Anthony Trollope Quotes & Sayings

One doesn't have an agreement to that effect written down on parchment and sealed; but it is as well understood and ought to be as faithfully kept as any legal contract. — Anthony Trollope

You are quite wrong about him," Felix had said. "He has not been atan English school, or English university, and therefore is not like other young men that you know; but he is, I think, well educated and clever. As for conceit, what man will do any good who is notconceited? Nobody holds a good opinion of a man who has a low opinion
of himself."

"All the same, my dear fellow, I do not like Lucius Mason. — Anthony Trollope

Three hours a day will produce as much as a man ought to write. — Anthony Trollope

But as the clerical pretensions are more exacting than all others, being put forward with an assertion that no answer is possible without breach of duty and sin, so are they more galling. — Anthony Trollope

CHAPTER LXXIX THE LAST DAYS OF MARY MASTERS — Anthony Trollope

Many people talk much, and then very many people talk very much more. — Anthony Trollope

And, 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. — Anthony Trollope

The secrets of the world are very marvellous, but they are not themselves half so wonderful as the way in which they become known to the world. — Anthony Trollope

Marvelous is the power which can be exercised, almost unconsciously, over a company, or an individual, or even upon a crowd by one person gifted with good temper, good digestion, good intellects, and good looks. — Anthony Trollope

Now, Justinia, you are unfair. — Anthony Trollope

Short accounts make long friends. — Anthony Trollope

A woman's life is not perfect or whole till she has added herself to a husband. Nor is a man's life perfect or whole till he has added to himself a wife. — Anthony Trollope

Disembarrass the other. — Anthony Trollope

There is nothing perhaps so generally consoling to a man as a well-established grievance; a feeling of having been injured, on which his mind can brood from hour to hour, allowing him to plead his own cause in his own court, within his own heart, and always to plead it successfully. — Anthony Trollope

It has become a certainty now that if you will only advertise sufficiently you may make a fortune by selling anything. — Anthony Trollope

A man who desires to soften another man's heart, should always abuse himself. In softening a woman's heart, he should abuse her. — Anthony Trollope

The double pleasure of pulling down an opponent, and of raising oneself, is the charm of a politician's life. — Anthony Trollope

In this world things are beautiful only because they are not quite seen, or not perfectly understood. Poetry is precious chiefly because it suggests more than it declares. — Anthony Trollope

But I have said it, and will say it again. I, poor, penniless, plain simple fool that I am, have been ass enough to love you, Lady Laura Standish; and I brought you up here to-day to ask you to share with me - my nothingness. And this I have done on soil that is to be all your own. Tell me that you regard me as a conceited fool, - as a bewildered idiot. — Anthony Trollope

He was not so anxious to prove himself right, as to be so. — Anthony Trollope

He took such high ground that there was no getting on to it. — Anthony Trollope

The good and the bad mix themselves so thoroughly in our thoughts, even in our aspirations, that we must look for excellence rather in overcoming evil than in freeing ourselves from its influence. — Anthony Trollope

The difference of the English and Irish character is nowhere more plainly discerned than in their respective kitchens. With the former, this apartment is probably the cleanest, and certainly the most orderly, in the house ... An Irish kitchenis usually a temple dedicated to the goddess of disorder; and, too often, joined with her, is the potent deity of dirt. — Anthony Trollope

But things had arranged themselves, as they often do, rather than been arranged by him. — Anthony Trollope

But are no other portraits necessary? Should we not be taught to see the men and women among whom we really live, - men and women such as we are ourselves, - in order that we should know what are the exact failings which oppress ourselves, and thus learn to hate, and if possible to avoid in life the faults of character which in life are hardly visible, but which in portraiture of life can be made to be so transparent. — Anthony Trollope

You must take the world as you find it, with a struggle to be something more honest than those around you. Phineas, as he preached himself this sermon, declared to himself that they who attempted more than this flew too high in the clouds to be of service to men an women upon the earth — Anthony Trollope

Perhaps also Roger felt that were he to take up the cudgels for an argument he might be worsted in the combat, as in such combats success is won by practised skill rather than by truth. — Anthony Trollope

