Thomas Hardy Quotes

221 Sourced Quotes

There is a size ate at which dignity begins; further on there is a size at which grandeur begins; further on there is a size at which solemnity begins; further on, a size at which awfulness begins; further on, a size at which ghastliness begins. That size faintly approaches the size of the stellar universe.

Thomas Hardy
Whatever the stars were made for, they were not made to please our eyes.

Thomas Hardy
And ill it therefore suits The mood of one of my high temperature To pause inactive while await me means of desperate cure for these so desperate ills!

Thomas Hardy
The vastness of the field of astronomy reduces every terrestrial thing to atomic dimensions.

Thomas Hardy
Then, again, the scintillations vary. No star flaps his wings like Sirius when he lies low! He flashes out emeralds and rubies, amethystine flames and sapphirine colours, in a manner quite marvellous to behold, and this is only one star! So, too, do Arcturus, and Capella, and lesser luminaries...

Thomas Hardy
To dance with a man is to concentrate a twelvemonth's regulation fire upon him in the fragment of an hour. To pass to courtship without acquaintance, to pass to marriage without courtship, is a skipping of terms reserved for those alone who tread this royal road.

Thomas Hardy
That one true heart was left behind! What feeling do we ever find, to equal among human kind, a dog's fidelity!

Thomas Hardy
If you are cheerful, and wish to remain so, leave the study of astronomy alone. Of all the sciences, it alone deserves the character of the terrible.

Thomas Hardy
The first cause worked automatically like a somnambulist, and not reflectively like a sage.

Thomas Hardy
If... you are restless and anxious about the future, study astronomy at once. Your troubles will be reduced amazingly. But your study will reduce them in a singular way, by reducing the importance of everything.

Thomas Hardy
A novel is an impression, not an argument; and there the matter must rest.

Thomas Hardy