Quotes From "Phineas Finn" By Anthony Trollope

I sometimes think you despise poetry, ' said Phineas. 'When...
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I sometimes think you despise poetry, ' said Phineas. 'When it is false I do. The difficulty is to know when it is false and when it is true. Anthony Trollope
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There is nothing in the world so difficult as that task of making up one's mind. Who is there that has not longed that the power and privilege of selection among alternatives should be taken away from him in some important crisis of his life, and that his conduct should be arranged for him, either this way or that, by some divine power if it were possible, - by some patriarchal power in the absence of divinity, - or by chance, even, if nothing better than chance could be found to do it? But no one dares to cast the die, and to go honestly by the hazard. There must be the actual necessity of obeying the die, before even the die can be of any use. Anthony Trollope
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You must take the world as you find it, with a struggle to be something more honest than those around you. Phineas, as he preached himself this sermon, declared to himself that they who attempted more than this flew too high in the clouds to be of service to men an women upon the earth Anthony Trollope