Poor Mr. Smith, having been so rudely dragged from his high horse, was never able to mount it again, and completed the lecture in a manner not at all comfortable to himself. — Anthony Trollope

Lord Augustus thought that his brother should have a personal interview with his young brother peer, and bring his strawberry leaves to bear. The — Anthony Trollope

She was not softly delicate in all her ways; but in disposition and temper she was altogether generous. I do not know that she was at all points a lady, but had Fate so willed it she would have been a thorough gentleman. — Anthony Trollope

In such families as [Nidderdale's], when such results have been achieved, it is generally understood that matters shall be put right by an heiress. [ ... ] Rank squanders money; trade makes it;
and then trade purchases rank by re-gilding its splendour — Anthony Trollope

It is the highest and most legitimate pride of an Englishman to have the letters M.P. written after his name. No selection from the alphabet, no doctorship, no fellowship, be it of ever so learned or royal a society, no knightship,
not though it be of the Garter,
confers so fair an honour. — Anthony Trollope

There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people. — Anthony Trollope

There is always a piano in an hotel drawing-room, on which, of course, some one of the forlorn ladies is generally employed. I do not suppose that these pianos are, in fact, as a rule, louder and harsher, more violent and less musical, than other instruments of the kind. They seem to be so, but that, I take it, arises from the exceptional mental depression of those who have to listen to them. — Anthony Trollope

I never believe anything that a lawyer says when he has a wig on his head and a fee in his hand. I prepare myself beforehand to regard it all as mere words, supplied at so much the thousand. I know he'll say whatever he thinks most likely to forward his own views. — Anthony Trollope

Nobody holds a good opinion of a man who holds a low opinion of himself. — Anthony Trollope

No one ever on seeing Mr Crawley took him to be a happy man, or a weak man, or an ignorant man, or a wise man. — Anthony Trollope

The writer of stories must please, or he will be nothing. And he must teach whether he wish to teach or no. How — Anthony Trollope

Let no man boast himself that he has got through the perils of winter till at least the seventh of May. — Anthony Trollope

Above all else, never think you're not good enough. — Anthony Trollope

After all, then, she was not a clever woman, - not more clever than other women around her! — Anthony Trollope

To feel that your hours are filled to overflowing, that you can barely steal minutes enough for sleep, that the welfare of many is entrusted to you, that the world looks on and approves, that some good is always being done to others
above all things some good to your country;
that is happiness. — Anthony Trollope

There was but one thing for him;- to persevere till he got her, or till he had finally lost her. And should the latter be his fate, as he began to fear that it would be, then, he would live, but live only, like a crippled man. — Anthony Trollope

But she knew this, - that it was necessary for her happiness that she should devote herself to some one. All the elegancies and outward charms of life were delightful, if only they could be used as the means to some end. As an end themselves they were nothing. — Anthony Trollope

There would be a blaze and a confusion, in which timid men would doubt whether the constitution would be burned to tinder or only illuminated; but that blaze and that confusion would be dear to Mr. Daubney if he could stand as the centre figure, the great pyrotechnist who did it all, red from head to foot with the glare of the squibs with which his own hands were filling all the spaces. — Anthony Trollope

There are things that will not have themselves buried and put out of sight, as though they had never been. — Anthony Trollope

When a man gets into his head an idea that the public voice calls for him, it is astonishing how great becomes his trust in the wisdom of the public. — Anthony Trollope

Does not all the world know that when in autumn the Bismarcks of the world, or they who are bigger than Bismarcks, meet at this or that delicious haunt of salubrity, the affairs of the world are then settled in little conclaves, with grater ease, rapidity, and certainty than in large parliaments or the dull chambers of public offices? — Anthony Trollope

For there is no folly so great as keeping one's sorrows hidden. — Anthony Trollope

No other American city is so intensely American as New York. — Anthony Trollope

A Minister can always give a reason; and, if he be clever, he can generally when doing so punish the man who asks for it. The punishing of an influential enemy is an indiscretion; but an obscure questioner may often be crushed with good effect. — Anthony Trollope

A man's mind will very gradually refuse to make itself up until it is driven and compelled by emergency. — Anthony Trollope

