Thomas Hardy Quotes

To keep in the rear of opportunity in matters of indulgence is as valuable a habit as to keep abreast of opportunity in matters of enterprise.

Tell him everything; it is best. He will forgive you.

She felt powerless to withstand or deny him. He was altogether too much for her, and Bathsheba seemed as one who, facing a reviving wind, finds it to blow so strongly that it stops the breath.

What then? Joy-jaunts, impassioned flings, Love and its ecstasy, Will always have been great things, great things to me!

Troy's deformities lay deep down from a woman's vision, whilst his embellishments were upon the very surface; thus contrasting with homely Oak, whose defects were patent to the blindest, and whose virtues were as metals in a mine.

What's right week days is right Sundays,

Well, what I mean is that I shouldn’t mind being a bride at a wedding, if I could be one without having a husband. But since a woman can’t show off in that way by herself, I shan’t marry — at least not yet.

Once let a maiden admit the possibility of her being stricken with love for some one at a certain hour and place, and the thing is as good as done.

Good, better, best
Never let it rest,
Till ur good is better
And better is best.

The Sinister Spirit sneered: 'It had to be!'
And again the Spirit of Pity whispered, 'Why?

Jude continued his walk homeward alone, pondering so deeply that he forgot to feel timid. He suddenly grew older. It had been the yearning of his heart to find something to anchor on, to cling to — for some place which he could call admirable. Should he find that place in this city if he could get there? Would it be a spot in which, without fear of farmers, or hindrance, or ridicule, he could watch and wait, and set himself to some mighty undertaking like the men of old of whom he had heard? As the halo had been to his eyes when gazing at it a quarter of an hour earlier, so was the spot mentally to him as he pursued his dark way.

Kiss my foot, sir; my face is for mouths of consequence.

It was part of his nature to extenuate nothing and live on as one of his own worst accusers.

Because 'tis always mournful not to be wanted, even if at the same time 'tis convenient.

"The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing alive enough to have strength to die. (from "Neutral Tones")"