George Gissing
George Gissing
George Robert Gissingwas an English novelist who published 23 novels between 1880 and 1903. Gissing also worked as a teacher and tutor throughout his life. He published his first novel, Workers in the Dawn, in 1880. His best known novels, which are published in modern editions, include The Nether World, New Grub Street, and The Odd Women...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth22 November 1857
aside cosmic force foremost letters literature man markets men mere nowadays putting succeed successful thinks
Literature nowadays is a trade. Putting aside men of genius, who may succeed by mere cosmic force, your successful man of letters is your skilful tradesman. He thinks first and foremost of the markets . . .
british-novelist excellent gained meeting resembles time
The first time I read an excellent work, it is to me just as if I gained a new friend; and when I read over a book I have perused before, it resembles the meeting of an old one.
bad blood body british-novelist man mind pulse serene sky sound storms whip
For the man sound in body and serene of mind there is no such thing as bad weather, every sky has its beauty, and storms which whip the blood do but make it pulse more vigorously.
creatures humans adapting
Human creatures have a mervellous power of adapting themselves to necessity.
truth honesty soul
The truths of life are not discovered by us. At moments unforeseen, some gracious influence descends upon the soul, touching it to an emotion which, we know not how, the mind transmutes into thought.
being-yourself men views
I am much better employed from every point of view, when I live solely for my own satisfaction, than when I begin to worry about the world. The world frightens me, and a frightened man is no good for anything.
london hotel shops
London is a huge shop, with a hotel on the upper storeys.
pain causes speak
It is our duty never to speak ill of others, you know; least of all when we know that to do so will be the cause of much pain and trouble.
order people
To be at other people's orders brings out all the bad in me.
writing people prejudice
People have got that ancient prejudice so firmly rooted in their heads that one mustn't write save at I the dictation of the Holy Spirit. I tell you, writing is a business.
cigar hours vacuity
A pipe for the hour of work; a cigarette for the hour of conception; a cigar for the hour of vacuity.
understanding tests capacity
To like Keats is a test of fitness for understanding poetry, just as to like Shakespeare is a test of general mental capacity.
art morning mean
How I envy those clerks who go by to their offices in the morning! There's the day's work cut out for them; no question of mood and feeling; they have just to work at something, and when the evening comes, they have earned their wages, and they are free to rest and enjoy themselves. What an insane thing it is to make literature one's only means of support! When the most trivial accident may at any time prove fatal to one's power of work for weeks or months. No, that is the unpardonable sin! To make a trade of an art! I am rightly served for attempting such a brutal folly.
children long steps
It is familiarity with life that makes time speed quickly. When every day is a step in the unknown, as for children, the days are long with gathering of experience . . .