Christmas at Thompson Hall and Other Christmas Stories Quotes

“And from that time to this the din of war is still going on, and they are in the thick of it. The carnage of their battles, the hatreds of their civil contests, are terrible to us when we think of them; but may it not be that the beneficient power of Heaven, which they acknowledge as we do, is thus cleansing their land from that stain of slavery, to abolish which no human power seemed to be sufficient?”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“If further glory or even further gain were to come out of this terrible war, — as great gains to men and nations do come from contests which are very terrible while they last, — he at least would not live to see it.”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“He has put up with it all that he may see the girl he loves.” “Psha!” said Frank, rising up from his chair. “When a man has work to do, he is a fool to give way to play. The girl he loves! Does he not know that it is impossible that she should ever marry him? Father, I ought to insist that he should leave this house as a prisoner. I know that that would be my duty.”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“During the year that followed — the year 1861 — the American war progressed only as a school for fighting. The most memorable action was that of Bull’s Run, in which both sides ran away, not from individual cowardice in either set of men, but from that feeling of panic which is engendered by ignorance and inexperience. Men saw waggons rushing hither and thither, and thought that all was lost. After that the year was passed in drilling and in camp-making, — in the making of soldiers, of gunpowder, and of cannons.”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“Time had been when friends had thought it possible that he might fill the President’s chair; but his name had been too much and too long in men’s mouths for that. Who had heard of Lincoln, Pierce, or Polk, two years before they were named as candidates for the Presidency?”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“No one can now laugh at them for bloodless battles. Never have the sides of any stream been so bathed in blood as have the shores of those Virginian rivers whose names have lately become familiar to us. None of those old death-dooming generals of Europe whom we have learned to hate for the cold-blooded energy of their trade, — Tilly, Gustavus Adolphus, Frederic, or Napoleon; — none of these ever left so many carcases to the kites as have the Johnsons, Jacksons, and Hookers of the American armies, who come and go so fast, that they are almost forgotten before the armies they have led have melted into clay.”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“CHRISTMAS OF 1860 IS NOW THREE YEARS PAST, and the civil war which was then being commenced in America is still raging without any apparent sign of an end. The prophets of that time who prophesied the worst never foretold anything so black as this.”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“When they are married, yes; and every girl who thinks of marrying should know that in very much she must adapt herself to her husband. But I do not think that a woman should be the ivy, to take the direction of every branch of the tree to which she clings. If she does so, what can be her own character? But we must go on, or we shall be too late.”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“I hate to hear people talk of knowing their hearts. My idea is that, if you like a young man, and he asks you to marry him, you ought to have him — that is, if there’s enough to live on. I don’t know what more is wanted. But girls are getting to talk and think as though they were to send their hearts through some fiery furnace of trial before they give them up to a husband’s keeping. I’m not at all sure that the French fashion is not the best, and that these things shouldn’t be managed by the fathers and mothers, or perhaps by the family lawyers.”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“The beef and pudding were ponderous, but with due efforts they were overcome and disappeared.”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“The beef and pudding are ponderous, and unless there be absolute children in the party there is a difficulty in grafting any special afternoon amusements on the Sunday pursuits of the morning.”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“You called me a Puritan, and then you quoted that ill-natured French proverb at me. Do you really believe that your sister thinks evil, Frank?” And as she spoke she put her arm caressingly round his neck. “Of course I don’t.” “Then why say so? Harry is so much younger and so thoughtless that I can bear what he says without so much suffering. But if you and I are not friends I shall be very wretched. If you knew how I have looked forward to your coming home!”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“That battle of the mistletoe had been fought on the morning before Christmas Day, and the Holmeses came on Christmas Eve.”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“We know the story of the Spartan boy who held the fox under his tunic. The fox was biting him into the very entrails, but the young hero spoke never a word. Now, Bessy Garrow was inclined to think that it was a good thing to have a fox always biting, so that the torment caused no ruffle to her outward smiles. Now, at this moment the fox within her bosom was biting her sore enough, but she bore it without flinching.”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“I am inclined to think that Miss Garrow was right in saying that the world is changed as touching mistletoe boughs. Kissing, I fear, is less innocent now than it used to be when our grandmothers were alive, and we have become more fastidious in our amusements.”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“Christmas a bore! No; a man who thought Christmas to be a bore should never be more to her than a mere acquaintance. She listened to his explanation, and then left the room, almost indignantly.”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“Young people don’t always fall in love,” said the father. “But people will say that he is brought here on purpose,” said the mother, using her second argument. The parson, who in family matters generally had his own way, expressed an opinion that if they were to be governed by what other people might choose to say, their course of action would be very limited indeed.”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“In a strange gentleman’s bedroom!” he continued. “It only shows that what I have always said is quite true. You should never go to bed in a strange house without locking your door.”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“If it had turned out to be anybody else,” said the member of Parliament, “the results might have been most serious, — not to say discreditable.”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“Mr. Jones had never seen the lady’s face. He longed to know what were the features of the woman who had been so blind — if indeed that story were true.”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“Then she allowed herself to think of those coming comforts, — of those comforts so sweet, if only they would come! That very day now present to her was the 24th of December, and on that very evening she would be sitting in Christmas joy among all her uncles and cousins, holding her new brother-in-law affectionately by the hand. Oh, what a change from Pandemonium to Paradise; — from that wretched room, from that miserable house in which there was such ample cause for fear, to all the domestic Christmas bliss of the home of the Thompsons!”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“It was a thousand pities that so good a woman should have been driven by the sad stress of circumstances to tell so many fibs. One after another she was compelled to invent them, that there might be a way open to her of escaping the horrors of a prolonged sojourn in that hotel.”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“She listened again, and felt that the slight murmur of a snore with which her ears were regaled was altogether free from any real malady in the throat. Then it occurred to her, that after all, fatigue perhaps had only made him cross. She bethought herself how, during the whole journey, she had failed to believe in his illness. What meals he had eaten! How thoroughly he had been able to enjoy his full complement of cigars! And then that glass of brandy, against which she had raised her voice slightly in feminine opposition. And now he was sleeping there like an infant, with full, round, perfected, almost sonorous workings of the throat.”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“We know how prone the strong are to suspect the weakness of the weak, — as the weak are to be disgusted by the strength of the strong.”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“More than once had she expressed a wish to see old Christmas again in the old house among the old faces. But her husband had always pleaded a certain weakness about his throat and chest as a reason for remaining among the delights of Pau.”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“however, was especially severe, and the cold of the last ten days of December was more felt, I think, in Paris than in any part of England. It may, indeed, be doubted whether there is any town in any country in which thoroughly bad weather is more afflicting than in the French capital. Snow and hail seem to be colder there, and fires certainly are less warm, than in London. And then there is a feeling among visitors to Paris that Paris ought to be gay; that gaiety, prettiness, and liveliness are its aims, as money, commerce, and general business are the aims of London, — which with its outside sombre darkness does often seem to want an excuse for its ugliness.”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

“That winter, however, was especially severe, and the cold of the last ten days of December was more felt, I think, in Paris than in any part of England. It may, indeed, be doubted whether there is any town in any country in which thoroughly bad weather is more afflicting than in the French capital. Snow and hail seem to be colder there, and fires certainly are less warm, than in London.”
― Anthony Trollope, Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories