Gissing V Quotes & Sayings

Money is time. With money I buy for cheerful use the hours which otherwise would not in any sense be mine; nay, which would make me their miserable bondsman. — George Gissing

No, no; women, old or young, should never have to think about money. — George Gissing

Well, I wasn't going to abuse him. I was only going to ask: Is there any quality which distinguishes his work from that of twenty struggling writers one could name? Of course not. He's a clever, prolific man; so are they. But he began with money and friends; he came from Oxford into the thick of advertised people; his name was mentioned in print six times a week before he had written a dozen articles. This kind of thing will become the rule. Men won't succeed in literature that they may get into society, but will get into society that they may succeed in literature. — George Gissing

I don't advise. You mutn't give any weight to what I say, except in so far as your own judgment approves it. — George Gissing

I hate and fear 'science' because of my conviction that, for long to come if not for ever, it will be the remorseless enemy of mankind. I see it destroying all simplicity and gentleness of life, all the beauty of the world; I see it restoring barbarism under a mask of civilization; I see it darkening men's minds and hardening their hearts. — George Gissing

Flippancy, the most hopeless form of intellectual vice. — George Gissing

I have the happiness of a passing moment, and what more can mortal ask? — George Gissing

To be at other people's orders brings out all the bad in me. — George Gissing

Money is made at Christmas out of holly and mistletoe, but who save the vendors would greatly care if no green branch were procurable? One symbol, indeed, has obscured all others
the minted round of metal. And one may safely say that, of all the ages since a coin first became the symbol of power, ours is that in which it yields to the majority of its possessors the poorest return in heart's contentment. — George Gissing

Literature nowadays is a trade ... the successful man of letters is your skilful tradesman. He thinks first and foremost of the markets. — George Gissing

- Amy said that would be an imprudent expense; but as soon as he had got a good price for a book. Will not the publishers be kind? If they knew what happiness lurked in embryo within their foolish cheque-books! — George Gissing

It is familiarity with life that makes time speed quickly. When every day is a step in the unknown, as for children, the days are long with gathering of experience ... — George Gissing

For the man sound of body and serene of mind there is no such thing as bad weather; every day has its beauty, and storms which whip the blood do but make it pulse more vigorously. — George Gissing

The truths of life are not discovered by us. At moments unforeseen, some gracious influence descends upon the soul, touching it to an emotion which, we know not how, the mind transmutes into thought. — George Gissing

I am much better employed from every point of view, when I live solely for my own satisfaction, than when I begin to worry about the world. The world frightens me, and a frightened man is no good for anything. — George Gissing

London is a huge shop, with a hotel on the upper storeys. — George Gissing

The earning of money should be a means to an end; for more than thirty years
I began to support myself at sixteen
I had to regard it as the end itself. — George Gissing

For one thing, I know every book of mine by its scent. — George Gissing

A pipe for the hour of work; a cigarette for the hour of conception; a cigar for the hour of vacuity. — George Gissing

Life, I fancy, would very often be insupportable, but for the luxury of self-compassion. — George Gissing

He inspired no distrust; his good nature seemed all-pervading; he had the air of one who lavishes disinterested counsel, and ever so little exalts himself with his facile exuberance of speech. The Whirlpool — George Gissing

I see. I imagined that he was cast out of all decent society".
"If society were really decent, he would have been — George Gissing

exchanged looks, and laughed together. — George Gissing

Lonely and isolated people who feel their solitude more intensely within the busy life of the streets. They are what George Gissing called the anchorites of daily life, who return unhappy to their solitary rooms. — Peter Ackroyd

There should be no such thing as a class of females vulgarized by the necessity of finding daily amusement. — George Gissing

The misery of having no time to read a thousand glorious books. — George Gissing

A womanly occupation means, practically, an occupation that a man disdains. — George Gissing

Have the courage of your desire. — George Gissing

That is one of the bitter curses of poverty; it leaves no right to be
generous. — George Gissing

Honest Winter, snow-clad, and with the frosted beard, I can welcome not uncordially; But that long deferment of the calendar's promise, that weeping gloom of March and April, that bitter blast outraging the honour of May how often has it robbed me of heart and hope? — George Gissing