There is no human bliss equal to twelve hours of work with only six hours in which to do it. — Anthony Trollope

It was a beautiful summer afternoon, at that delicious period of the year when summer has just burst forth from the growth of spring; when the summer is yet but three days old, and all the various shades of green which nature can put forth are still in their unsoiled purity of freshness. — Anthony Trollope

Men and women say that they will read, and think so, - those, I mean, who have acquired no habit of reading, - believing the work to be, of all works, the easiest. It may be work, they think, but of all works it must be the easiest of achievement. Given the absolute faculty of reading, the task of going through the pages of a book must be, of all tasks, the most certainly within the grasp of the man or woman who attempts it! Alas, no; - if the habit be not there, of all tasks it is the most difficult. If a man have not acquired the habit of reading till he be old, he shall sooner in his old age learn to make shoes than learn the adequate use of a book. And worse again; - under such circumstances the making of shoes shall be more pleasant to him than the reading of a book. — Anthony Trollope

Money is neither god nor devil, that it should make one noble and another vile. It is an accident, and if honestly possessed, may pass from you to me, or from me to you, without a stain. — Anthony Trollope

In former times great objects were attained by great work. When evils were to be reformed, reformers set about their heavy task with grave decorum and laborious argument. An age was occupied in proving a grievance, and philosophical researches were printed in folio pages, which it took a life to write, and an eternity to read. We get on now with a lighter step, and quicker: ridicule is found to be more convincing than argument, imaginary agonies touch more than true sorrows, — Anthony Trollope

This habit of reading, I make bold to tell you, is your pass to the greatest, the purest, and the most perfect pleasure that God has prepared for His creatures. It lasts when all other pleasures fade. It will support you when all other recreations are gone. It will last until your death. It will make your hours pleasant to you as long as you live. — Anthony Trollope

He is no better than anybody else that I can see, and he is beginning to give himself airs, — Anthony Trollope

I am not fit to marry. I am often cross, and I like my own way, and I have a distaste for men. — Anthony Trollope

There are some points on which no man can be contented to follow the advice of another - some subjects on which a man can consult his own conscience only. — Anthony Trollope

A sermon is not to tell you what you are, but what you ought to be, and a novel should tell you not what you are to get, but what you'd like to get. — Anthony Trollope

The apostle of Christianity and the infidel can meet without a chance of a quarrel; but it is never safe to bring together two men who differ about a saint or a surplice. — Anthony Trollope

Dance with a girl three times, and if you like the light of her eye and the tone of voice with which she, breathless, answers your little questions about horseflesh and music about affairs masculine and feminine, then take the leap in the dark. — Anthony Trollope

No man thinks there is much ado about nothing when the ado is about himself. — Anthony Trollope

That girls should not marry for money we are all agreed. A lady who can sell herself for a title or an estate, for an income or aset of family diamonds, treats herself as a farmer treats his sheep and oxen
makes hardly more of herself, of her own inner self, in which are comprised a mind and soul, than the poor wretch of her own sex who earns her bread in the lowest state of degradation. — Anthony Trollope

Familiarity does breed contempt; - doesn't it? — Anthony Trollope

An author must be nothing if he do not love truth; a barrister must be nothing if he do. — Anthony Trollope

In former days the Earl had been a man quite capable of making himself disagreeable, and probably had not yet lost the power of doing so. Of all our capabilities this is the one which clings longest to us. — Anthony Trollope

A man will be generally very old and feeble before he forgets how much money he has in the funds. — Anthony Trollope

A woman's weapon is her tongue. — Anthony Trollope

Caveat emptor is the only motto going, and the worst proverb that ever came from the dishonest stony-hearted Rome. — Anthony Trollope

CHAPTER XLIII PERSECUTION — Anthony Trollope

Those who have courage to love should have courage to suffer. — Anthony Trollope

The bucolic mind of East Barsetshire took warm delight in the eloquence of the eminent personage who represented them, but was wont to extract more actual enjoyment from the music of his periods than from the strength of his arguments. — Anthony Trollope

