25 Thomas Hardy Quotes For The Lover In You
Published March 3, 2023
Let some love into your life today with our impressive Thomas Hardy quotes.
Hardy is world renowned for his expressive poems, novels, and ability to capture passion’s essence.
What is Thomas Hardy known for?
Thomas Hardy was an English novelist and poet from the Victorian era.
He is known for his brilliant novels, such as Tess of the d’Ubervilles and Jude the Obscure, which many recognize as his best.
His work as a novelist impacted society because he humanized the experience and difficulties of working-class people.
Check out these astonishing facts about Thomas Hardy below:
- Hardy was an architect by trade.
- Hardy was buried without a heart.
- Hardy preferred writing poetry over novels.
Why was Thomas Hardy so sad?
Thomas Hardy certainly had success as an author.
Yet, other aspects of his life were much darker.
His earlier work is much brighter, with warm themes of love and passion.
However, Thomas Hardy was married to a mentally deranged spouse.
As a result, his later work took a much darker theme.
He writes extensively about his wife Emma’s delusions and how they manifested in their marriage.
He remained in denial of his wife’s mental health crises for a long time.
Hardy never understood why his beautiful wife Emma failed to reciprocate his feelings of love.
She famously refused to consummate the sexual side of their relationship.
What is Thomas Hardy’s writing style?
Hardy wrote many things, but he was primarily a poet.
His poetic style was based on subjectivity.
He was a master of capturing mood and imagination.
He once wrote, “The secret of living style lies in not having too much style, in being a little careless, or seeing to be, here and there.”
Hardy’s style varies depending on the subject or theme of his writing.
For this reason, readers associate his writing passion with a style that suits the situation.
At times he is colorful and grand, and other times he is melancholy and expressive.
Despite his mood, Hardy remains one of the most expressive authors to pick up a pen.
Check out our Thomas Hardy quotes below for more awesome content and context.
You will also enjoy our article on Walt Whitman quotes.
Short Thomas Hardy quotes about beauty and love
Thomas Hardy was a master of expression, and these quotes remind us why he only needed a few words to touch the reader’s heart.
1. “See what deceits love sows in honest minds!“ — Thomas Hardy, Two on a Tower
2. “Love is a possible strength in an actual weakness.” — Thomas Hardy
3. “To find beauty in ugliness is the province of the poet.” — Thomas Hardy
4. “Beauty lay not in the thing, but in what the thing symbolized.” — Thomas Hardy
5. “Did it never strike your mind that what every woman says, some women may feel?” — Thomas Hardy
The top Thomas Hardy quotes about women and feminine energy
Women often inspired Hardy. He had many muses in life, and his ability to capture the beauty of feminine energy is unmatched.
6. “Ladies know what to guard against because they read novels that tell them of these tricks.” — Thomas Hardy
7. “If an offense come out of the truth, better is it that the offense come than that the truth be concealed.” — Thomas Hardy
8. “It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.” — Thomas Hardy
9. “So each had a private little sun for her soul to bask in; some dream, some affection, some hobby, or at least some remote and distant hope.” — Thomas Hardy
10. “They spoke very little of their mutual feeling; pretty phrases and warm expressions being probably unnecessary between such tried friends.” — Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy quotes on imagination and the power of love
Much of Hardy’s material was about the power of love and how it moves the human soul. These quotes celebrate his appreciation for love.
11. “It is rarely that the pleasures of the imagination will compensate for the pain of sleeplessness.” — Thomas Hardy
12. “And at home by the fire, whenever you look up, there I shall be — and whenever I look up, there will be you.” — Thomas Hardy
13. “I shall do one thing in this life, one thing certain; that is, love you, and long for you, and keep wanting you till I die.” — Thomas Hardy
14. “Sometimes I shrink from your knowing what I have felt for you, and sometimes I am distressed that all of it you will never know.” — Thomas Hardy
15. “The beauty or ugliness of a character lay not only in its achievements, but in its aims and impulses; its true history lay, not among things done, but among things willed.” — Thomas Hardy
Motivational Thomas Hardy quotes on love and happiness
Hardy was a master at writing about love and happiness, and these quotes honor his ability to get us all up in our feelings.
16. “War’s annals will cloud into night/ Ere their story die.” — Thomas Hardy, In the Time of The Breaking Nations
17. “Happiness was but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain.” — Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge
18. “A lover without indiscretion is no lover at all. Circumspection and devotion are a contradiction in terms.” — Thomas Hardy, The Hand of Ethelberta
19. “Let me enjoy the earth no less/ Because the all-enacting Might/ That fashioned forth its loveliness/ Had other aims than my delight.” — Thomas Hardy, Let Me Enjoy
20. “When false things are brought low,/ And swift things have grown slow,/ Feigning like froth shall go,/ Faith be for aye.” — Thomas Hardy, Between Us Now
The best Thomas Hardy quotes on life and death
Thomas Hardy quotes on appreciation and desire. Hardy loved to write about the desires of the soul and flesh. These quotes capture some of his best moments.
21. “Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened.” — Thomas Hardy, The Personal Notebooks of Thomas Hardy
22. “We two kept house, the Past and I,/ The Past and I;/ I tended while it hovered nigh,/ Leaving me never alone.” — Thomas Hardy, The Ghost of the Past
23. “The value of old age depends upon the person who reaches it. To some men of early performance, it is useless. To others, who are late to develop, it just enables them to finish the job.” — Thomas Hardy
24. “If all hearts were open and all desires known, as they would be if people showed their souls, how many gapings, sighings, clenched fists, knotted brows, broad grins, and red eyes should we see in the marketplace!” — Thomas Hardy
25. “She was at that modulating point between indifference and love, at the stage called having a fancy for. It occurs once in the history of the most gigantic passions, and it is a period when they are in the hands of the weakest will.” — Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native
Thomas Hardy knew the heart was the key to happiness
In a somewhat macabre twist of fate, Thomas Hardy was buried without a heart.
We are not being figurative here or suggesting he died with a broken heart.
Hardy was literally buried without a heart.
Hardy’s funeral was grand and attended by many people.
His work influenced many, so this is no surprise.
His body was interned in the famed Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey, an immense honor.
The problem occurred because Hardy requested to be buried next to his parents, grandparents, and first wife, who were all buried in a place called Stinsford Church.
Hardy’s heart was removed and buried alongside his family as a compromise, while his body was put to rest at Westminister Abbey.
Today, people still travel to visit his remains and pay their respects to one of the world’s greatest writers.
Do you have a favorite Thomas Hardy quote?
Please, be sure to let us know in the comment section below.
