“When you consider things like the stars, our affairs don’t seem to matter very much, do they?” – Night and Day by Virginia Woolf
Photo by Thomas Richter on Unsplash
“When you consider things like the stars, our affairs don’t seem to matter very much, do they?” – Night and Day by Virginia Woolf
Photo by Thomas Richter on Unsplash
“Sleep is good,” he said. “And books are better.” ~ A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
One bright day in the last week of February, I was walking in the park, enjoying the threefold luxury of solitude, a book, and pleasant weather. ~ Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
“Books are the mirrors of the soul.” ~ Between the Acts by Virginia Woolf
He who studies old books will always find in them something new, and he who reads new books will always find in them something old. ~ The Coming Race by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies,” said Jojen. “The man who never reads lives only one.” ~ A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
Every page of every book was a peep-hole into the realm of knowledge. His hunger fed upon what he read, and increased. ~ Martin Eden by Jack London
“The proper study of mankind is books.” ~ Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley
“It’s all very well to read about sorrows and imagine yourself living through them heroically, but it’s not so nice when you really come to have them, is it?” ~ Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge. ~ A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
“Be a good boy, remember; and be kind to animals and birds, and read all you can.” ~ Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
But dreams come through stone walls, light up dark rooms, or darken light ones, and their persons make their exits and their entrances as they please, and laugh at locksmiths. ~ Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
He smiled the most exquisite smile, veiled by memory, tinged by dreams. ~ To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
“I talk of dreams,
Which are the children of an idle brain,
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy.” ~ Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
She was suddenly tired of outworn dreams. ~ Rainbow Valley by Lucy Maud Montgomery
There is no more thrilling sensation I know of than sailing. It comes as near to flying as man has got to yet – except in dreams. ~ Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
It was always the becoming he dreamed of, never the being. ~ This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
“Well, many’s the long night I’ve dreamed of cheese–toasted, mostly.” ~ Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
At a single strain of music, the scent of a flower, or even one glimpse of a path of moonlight lying fair upon a Summer sea, the barriers crumble and fall. Through the long corridors the ghosts of the past walk unforbidden, hindered only by broken promises, dead hopes, and dream-dust. ~ Old Rose and Silver by Myrtle Reed
“We live, as we dream–alone.” ~ Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
“And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows!” ~ The Prince and The Pauper by Mark Twain
No man knows till he has suffered from the night how sweet and dear to his heart and eye the morning can be. ~ Dracula by Bram Stoker
“The owl, night’s herald.” ~ Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare
They never pulled the curtains till it was too dark to see, nor shut the windows till it was too cold. Why shut out the day before it was over? The flowers were still bright; the birds chirped. You could see more in the evening often when nothing interrupted, when there was no fish to order, no telephone to answer. ~ Between the Acts by Virginia Woolf
The longest way must have its close,—the gloomiest night will wear on to a morning. ~ Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
In the dead vast and middle of the night. ~ Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare
At the enchanted metropolitan twilight I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes, and felt it in others–poor young clerks who loitered in front of windows waiting until it was time for a solitary restaurant dinner–young clerks in the dusk, wasting the most poignant moments of night and life. ~ The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The cool peace and dewy sweetness of the night filled me with a mood of hope: not hope on any definite point, but a general sense of encouragement and heart-ease. ~ Villette by Charlotte Bronte
Night, the mother of fear and mystery, was coming upon me. ~ The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore– ~ The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
With a fierce action of her hand, as if she sprinkled hatred on the ground, and with it devoted those who were standing there to destruction, she looked up once at the black sky, and strode out into the wild night. ~ Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens
Leonard looked at her wondering, and had the sense of great things sweeping out of the shrouded night. But he could not receive them, because his heart was still full of little things. ~ Howards End by E. M. Forster
And when, on the still cold nights, he pointed his nose at a star and howled long and wolflike, it was his ancestors, dead and dust, pointing nose at star and howling down through the centuries and through him. ~ The Call of the Wild by Jack London
“Lead on!” said Scrooge. “Lead on! The night is waning fast, and it is precious time to me, I know. Lead on, Spirit!” ~ A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
“Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!” ~ Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare
“The sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides.” ~ 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
No mercy, no power but its own controls it. Panting and snorting like a mad battle steed that has lost its rider, the masterless ocean overruns the globe. ~ Moby Dick by Herman Melville
