Thomas Love Peacock Quotes

1785–1866

Thomas Love Peacock (1785–1866) was an English novelist and poet. His conversational novels satirize the philosophical preoccupations of the Romantic era.

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Clouds on clouds, in volumes driven, Curtain round the vault of heaven.

Thomas Love Peacock, Rhododaphne, Canto V, line 257.

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More Thomas Love Peacock Quotes

My quarrel with him is, that his works contain nothing worth quoting; and a book that furnishes no quotations, is, me judice [in my opinion], no book - it is a plaything.

Thomas Love Peacock
— About Sir Walter Scott, in Crotchet Castle, chapter IX (1831)

Tags: quarrel, him, works, contain, nothing, worth, quoting, book, furnishes

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He bore a simple wild-flower wreath: Narcissus, and the sweet brier rose; Vervain, and flexile thyme, that breathe Rich fragrance; modest heath, that glows With purple bells; the amaranth bright, That no decay, nor fading knows, Like true love's holiest, rarest light; And every purest flower, that blows In that sweet time, which Love most blesses, When spring on summer's confines presses.

Thomas Love Peacock
— Rhododaphne, Canto I, line 107.

Tags: bore, simple, wildflower, wreath, Narcissus, sweet, brier, rose, thyme

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Marriage may often be a stormy lake, but celibacy is almost always a muddy horsepond.

Thomas Love Peacock
— 1817  Melincourt, ch.7.

Tags: Marriage, may, often, stormy, lake, celibacy, muddy, horsepond

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Laughter ispleasant, butthe exertion istoomuchfor me.

Thomas Love Peacock
— 1818  NightmareAbbey, ch.5.

Tags: Laughter, butthe, exertion, me

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Sir, I have quarrelled with my wife; and a man who has quarrelled with his wife is absolved from all duty to his country.

Thomas Love Peacock
— 1818  NightmareAbbey, ch.11.

Tags: Sir, quarrelled, wife, man, who, absolved, duty, country

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The mountain sheep are sweeter, But the valley sheep are fatter; We therefore deemed it meeter To carry off the latter. We made an expedition; We met a host, and quelled it; We forced a strong position, And killed the men who held it.

Thomas Love Peacock
— 1829  The Misfortunes of Elphin,'TheWar-Song of DinasVawr'.

Tags: mountain, sheep, sweeter, valley, fatter, We, deemed, carry, latter

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But though first love's impassioned blindness Has passed away in colder light, I still have thought of you with kindness, And shall do, till our last goodnight. The ever-rolling silent hours Will bring a time we shall not know, When our young days of gathering flowers Will be an hundred years ago.

Thomas Love Peacock
— 1860  'Love and Age'.

Tags: first, impassioned, blindness, passed, away, colder, light, thought, you

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Marriage may often be a stormy lake, but celibacy is almost always a muddy horsepond.

Thomas Love Peacock
— Melincourt, chapter VII (1817)

Tags: Marriage, may, often, stormy, lake, celibacy, muddy, horsepond

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There are two reasons for drinking: one is, when you are thirsty, to cure it; the other, when you are not thirsty, to prevent it. The first is obvious, mechanical, and plebeian; the second is most refined, abstract, prospicient, and canonical.

Thomas Love Peacock
— Melincourt, chapter XVI

Tags: There, two, reasons, drinking, one, when, you, thirsty, cure

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The waste of plenty is the resource of scarcity.

Thomas Love Peacock
— Melincourt, chapter XXIV

Tags: waste, plenty, resource, scarcity

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When Scythrop grew up, he was sent, as usual, to a public school, where a little learning was painfully beaten into him, and from thence to the university, where it was carefully taken out of him.

Thomas Love Peacock
— Nightmare Abbey, chapter I (1818)

Tags: When, grew, sent, usual, public, school, little, learning, painfully

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Respectable means rich, and decent means poor. I should die if I heard my family called decent.

Thomas Love Peacock
— Crotchet Castle, chapter III (1832)

Tags: Respectable, means, rich, decent, poor, die, heard, family

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I never failed to convince an audience that the best thing they could do was to go away.

Thomas Love Peacock
— Crotchet Castle, chapter XVIII

Tags: never, failed, convince, audience, best, thing, away

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I almost think it is the ultimate destiny of science to exterminate the human race.

Thomas Love Peacock
— Gryll Grange, chapter XIX (1860)

Tags: think, ultimate, destiny, science, exterminate, human, race

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In a bowl to sea went wise men three, On a brilliant night in June: They carried a net, and their hearts were set On fishing up the moon.

Thomas Love Peacock
— Thomas Love Peacock, The Wise Men of Gotham, Paper Money Lyrics, Stanza 1.

Tags: bowl, sea, wise, men, three, brilliant, night, June, carried

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How troublesome is day! It calls us from our sleep away; It bids us from our pleasant dreams awake, And sends us forth to keep or break Our promises to pay. How troublesome is day!

Thomas Love Peacock
— Thomas Love Peacock, Fly-by-Night, Paper Money lyrics.

Tags: troublesome, day, calls, us, our, sleep, away, bids, pleasant

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My thoughts by night are often filled with visions false as fair. For in the past alone, I build my castles in the air.

Thomas Love Peacock
— Thomas Love Peacock, Castles in the Air, Stanza 1.

Tags: visions, thoughts, night, often, filled, false, fair, past, alone

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Marriage may often be a stormy lake, but celibacy is almost always a muddy horsepond.

Thomas Love Peacock
— Thomas Love Peacock, Melincourt (1817), ch. 7

Tags: Marriage, may, often, stormy, lake, celibacy, muddy, horsepond

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Time, the foe of man's dominion, Wheels around in ceaseless flight, Scattering from his hoary pinion Shades of everlasting night.

Thomas Love Peacock
— Thomas Love Peacock, The Genius of the Thames, Part II, Stanza 42.

Tags: Time, foe, man's, dominion, Wheels, ceaseless, flight, Scattering, hoary

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The present is our own; but while we speak, We cease from its possession, and resign The stage we tread on, to another race, As vain, and gay, and mortal as ourselves.

Thomas Love Peacock
— Thomas Love Peacock, Time, line 9.

Tags: present, our, own, while, we, speak, cease, possession, resign

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Man yields to death; and man's sublimest works Must yield at length to Time.

Thomas Love Peacock
— Thomas Love Peacock, Time, line 65.

Tags: Man, yields, death, man's, sublimest, works, yield, length, Time

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Time is lord of thee: Thy wealth, thy glory, and thy name are his.

Thomas Love Peacock
— Thomas Love Peacock, Time, line 71.

Tags: Time, lord, wealth, glory, name

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"In his last binn Sir Peter lies." * * * * He kept at true humour's mark The social flow of pleasure's tide: He never made a brow look dark, Nor caused a tear, but when he died.

Thomas Love Peacock
— Thomas Love Peacock, To Sir Peter; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 232.

Tags: last, Sir, lies, kept, true, mark, social, flow, pleasure's

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