Thomas de Quincey Quotes

Quotes about:

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  Cows are amongst the gentlest of breathing creatures; none show more passionate tenderness to their young when deprived of them; and, in short, I am not ashamed to profess a deep love for these quiet creatures.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Deep Love, Animal, Breathing

  Thomas De Quincey (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Thomas De Quincey (Illustrated)”, p.168, Delphi Classics

  78 Copy quote

• If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Death, Drinking, Procrastination

  "On Murder, Considered as One of the Fine Arts" (1839)

  27 Copy quote

• Solitude, though it may be silent as light, is like light, the mightiest of agencies; for solitude is essential to man. All men come into this world alone and leave it alone.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Music, Single, Men

  Thomas De Quincey (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Thomas De Quincey (Illustrated)”, p.1549, Delphi Classics

  20 Copy quote

• For tea, though ridiculed by those who are naturally coarse in their nervous sensibilities, or are become so from wine-drinking, and are not susceptible of influence from so refined a stimulant, will always be the favourite beverage of the intellectual.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Intellectual, Tea, Beverages

  "The Works of Thomas De Quincey: Including All His Contributions to Periodical Literature".

  28 Copy quote

• No man will ever unfold the capacities of his own intellect who does not at least checker his life with solitude.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Men, Solitude, Doe

  Thomas De Quincey (1871). “The Works of Thomas De Quincey: Suspira de profundis. General index”, p.3

  9 Copy quote

• It is most absurdly said, in popular language, of any man, that he is disguised in liquor; for, on the contrary, most men are disguised by sobriety.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Drinking, Beer, Men

  Thomas De Quincey (1841). “Confessions of an English Opium-eater: Being an Extract from the Life of a Scholar”, p.89

  7 Copy quote

• All that is literature seeks to communicate power

  Thomas de Quincey

  Literature, Communicate

  'Letters to a Young Man whose Education has been Neglected' no. 3, in the 'London Magazine' January-July 1823. De Quincey adds that he is indebted for this distinction to 'many years' conversation with Mr Wordsworth'

  18 Copy quote

• It is one of the misfortunes in life that one must read thousands of books only to discover that one need not have read them.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Book, Needs, Misfortunes

  7 Copy quote

• Nobody will laugh long who deals much with opium: its pleasures even are of a grave and solemn complexion.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Long, Laughing, Pleasure

  Thomas De Quincey, Robert Morrison (2013). “Confessions of an English Opium-Eater and Other Writings”, p.39, Oxford University Press

  14 Copy quote

• I feel that there is no such thing as ultimate forgetting; traces once impressed upon the memory are indestructible.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Memories, Forget, Feels

  Thomas De Quincey (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Thomas De Quincey (Illustrated)”, p.265, Delphi Classics

  6 Copy quote

• Even imperfection itself may have its ideal or perfect state.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Perfect, May, States

  Thomas De Quincey, James Thomas Fields (1851). “De Quincey's Writings: Miscellaneous essays. 1851”, p.22

  8 Copy quote

• Either the human being must suffer and struggle as the price of a more searching vision, or his gaze must be shallow and without intellectual revelation.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Struggle, Intellectual, Suffering

  Thomas De Quincey (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Thomas De Quincey (Illustrated)”, p.1248, Delphi Classics

  4 Copy quote

• It is notorious that the memory strengthens as you lay burdens upon it, and becomes trustworthy as you trust it.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Memories, Trustworthy, Notorious

  Thomas De Quincey (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Thomas De Quincey (Illustrated)”, p.116, Delphi Classics

  4 Copy quote

• Books, we are told, propose to instruct or to amuse. Indeed! A true antithesis to knowledge, in this case, is not pleasure, but power. All that is literature seeks to communicate power; all that is not literature, to communicate knowledge.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Book, Literature, Pleasure

  'Letters to a Young Man whose Education has been Neglected' no. 3, in the 'London Magazine' January-July 1823. De Quincey adds that he is indebted for this distinction to 'many years' conversation with Mr Wordsworth'

  6 Copy quote

• The laughter of girls is, and ever was, among the delightful sounds of earth.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Girl, Laughter, Sound

  Thomas De Quincey (1853). “De Quincey's works”, p.85

  9 Copy quote

• Allow me to offer my congratulations on the truly admirable skill you have shown in keeping clear of the mark. Not to have hit once in so many trials, argues the most splendid talents for missing.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Congratulations, Skills, Missing

  Thomas De Quincey (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Thomas De Quincey (Illustrated)”, p.1655, Delphi Classics

  11 Copy quote

• As is the inventor of murder, and the father of art, Cain must have been a man of first-rate genius.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Art, Father, Philosophy

  Thomas De Quincey, James Thomas Fields (1851). “De Quincey's Writings: Miscellaneous essays. 1851”, p.24

  4 Copy quote

• But my way of writing is rather to think aloud, and follow my own humours, than much to consider who is listening to me; and, if I stop to consider what is proper to be said to this or that person, I shall soon come to doubt whether any part at all is proper.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Writing, Thinking, Doubt

  Thomas De Quincey (2009). “Confessions of an English Opium-Eater: Being an Extract from the Life of a Scholar”, p.107, The Floating Press

  13 Copy quote

• Surely everyone is aware of the divine pleasures which attend a wintry fireside; candles at four o'clock, warm hearthrugs, tea, a fair tea-maker, shutters closed, curtains flowing in ample draperies to the floor, whilst the wind and rain are raging audibly without.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Rain, Wind, Tea

  7 Copy quote

• There is first the literature of knowledge, and secondly, the literature of power. The function of the first is--to teach; the function of the second is--to move, the first is a rudder, the second an oar or a sail. The first speaks to the mere discursive understanding; the second speaks ultimately, it may happen, to the higher understanding or reason, but always through affections of pleasure and sympathy.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Moving, Understanding, Literature

  Thomas De Quincey (1873). “Leaders in literature”, p.5

  7 Copy quote

• All parts of knowledge have their origin in metaphysics, and finally, perhaps, revolve into it.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Knowledge, Metaphysics

  Thomas De Quincey, James Thomas Fields (1854). “De Quincey's Writings: Essays on philosophical writers and other men of letters. 1854-60. [v. 14 stereotyped”, p.103

  8 Copy quote

• All is finite in the present; and even that finite is infinite in it velocity of flight towards death. But in God there is nothing finite...Upon a night of earthquake he builds a thousand years of pleasant habitations for man. Upon the sorrow of an infant he raises oftentimes from human intellects glorious vintages that could not else have been.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Night, Men, Years

  4 Copy quote

• All men come into this world alone and leave it alone.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Men, Solitude, World

  9 Copy quote

• The whole body of the arts and sciences composes one vast machinery for the irritation and development of the human intellect.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Art, Irritation, Development

  Thomas De Quincey, James Thomas Fields (1854). “De Quincey's Writings: Theological essays and other papers. 1854”, p.94

  7 Copy quote

• In many walks of life, a conscience is a more expensive encumbrance than a wife or a carriage.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Wife, Carriages, Walks

  Thomas De Quincey (1867). “Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. And analects from John Paul Richter ... New edition”, p.23

  30 Copy quote

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