George Meredith

“ Longing for love and dependence
Love of men and women as a toy that I have played with
Madness that sane men enamoured can be struck by
Morales, madame, suit ze sun
Necessary for him to denounce somebody
Never, never love a married woman
No intoxication of hot blood to cheer those who sat at home
No word is more lightly spoken than shame
Not to be feared more than are the general race of bunglers
O heaven! of what avail is human effort? ”

“ A woman's at the core of every plot man plotteth
A marriage without love is dishonour
A plunge into the deep is of little moment
A woman is hurt if you do not confide to her your plans
A wise man will not squander his laughter if he can help it
A woman rises to her husband. ”

“ Brains will beat Grim Death if we have enough of them
Brief negatives are not re-assuring to a lover's uneasy mind
British hunger for news; second only to that for beef
Brittle is foredoomed
Brotherhood among the select who wear masks instead of faces
But great, powerful London—the new universe to her spirit
But the key to young men is the ambition, or, in the place of it..... ”

“ There were joy-bells for Robert and Rhoda, but none for Dahlia
There is no driver like stomach
There are women who go through life not knowing love
There is little to be learnt when a little is known
There is for the mind but one grasp of happiness
There is no step backward in life
There may be women who think as well as feel ”

“ Avoid the position that enforces publishing
Beautiful women in her position provoke an intemperateness
Beauty is rare; luckily is it rare
Between love grown old and indifference ageing to love
Beware the silent one of an assembly! ”

“ I could be in love with her cruelty, if only I had her near me
Men who believe that there is a virtue in imprecations
Not men of brains, but the men of aptitudes
Not the indignant and the frozen, but the genially indifferent
One is a fish to her hook ”

“ Explaining of things to a dull head
Externally soft and polished, internally hard and relentless
Exuberant anticipatory trustfulness
Exult in imagination of an escape up to the moment of capture
Eyes of a lover are not his own; but his hands and lips are
Face betokening the perpetual smack of lemon
Failures oft are but advising friends
Faith works miracles. ”

“ Among boys there are laws of honour and chivalrous codes
Amused after their tiresome work of slaughter
An old spoiler of women is worse than one spoiled by them!
An obedient creature enough where he must be
An edge to his smile that cuts much like a sneer
An angry woman will think the worst
An incomprehensible world indeed at the bottom and at the top
An instinct labouring to supply the deficiencies of stupidity
And her voice, against herself, was for England
And, ladies, if you will consent to be likened to a fruit
And so Farewell my young Ambition! ”

“ Hope which lies in giving men a dose of hysterics
How many degrees from love gratitude may be
I 'm a bachelor, and a person—you're married, and an object
I cannot live a life of deceit. A life of misery—not deceit
I take off my hat, Nan, when I see a cobbler's stall
I always wait for a thing to happen first
I never see anything, my dear
I did, replied Evan. ”

“ What a woman thinks of women, is the test of her nature
When we despair or discolour things, it is our senses in revolt
Where she appears, the first person falls to second rank
Who can really think, and not think hopefully? ”

“ Irishman there is a barrow trolling a load of grievances
Irishmen will never be quite sincere
Irony in him is only eulogy standing on its head
Lack of precise words admonished him of the virtue of silence
Loudness of the interrogation precluded thought of an answer
Love the children of Erin, when not fretted by them
Loves his poets, can almost understand what poetry means
Married at forty, and I had to take her shaped as she was
May lull themselves with their wakefulness
Men must fight: the law is only a quieter field for them
Mika! ”

“ The divine afflatus of enthusiasm buoyed her no longer
Too weak to resist, to submit to an outrage quietly
We are good friends till we quarrel again
We can bear to fall; we cannot afford to draw back
Who shrinks from an hour that is suspended in doubt
Whole body of fanatics combined to precipitate the devotion
Youth will not believe that stupidity and beauty can go together ”

“ Paint themselves pure white, to the obliteration of minor spots
Parliament, is the best of occupations for idle men
Partake of a morning draught
Passion is not invariably love
Passion, he says, is noble strength on fire
Passion does not inspire dark appetite—Dainty innocence does
Passion added to a bowl of reason makes a sophist's mess
Past, future, and present, the three weights upon humanity
Past fairness, vaguely like a snow landscape in the thaw
Patience is the pestilence
Patronizing woman
Paying compliments and spoiling a game! ”

“ On the threshold of Puberty, there is one Unselfish Hour
Once out of the rutted line, you are food for lion and jackal
Once my love? said he. Not now?—does it mean, not now?
Once called her beautiful; his praise had given her beauty
One has to feel strong in a delicate position
One night, and her character's gone
One wants a little animation in a husband
One in a temper at a time I'm sure 's enough
One might build up a respectable figure in negatives
One fool makes many, and so, no doubt, does one goose
One is a fish to her hook ”