And then, the unspeakable purity – and freshness of the air! There was just enough heat to enhance the value of the breeze, and just enough wind to keep the whole sea in motion, to make the waves come bounding to the shore, foaming and sparkling, as if wild with glee. ~ Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
The sigh of all the seas breaking in measure round the isles soothed them; the night wrapped them; nothing broke their sleep, until, the birds beginning and the dawn weaving their thin voices in to its whiteness. ~ To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
“Look at that sea, girls–all silver and shadow and vision of things not seen. We couldn’t enjoy its loveliness any more if we had millions of dollars and ropes of diamonds.” ~ Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Reason is the first victim of strong emotion. ~ Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
They came to her, naturally, since she was a woman, all day long with this and that; one wanting this, another that; the children were growing up; she often felt she was nothing but a sponge sopped full of human emotions. ~ To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
But sleep, in the long run, proves greater than all emotions. ~ The Wendigo by Algernon Blackwood
A crowd, proportionately to its size, magnifies all that in its units pertains to the emotions, and diminishes all that in them pertains to thought. ~ Zuleika Dobson by Sir Max Beerbohm
The human brain is capable of only one strong emotion at a time, and if it be filled with curiosity or scientific enthusiasm, there is no room for fear. ~ The Brown Hand by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
For it is the mind which creates the world about us, and, even though we stand side by side in the same meadow, my eyes will never see what is beheld by yours, my heart will never stir to the emotions with which yours is touched. ~ The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft by George Gissing
After violent emotion most people and all boys demand food. ~ Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;
And therefore is wing’d Cupid painted blind. ~ A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
“I do love you surely in a better way than he does.” He thought. “Yes—really in a better way. I want you to have your own thoughts even when I hold you in my arms.” ~ A Room With A View by E. M. Forster
“God’s law is only Love.” ~ A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde
I ask you to pass through life at my side—to be my second self, and best earthly companion. ~ Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love. ~ Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare
Love is a flower that grows in any soil, works its sweet miracles undaunted by autumn frost or winter snow, blooming fair and fragrant all the year, and blessing those who give and those who receive. ~ Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
Every atom of your flesh is as dear to me as my own: in pain and sickness it would still be dear. ~ Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends. ~ A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
“I don’t want sunbursts and marble halls. I just want you.” ~ Anne of the Island by Lucy Maud Montgomery
That which is loved may pass, but love hath no end. ~ Parables Of A Province by Gilbert Parker
The winds were warm about us, the whole earth seemed the wealthier for our love. ~ The Amber Gods by Harriet Prescott Spofford
“I hope that real love and truth are stronger in the end than any evil or misfortune in the world.” ~ David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be. ~ Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Young men’s love, then, lies
Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes. ~ Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
She had found her heart at last. Never having known its worth till now, she had never known the worth of his. ~ Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens
It is best to love wisely, no doubt: but to love foolishly is better than not to be able to love at all. ~ The History of Pendennis by William Makepeace Thackeray
“Love has no age, no limit; and no death.” ~ The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy
Maggie said that love was the flower of life, and blossomed unexpectedly and without law, and must be plucked where it was found, and enjoyed for the brief hour of its duration. ~ The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence
“Love comforteth like sunshine after rain.” ~ Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare
“Love knows not distance; it hath no continent; its eyes are for the stars.” ~ Parables Of A Province by Gilbert Parker
How is it that the poets have said so many fine things about our first love, so few about our later love? Are their first poems their best? Or are not those the best which come from their fuller thought, their larger experience, their deeper-rooted affections? ~ Adam Bede by George Eliot
Love, it is said, is blind, but love is not blind. It is an extra eye, which shows us what is most worthy of regard. To see the best is to see most clearly, and it is the lover’s privilege. ~ The Little Minister by James M. Barrie
“Love of man for woman–love of woman for man. That’s the nature, the meaning, the best of life itself.” ~ Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey
“I loved you madly; in the distasteful work of the day, in the wakeful misery of the night, girded by sordid realities, or wandering through Paradises and Hells of visions into which I rushed, carrying your image in my arms, I loved you madly.” ~ The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens
“We are all born for love,” said Morley. “It is the principle of existence, and its only end.” ~ Sybil by Benjamin Disraeli
He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips’ touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete. ~ The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
“My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.” ~ Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
