The Quotes canon
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Every quote has been curated by hand and carefully authenticated.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Authenticity2 quotes
Resolve to be thyself: and know, that he
Who finds himself, loses his misery. — Matthew Arnold · 1852And long we try in vain to speak and act
Our hidden self, and what we say and do
Is eloquent, is well—but 'tis not true. — Matthew Arnold · 1852Aging1 quote
The foot less prompt to meet the morning dew,
The heart less bounding at emotion new,
And hope, once crush'd, less quick to spring again. — Matthew Arnold · 1866America1 quote
That which in England we call the middle class is in America virtually the nation. — Matthew Arnold · 1882Athens and Jerusalem1 quote
Hebraism and Hellenism,—between these two points of influence moves our world. — Matthew Arnold · 1868Being true to oneself1 quote
Resolve to be thyself: and know, that he
Who finds himself, loses his misery. — Matthew Arnold · 1852Classical antiquity1 quote
Hebraism and Hellenism,—between these two points of influence moves our world. — Matthew Arnold · 1868Confession1 quote
Truth sits upon the lips of dying men. — Matthew Arnold · 1853Cultural heritage1 quote
Hebraism and Hellenism,—between these two points of influence moves our world. — Matthew Arnold · 1868Decline of religion1 quote
The sea of faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furl'd;
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night. — Matthew Arnold · 1867Discontent1 quote
And sigh that one thing only has been lent
To youth and age in common—discontent. — Matthew Arnold · 1852Disenchanted world1 quote
The sea of faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furl'd;
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night. — Matthew Arnold · 1867Economic inequality1 quote
Inequality...has the natural and necessary effect, under the present circumstances, of materializing our upper class, vulgarizing our middle class, and brutalising our lower class. — Matthew Arnold · 1879England and America1 quote
That which in England we call the middle class is in America virtually the nation. — Matthew Arnold · 1882Freedom of thought1 quote
It is a very great thing to be able to think as you like; but, after all, an important question remains: what you think. — Matthew Arnold · 1861God and man1 quote
So, loath to suffer mute,
We, peopling the void air,
Make Gods to whom to impute
The ills we ought to bear. — Matthew Arnold · 1852Happiness1 quote
Thou hast no right to bliss. — Matthew Arnold · 1852Intellectual history1 quote
The freethinking of one age is the common sense of the next. — Matthew Arnold · 1875Law and order1 quote
As for rioting, the old Roman way of dealing with that is always the right one; flog the rank and file, and fling the ringleaders from the Tarpeian rock. — Matthew Arnold · 1869Life1 quote
Is it so small a thing
To have enjoy'd the sun,
To have liv'd light in the spring,
To have lov'd, to have thought, to have done. — Matthew Arnold · 1852Literature1 quote
For the creation of a master-work of literature two powers must concur, the power of the man and the power of the moment, and the man is not enough without the moment. — Matthew Arnold · 1865Living life to the fullest1 quote
Is it so small a thing
To have enjoy'd the sun,
To have liv'd light in the spring,
To have lov'd, to have thought, to have done. — Matthew Arnold · 1852Living well1 quote
Is it so small a thing
To have enjoy'd the sun,
To have liv'd light in the spring,
To have lov'd, to have thought, to have done. — Matthew Arnold · 1852Loss of passion1 quote
The foot less prompt to meet the morning dew,
The heart less bounding at emotion new,
And hope, once crush'd, less quick to spring again. — Matthew Arnold · 1866Lost love1 quote
Who order'd, that their longing's fire
Should be, as soon as kindled, cool'd?
Who renders vain their deep desire?
A God, a God their severance rul'd!
And bade betwixt their shores to be
The unplumb'd, salt, estranging sea. — Matthew Arnold · 1852Melancholy1 quote
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves suck back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.
Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Aegean. — Matthew Arnold · 1867Middle class1 quote
That which in England we call the middle class is in America virtually the nation. — Matthew Arnold · 1882Modern life1 quote
The sea of faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furl'd;
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night. — Matthew Arnold · 1867Night and day1 quote
The Day in its hotness,
The strife with the palm;
The Night in its silence,
The Stars in their calm. — Matthew Arnold · 1852Personal growth1 quote
Not a having and a resting, but a growing and a becoming, is the character of perfection as culture conceives it. — Matthew Arnold · 1869Poetry1 quote
The grand style arises in poetry, when a noble nature, poetically gifted, treats with simplicity or with severity a serious subject. — Matthew Arnold · 1862