“ Hope which lies in giving men a dose of hysterics
Hopeless task of defending a woman from a woman
Hopes of a coming disillusion that would restore him
Hosts of men are of the simple order of the comic
How many instruments cannot clever women play upon
How little a thing serves Fortune's turn
How Success derides Ambition!
How immensely nature seems to prefer men to women! ”

“ Orderliness, from which men are privately exempt
Our partner is our master
Our most diligent pupil learns not so much as an earnest teacher
Our love and labour are constantly on trial
Our bravest, our best, have an impulse to run
Our comedies are frequently youth's tragedies
Our weakness is the swiftest dog to hunt us
Our life is but a little holding, lent To do a mighty labour
Our lawyers have us inside out, like our physicians
Owner of such a woman, and to lose her! ”

“ Where love exists there is goodness
Who cannot talk!—but who can?
Without a single intimation that he loathed the task
Wives are only an item in the list, and not the most important
Women don't care uncommonly for the men who love them
Women must not be judging things out of their sphere
Won't do to be taking in reefs on a lee-shore
Wonderment that one of her sex should have ideas
Wooing a good man for his friendship
World cannot pardon a breach of continuity
You are not married, you are simply chained
You're talking to me, not to a gallery ”

“ Hope which lies in giving men a dose of hysterics
If I love you, need you care what anybody else thinks
Pride is the God of Pagans
Read one another perfectly in their mutual hypocrisies
Refuge in the Castle of Negation against the whole army of facts
Speech is poor where emotion is extreme
The power to give and take flattery to any amount
What a stock of axioms young people have handy
When Love is hurt, it is self-love that requires the opiate
Wrapped in the comfort of his cowardice
You accuse or you exonerate—Nobody can be half guilty ”

“ Strength in love is the sole sincerity
Strengthening the backbone for a bend of the knee in calamity
Stultification of one's feelings and ideas
Style is the mantle of greatness
Style resembling either early architecture or utter dilapidation
Subterranean recess for Nature against the Institutions of Man
Such a man was banned by the world, which was to be despised? ”

“ Borrower to be dancing on Fortune's tight-rope above the old abyss
But you must be beautiful to please some men
But the key to young men is the ambition, or, in the place of it.....
But great, powerful London—the new universe to her spirit
Can a man go farther than his nature?
Childish faith in the beneficence of the unseen Powers who feed us
Cold curiosity
Dahlia, the perplexity to her sister's heart, lay stretched.... ”

“ Past fairness, vaguely like a snow landscape in the thaw
Planting the past in the present like a perceptible ghost
Pleasure-giving laws that make the curves we recognize as beauty
Practical or not, the good people affectingly wish to be
Shun comparisons
So the frog telleth tadpoles
Socially and politically mean one thing in the end
Story that she believed indeed, but had not quite sensibly felt
The critic that sneers
The language of party is eloquent
The slavery of the love of a woman chained
There may be women who think as well as feel ”

“ Intimations of cowardice menacing a paralysis of the will
Like a woman, who would and would not, and wanted a master
One in a temper at a time I'm sure 's enough
Simple affection must bear the strain of friendship if it can
Stand not in my way, nor follow me too far
Tension of the old links keeping us together
The thought stood in her eyes
They have not to speak to exhibit their minds
Tight grasps of the hand, in which there was warmth and shyness
To the rest of the world he was a progressive comedy
Was I true? Not so very false, yet how far from truth! ”

“ Discover the writers in a day when all are writing!
Discreet play with her eyelids in our encounters
Disqualification of constantly offending prejudices
Dissent rings out finely, and approval is a feeble murmur
Distaste for all exercise once pleasurable
Distinguished by his not allowing himself to be provoked
Distrust us, and it is a declaration of war
Dithyrambic inebriety of narration
Divided lovers in presence
Do you judge of heroes as of lesser men? ”

“ Land and beasts! They sound like blessed things
Love dies like natural decay
Marriage is an awful thing, where there's no love
Mrs. Fleming, of Queen Anne's Farm, was the wife of a yeoman
My first girl—she's brought disgrace on this house
My plain story is of two Kentish damsels
One learns to have compassion for fools, by studying them
Pleasant companion, who did not play the woman obtrusively among men
Principle of examining your hypothesis before you proceed to decide by it
Rhoda will love you. ”

“ Enthusiasm struck and tightened the loose chord of scepticism
Enthusiast, when not lyrical, is perilously near to boring
Envy of the man of positive knowledge
Equally acceptable salted when it cannot be had fresh
Everlastingly in this life the better pays for the worse
Every church of the city lent its iron tongue to the peal
Every failure is a step advanced
Every woman that's married isn't in love with her husband
Everywhere the badge of subjection is a poor stomach
Exceeding variety and quantity of things money can buy
Excellent is pride ”