Book

Tess of the D'urbervilles

A heartbreaking portrayal of a woman faced by an impossible choice in the pursuit of happiness When Tess Durbeyfield is driven by family poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D'Urbervilles and seek a portion of their family fortune, mee

(7 total)

Characters

Thomas Hardy (7)

“Yet it was in that vale that her sorrow had taken shape, and she did not love it as formerly. Beauty to her, as to all who have felt, lay not in the thing, but in what the thing symbolized.”

— Thomas Hardy, amazon.com

Tagged: Inner Landscape, Internal Landscape, The External vs. Internal, Mindscape, Trauma

“I want to question my belief, so that what is left after I have questioned it, will be even stronger.”

— Thomas Hardy, amazon.com

Tagged: Belief, Questions, strength

“It was the touch of the imperfect upon the would-be perfect that gave the sweetness, because it was that which gave the humanity.”

— Thomas Hardy, amazon.com

Tagged: imperfect, humanity, Sweetness

“She was not an existence, an experience, a passion, a structure of sensations, to anybody but herself. To all humankind besides Tess was only a passing thought. Even to friends she was no more than a frequently passing thought.”

— Thomas Hardy, amazon.com

Tagged: Existence, Experience, Passion, Thought

“Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

— Thomas Hardy, amazon.com

Tagged: heart, Troubles, Courage

“Beauty lay not in the thing, but in what the thing symbolized.”

— Thomas Hardy, amazon.com

Tagged: beauty, symbol

“A strong woman who recklessly throws away her strength, she is worse than a weak woman who has never had any strength to throw away.”

— Thomas Hardy, amazon.com

Tagged: Woman, strength, Courage, Weak