, l. 71 (1888).
All wisdom's armoury this man could wield
George Meredith— The Sage Enamoured (1892).
Cannon his name, Cannon his voice, he came.
George Meredith— Napoléon, I (1898).
Speech is the small change of Silence.
George Meredith— Ch. 34. (The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859))
Not till the fire is dying in the grate, Look we for any kinship with the stars. Oh, wisdom never comes when it is gold, And the great price we pay for it full worth: We have it only when we are half earth.
George Meredith— St. 4. (Modern Love (1862))
And if I drink oblivion of a day, So shorten I the stature of my soul.
George Meredith— St. 12. (Modern Love (1862))
The actors are, it seems, the usual three: Husband and wife and lover.
George Meredith— St. 25. (Modern Love (1862))
A witty woman is a treasure; a witty beauty is a power.
George Meredith— Ch. 1. (Diana of the Crossways (1885))
What a woman thinks of women is the test of her nature.
George Meredith— Ch. 1. (Diana of the Crossways (1885))
The well of true wit is truth itself.
George Meredith— Ch. 1. (Diana of the Crossways (1885))
Ireland gives England her soldiers, her generals too.
George Meredith— Ch. 2. (Diana of the Crossways (1885))
