Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy

15 quotes

Thomas Hardy, an English novelist and poet, is widely remembered for insights that continue to resonate with readers everywhere. The range of their thinking — from War to Poetry — speaks to an intellectual restlessness that shows in every quote. 23 of Thomas Hardy's sharpest quotes live here, spanning themes of War, Poetry, Nature, Time, and Success. Start here and see if you agree: "Cruelty is the law pervading all nature and society and we can't get out of it if we would."

“I was court-martial in my absence, and sentenced to death in my absence, so I said they could shoot me in my absence.”

— Thomas Hardy

Death

All Quotes by Thomas Hardy

“If Galileo had said in verse that the world moved, the inquisition might have let him alone.”

— Thomas Hardy

Alone

“I was court-martial in my absence, and sentenced to death in my absence, so I said they could shoot me in my absence.”

— Thomas Hardy

Death

“Cruelty is the law pervading all nature and society and we can't get out of it if we would.”

— Thomas Hardy

Nature

“The main object of religion is not to get a man into heaven, but to get heaven into him.”

— Thomas Hardy

Religion

“Fear is the mother of foresight.”

— Thomas Hardy

Fear

“Poetry is emotion put into measure. The emotion must come by nature, but the measure can be acquired by art.”

— Thomas Hardy

Art

“It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.”

— Thomas Hardy

Men

“Like the British Constitution, she owes her success in practice to her inconsistencies in principle.”

— Thomas Hardy

Success

“Yes quaint and curious war is! You shoot a fellow down you'd treat if met where any bar is, or help to half-a-crown.”

— Thomas Hardy

War

“Time changes everything except something within us which is always surprised by change.”

— Thomas Hardy

Change

“I am the family face flesh perishes, I live on.”

— Thomas Hardy

Family

“My argument is that War makes rattling good history but Peace is poor reading.”

— Thomas Hardy

History

“The value of old age depends upon the person who reaches it. To some men of early performance it is useless. To others, who are late to develop, it just enables them to finish the job.”

— Thomas Hardy

Age

“The sudden disappointment of a hope leaves a scar which the ultimate fulfillment of that hope never entirely removes.”

— Thomas Hardy

Hope

“Patience, that blending of moral courage with physical timidity.”

— Thomas Hardy

Courage