Richard Jefferies
Richard Jefferies
John Richard Jefferieswas an English nature writer, noted for his depiction of English rural life in essays, books of natural history, and novels. His childhood on a small Wiltshire farm had a great influence on him and provides the background to all his major works of fiction...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth6 November 1848
despot eagerly execute hands history however matter men ready rushed saddest serve sight
No tyrant, however evil, has yet lacked ready hands to execute his most abominable will. To read how eagerly men have rushed to serve the despot is the bitterest, the saddest matter of history; it is the saddest sight in our own day.
agreed artificial future time
To the soul, there is no past and no future; all is, and will be ever, in now. For artificial purposes time is mutually agreed on, but there is really no such thing.
foot human longing yearning
The heart has a yearning for the unknown, a longing to penetrate the deep shadow and the winding glade, where, as it seems, no human foot has been.
alone attending attract fact logical looks marked mind perhaps phenomena remarkable round stands strictly strongly
When even the most strictly logical mind looks round and investigates the phenomena attending its own existence, perhaps the first fact to attract attention by its strongly marked prominence is the remarkable loneliness of man. He stands alone.
broader deeper desire hope
I desire a greatness of soul, an irradiance of mind, a deeper insight, a broader hope.
advantage enormous equal evil good hands moment offers power printing puts science
Science, as illustrated by the printing press, the telegraph, the railway, is a double-edged sword. At the same moment that it puts an enormous power in the hands of the good man, it also offers an equal advantage to the evil disposed.
belief haunt mankind places since special
Ever since the world began, it has been the belief of mankind that desolate places are the special haunt of supernatural beings.
endure likes
Every woman likes her own way, but no woman can endure to see another woman master even over a man who does not concern her.
beauty believe human utmost
I believe in the human form; let me find something, some method, by which that form may achieve the utmost beauty.
almost betrays dress good labourer regulation sunday
Almost every labourer has his Sunday suit, very often really good clothes, sometimes glossy black, with the regulation 'chimney pot'. His unfortunate walk betrays him, dress how he will.
life
Now is eternity; now is the immortal life.
beck endure people rush
There are people in this servile world who will endure any trampling, and at the first beck rush delightedly to proffer their assistance.
checked extreme fear impression impulse left life mobility motions perpetual watching
The impression left after watching the motions of birds is that of extreme mobility - a life of perpetual impulse checked only by fear.
motions muscle
The labourer's muscle is that of a cart-horse, his motions lumbering and slow.