She became aware that she had thought the less of him because he had thought the more of her. She had worshipped this other man because he had assumed superiority and had told her that he was big enough to be her master. But now,
now that it was all too late,
the veil had fallen from her eyes. She could now see the difference between manliness and 'deportment. — Anthony Trollope

It is easy to love one's enemy when one is making fine speeches; but so difficult to do so in the actual everyday work of life. — Anthony Trollope

CHAPTER LXXII 'BID HIM BE A MAN — Anthony Trollope

When the little dog snarls, the big dog does not connect the snarl with himself, simply fancying that the little dog must be uncomfortable. — Anthony Trollope

CHAPTER LXI THE SUCCESS OF LADY AUGUSTUS — Anthony Trollope

She went up to her room, disembarrassed herself of her finery, — Anthony Trollope

Leave a chimney-sweep alone when you see him, Chiltern. Should he run against you, then remember that it is one of the necessary penalties of clean linen that it is apt to be soiled. — Anthony Trollope

It is admitted that a novel can hardly be made interesting or successful without love? It is necessary because the passion is one which interests or has interested all. Everyone feels it, has felt it, or expects to feel it. — Anthony Trollope

A physician should take his fee without letting his left hand know what his right is doing; it should be taken without a thought, without a look, without a move of the facial muscles; the true physician should hardly be aware that the last friendly grasp of the hand has been made more precious by the touch of gold — Anthony Trollope

There is the review intended to sell a book, - which comes out immediately after the appearance of the book, or sometimes before it; the review which gives reputation, but does not affect the sale, and which comes a little later; the review which snuffs a book out quietly; the review which is to raise or lower the author a single peg, or two pegs, as the case may be; the review which is suddenly to make an author, and the review which is to crush him. — Anthony Trollope

CHAPTER LXX AT LAST — Anthony Trollope

As he cared no longer for the light that lies in a lady's eye, there was not much left to him in the world but cards and racing. — Anthony Trollope

Till we can become divine, we must be content to be human, lest in our hurry for change we sink to something lower. — Anthony Trollope

Let a man be of what side he may in politics, unless he be much more of a partisan than a patriot, he will think it well that there should be some equity of division in the bestowal of crumbs of comfort. — Anthony Trollope

Of course he had committed forgery;
of course he had committed robbery. That, indeed, was nothing, for he had been cheating and forging and stealing all his life. — Anthony Trollope

There is nothing in the world so difficult as that task of making up one's mind. Who is there that has not longed that the power and privilege of selection among alternatives should be taken away from him in some important crisis of his life, and that his conduct should be arranged for him, either this way or that, by some divine power if it were possible, - by some patriarchal power in the absence of divinity, - or by chance, even, if nothing better than chance could be found to do it? But no one dares to cast the die, and to go honestly by the hazard. There must be the actual necessity of obeying the die, before even the die can be of any use. — Anthony Trollope

CHAPTER XXXV CHOWTON FARM FOR SALE — Anthony Trollope

It has now become the doctrine of a large clan of politicians that political honesty is unnecessary, slow, subversive of a man's interests, and incompatible with quick onward movement. — Anthony Trollope

There was once a people in some land - and they may be still there for what I know - who thought it sacrilegious to stay the course of a raging fire. If a house were being burned, burn it must, even though there were facilities for saving it. For who would dare to interfere with the course of the god? Our idea of sorrow is much the same. We think it wicked, or at any rate heartless, to put it out. If a man's wife be dead, he should go about lugubrious, with long face, for at least two years, or perhaps with full length for eighteen months, decreasing gradually during the other six. If he be a man who can quench his sorrow - put out his fire as it were - in less time than that, let him at any rate not show his power! — Anthony Trollope

Of all reviews, the crushing review is the most popular, as being the most readable. — Anthony Trollope

CHAPTER LVIII THE TWO OLD LADIES — Anthony Trollope

My sweetheart is to me more than a coined hemisphere. — Anthony Trollope

It is the necessary nature of a political party in this country to avoid, as long as it can be avoided, the consideration of any question which involves a great change. — Anthony Trollope

Things to be done offer themselves, I suppose, because they are in themselves desirable; not because it is desirable to have something to do. — Anthony Trollope

The persons whom 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. — Anthony Trollope