George Gissing Quotes

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Heart Tea Writing

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

Courage, Men, Blood

George Gissing (1909). “The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft”

41 Copy quote
It is the mind which creates the world around 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.

George Gissing

Love, Heart, Eye

George Gissing (2016). “The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft”, p.98, The Floating Press

14 Copy quote
For one thing, I know every book of mine by its scent.

George Gissing

Book, Scent, Lovers

George Gissing (2016). “The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft”, p.39, The Floating Press

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One of the shining moments of my day is that when, having returned a little weary from an afternoon walk, I exchange boots for slippers, out-of-doors coat for easy, familiar, shabby jacket, and, in my deep, soft-elbowed chair, await the tea-tray.... [H]ow delicious is the soft yet penetrating odour which floats into my study, with the appearance of the teapot!... What a glow does it bring after a walk in chilly rain!

George Gissing

Rain, Doors, Shining

George Gissing (2016). “The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft”, p.205, The Floating Press

11 Copy quote
In nothing more is the English genius for domesticity more notably declared than in the institution of this festival-almost one may call it-of afternoon tea...the mere chink of cups and saucers tunes the mind to happy repose.

George Gissing

Food, Grandmother, Cooking

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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 loom of March and April, that bitter blast outraging the honor of May - how often has it robbed me of heart and hope.

George Gissing

Heart, Winter, Long

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

George Gissing

Poverty, Bitterness, Curse

George Gissing (2016). “The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft”, p.200, The Floating Press

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Flippancy, the most hopeless form of intellectual vice.

George Gissing

Intellectual, Vices, Hopeless

George Gissing (2015). “New Grub Street”, p.177, Booklassic

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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

Christmas, Heart, Yield

George Gissing (2016). “The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft”, p.224, The Floating Press

12 Copy quote
Parks are but pavement disguised with a growth of grass.

George Gissing

Cities, Growth, Pavement

George Gissing (2016). “The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft”, p.29, The Floating Press

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I know every book of mine by its smell, and I have but to put my nose
between the pages to be reminded of all sorts of things.

George Gissing

Book, Reading, Smell

George Gissing (2015). “The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft”, p.22, George Gissing

4 Copy quote
Human creatures have a mervellous power of adapting themselves to necessity.

George Gissing

Humans, Creatures, Adapting

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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

Money, Cheerful, Use

George Gissing (2016). “The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft”, p.245, The Floating Press

3 Copy quote
To like Keats is a test of fitness for understanding poetry, just as to like Shakespeare is a test of general mental capacity.

George Gissing

Understanding, Tests, Capacity

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And why should any man who writes, even if he writes things immortal, nurse anger at the world's neglect? Who asked him to publish? Who promised him a hearing? Who has broken faith with him? Your poem, your novel, who bargained with you for it?

George Gissing

Writing, Men, Nurse

George Gissing (2008). “The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft”, p.2, Cosimo, Inc.

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It is our duty never to speak ill of others, you know; least of all when we know that to do so will be the cause of much pain and trouble.

George Gissing

Pain, Causes, Speak

George Gissing (2016). “The Unclassed”, p.14, The Floating Press

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

George Gissing

Successful, Men, Thinking

George Gissing (2015). “New Grub Street”, p.7, Booklassic

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Life is a huge farce, and the advantage of possessing a sense of humour is that it enables one to defy fate with mocking laughter.

George Gissing

Laughter, Fate, Farce

George Gissing (2015). “New Grub Street”, p.153, Booklassic

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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

Hate, Heart, Men

George Gissing (2008). “The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft”, p.253, Cosimo, Inc.

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People have got that ancient prejudice so firmly rooted in their heads that one mustn't write save at I the dictation of the Holy Spirit. I tell you, writing is a business.

George Gissing

Writing, People, Prejudice

George Gissing (2015). “New Grub Street”, p.11, Booklassic

3 Copy quote
This writer, who is horribly perspicacious and vigorous, demonstrates the certainty of a great European war, and regards it with the peculiar satisfaction excited by such things in a certain order of mind. His phrases about "dire calamity" and so on mean nothing; the whole tenor of his writing proves that he represents, and consciously, one of the forces which go to bring war about; his part in the business is a fluent irresponsibility, which casts scorn on all who reluct at the "inevitable." Persistent prophecy is a familiar way of assuring the event.

George Gissing

War, Writing, Mean

"The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft". Book by George Gissing. Summer, § VII, p. 89, 1903.

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I hate with a bitter hatred the names of lentils haricots - those pretentious cheats of the appetite, those tabulated humbugs, those certified aridites calling themselves human food!

George Gissing

Hate, Food, Names

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It is because nations tend towards stupidity and baseness that mankind moves so slowly; it is because individuals have a capacity for better things that it moves at all.

George Gissing

Stupid, Moving, Individual

George Gissing (2016). “The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft”, p.50, The Floating Press

3 Copy quote
The mind which renounces, once and for ever, a futile hope, has its compensation in ever-growing calm.

George Gissing

Mind, Growing, Calm

George Gissing (2016). “The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft”, p.63, The Floating Press

5 Copy quote
I have the happiness of a passing moment, and what more can mortal ask?

George Gissing

Happiness, Passing Moments, Passings

George Gissing (2016). “The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft”, p.55, The Floating Press

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Born: November 22, 1857
Died: December 28, 1903
Occupation: Novelist
Cite this Page: Citation

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