“The best of life is built on what we say when we’re in love. It isn’t nonsense, Katharine,” she urged, “it’s the truth, it’s the only truth.” ~ Night and Day by Virginia Woolf
Love is no hot-house flower, but a wild plant, born of a wet night, born of an hour of sunshine; sprung from wild seed, blown along the road by a wild wind. A wild plant that, when it blooms by chance within the hedge of our gardens, we call a flower; and when it blooms outside we call a weed; but, flower or weed, whose scent and colour are always, wild! ~ The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy
She lifted her face to him, and he bent forward and kissed her on the mouth, gently, with the one kiss that is an eternal pledge. And as he kissed her his heart strained again in his breast. He never intended to love her. But now it was over. He had crossed over the gulf to her, and all that he had left behind had shrivelled and become void. ~ The Horse Dealer’s Daughter by D. H. Lawrence
“If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.” ~ Emma by Jane Austen
“Men always want to be a woman’s first love. That is their clumsy vanity. We women have a more subtle instinct about things. What we like is to be a man’s last romance.” ~ A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde
She loved him with too clear a vision to fear his cloudiness. ~ Howards End by E. M. Forster
“I see you everywhere, in the stars, in the river; to me you’re everything that exists; the reality of everything.” ~ Night and Day by Virginia Woolf
“Is love a tender thing? It is too rough,
Too rude, too boist’rous; and it pricks like thorn.” ~ Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
“He’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same, and Linton’s is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire.” ~ Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
The course of true love never did run smooth. ~ A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
“Those who speak of love most promiscuously are the ones who’ve never felt it. They make some sort of feeble stew out of sympathy, compassion, contempt and general indifference, and they call it love. Once you’ve felt what it means to love as you and I know it–the total passion for the total height–you’re incapable of anything less.” ~ The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
“You are my heart, my life, my one and only thought.” ~ The White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
“Who, being loved, is poor?” ~ A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde
Ready for more? See our entire love quote collection.
Think you of the fact that a deaf person cannot hear. Then, what deafness may we not all possess? What senses do we lack that we cannot see and cannot hear another world all around us? ~ Dune by Frank Herbert
Perhaps no man could appreciate his own world until he had seen it from space. ~ A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C. Clarke
The very stone one kicks with one’s boot will outlast Shakespeare. ~ To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
One never can tell from the sidewalk just what the view is to some one on the inside, looking out. ~ Knocking the Neighbors by George Ade
Come what may, I am bound to think that all things are ordered for the best; though when the good is a furlong off, and we with our beetle eyes can only see three inches, it takes some confidence in general principles to pull us through. ~ The Stark Munro Letters by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Will not a tiny speck very close to our vision blot out the glory of the world, and leave only a margin by which we see the blot? ~ Middlemarch by George Eliot
The old year is slipping away fast! Where did the time go? Here are quotes about time from literature that may, or may not, answer that question.
Men live their lives trapped in an eternal present, between the mists of memory and the sea of shadow that is all we know of the days to come. ~ A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. ~ The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft
“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” ~ The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien
The very stone one kicks with one’s boot will outlast Shakespeare. ~ To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
“I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.” ~ Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
You are here for but an instant, and you mustn’t take yourself too seriously. ~ The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs
That which is loved may pass, but love hath no end. ~ Parables Of A Province by Gilbert Parker
Looking at these stars suddenly dwarfed my own troubles and all the gravities of terrestrial life. I thought of their unfathomable distance, and the slow inevitable drift of their movements out of the unknown past into the unknown future. ~ The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
The right time is ANY time that one is still so lucky as to have. ~ The Ambassadors by Henry James
“The past and the present are within the field of my inquiry, but what a man may do in the future is a hard question to answer.” ~ The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
More Quotes From Literature About Time
We have only one story. All novels, all poetry, are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil. ~ East of Eden by John Steinbeck
She carried her pocket Shakespeare about with her, and met life fortified by the words of the poets. ~ Night and Day by Virginia Woolf
How is it that the poets have said so many fine things about our first love, so few about our later love? Are their first poems their best? Or are not those the best which come from their fuller thought, their larger experience, their deeper-rooted affections? ~ Adam Bede by George Eliot
“She dotes on poetry, sir. She adores it; I may say that her whole soul and mind are wound up, and entwined with it. She has produced some delightful pieces, herself, sir. You may have met with her `Ode to an Expiring Frog,’ sir.” ~ The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens