Whilst I would have given worlds to touch your hand, you…

“He grew away from old associations, and saw something new in life and humanity. Secondarily, he made close acquaintance with phenomena which he had…

— Thomas Hardy

“She was in a sound sleep, Jude, dying of anxiety lest she should have caught a chill which might permanently injure her, was glad…

— Thomas Hardy

Meanwhile, the trees were just as green as before; the birds sang and the sun shone as clearly now as ever. The familiar surroundings…

— Thomas Hardy

You ride well, but you don't kiss nicely at all.

— Thomas Hardy

You could sometimes see her twelfth year in her cheeks, or her ninth sparkling from her eyes; and even her fifth would flit over…

— Thomas Hardy

“It was mid-May time, bringing with it weather not, perhaps, quite so blooming as that assumed to be natural to the month by the…

— Thomas Hardy

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

— Thomas Hardy

Some folk want their luck buttered.

— Thomas Hardy

Measurement of life should be proportioned rather to the intensity of the experience than to its actual length.

— Thomas Hardy

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

— Thomas Hardy

“It being the first time in his life that he had touched female fingers under water, Dick duly registered the sensation as rather a…

— Thomas Hardy

“As soon as she could discern the outline of the house, it had all its old effect upon Tess's imagination. Part of her body…

— Thomas Hardy

The perfect woman, you see [is] a working-woman; not an idler; not a fine lady; but one who [uses] her hands and her head…

— Thomas Hardy

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

— Thomas Hardy

“Justice” was done, and the President of the Immortals (in Aeschylean phrase) had ended his sport with Tess.”

— Thomas Hardy