Richard Jefferies Quotes & Sayings (Page 4)

“The cottages erected by farmers or by landlords are now, one and all, fit and proper habitations for human beings; and I verifly believe it would be impossible throughout the length and breadth of Wiltshire to find a single bad cottage on any large estate, so well and so thoroughly have the landed proprietors done their work.”

“The old Greeks dwelt on the tendency of human affairs to drift downwards irresistibly to unhappiness. Guilt - that is, untoward and often involuntary actions - pulls generation after generation heavily as lead down, down, down.”

“A man, to read, must read alone. He may make extracts, he may work at books in company; but to read, to absorb, he must be solitary.”

“I desire a greatness of soul, an irradiance of mind, a deeper insight, a broader hope.”

“It is easier to speak to those who have had similar experiences than to those who are as yet ignorant.”

“It is injurious to the mind as well as to the body to be always in one place and always surrounded by the same circumstances.”

“The labourer's muscle is that of a cart-horse, his motions lumbering and slow.”

“Beauty - what is beauty, forsooth? Form and color; that is, surface only. Fortune - what is fortune? Nothing is ever a pleasure or a real profit to him who has to labour for it. Truth - you die in the pursuit, and the sea beats the beach as it did a thousand years ago. The stolid are alone happy.”

“Do you always do as you would like to do were it in your power? I find that circumstances force me often to act in a manner quite opposite to what I should prefer; I am, of course, judged by my acts, but do they really afford a true key to my character? I think not.”

“Some, I verily believe, delight to be slave-men; it is a joy to them, and they would not change their condition; not only miserable village wretches, but men in good position, well-to-do sycophants.”