Charles Kingsley Quotes (1819-1875)

King, Novelist

About Charles Kingsley

Charles Kingsley (June 12 1819 – January 23 1875) was a broad church priest of the Church of England, a university professor, social reformer, historian and novelist. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the working men's college, and forming labour cooperatives that failed but led to the working reforms of the progressive era.

Best Charles Kingsley Quotes

Shortest
Earliest

Explore our curated collection of the most famous and impactful Charles Kingsley quotes.

“Oh! that we two were Maying.”
“Toil is the true knight's pastime.”
“All but God is changing day by day.”
Charles Kingsley
“Pain is no evil,
Unless it conquers us.”
Charles Kingsley
“Sad, sad to think that the year is all but done.”
“In the light of fuller day,
Of purer science, holier laws.”
Charles Kingsley
“Clear and cool, clear and cool,
By laughing shallow, and dreaming pool.”
“Hold on yet awhile. More ways of killing a cat than choking her with cream.”
“And the sooner it's over, the sooner to sleep—
And good-bye to the bar and its moaning.”
“Are gods more ruthless than mortals?
Have they no mercy for youth? no love for the souls who have loved them?”
Charles Kingsley
“Fools! who fancy Christ mistaken;
Man a tool to buy and sell;
Earth a failure, God-forsaken,
Anteroom of Hell.”
“I believe not only in "special providences," but in the whole universe as one infinite complexity of "special providences."”
Charles Kingsley
“For men must work, and women must weep,
And there's little to earn, and many to keep,
Though the harbor bar be moaning.”
“[A] man may learn from his Bible to be a more thorough gentleman than if he had been brought up in all the drawing-rooms in London.”
“And therefore let us say, in utter faith, "Come as Thou seest best — but in whatsoever way Thou comest — even so come, Lord Jesus."”
“For to be discontented with the divine discontent, and to be ashamed with the noble shame, is the very germ and first upgrowth of all virtue.”
“Changeless march the stars above,
Changeless morn succeeds to even;
And the everlasting hills,
Changeless watch the changeless heaven.”
“Oh! that we two lay sleeping,
Under the churchyard sod;
With our limbs at rest on the quiet earth's breast,
And our souls at home with God!”
“The righteousness which is by faith in Christ is a loving heart and a loving life, which every man will long to lead who believes really in Jesus Christ.”
Charles Kingsley
“If you wish to be like a little child, study what a little child could understand — nature; and do what a little child could do — love.”
“The world goes up and the world goes down,
And the sunshine follows the rain;
And yesterday's sneer and yesterday's frown
Can never come over again.”
Charles Kingsley
“Take comfort, and recollect however little you and I may know, God knows; He knows Himself and you and me and all things; and His mercy is over all His works.”
Charles Kingsley
“I have fought my fight, I have lived my life,
I have drunk my share of wine;
From Trier to Coln there was never a knight
Led a merrier life than mine.”
“Don't holla till you are out of the wood. This is a night for praying rather than boasting.”
Charles Kingsley
“This is eternal life; a life of everlasting love, showing itself in everlasting good works; and whosoever lives that life, he lives the life of God, and hath eternal life.”
Charles Kingsley

Charles Kingsley Quotes by Topic

Find exactly what you are looking for by browsing this categorized list of Charles Kingsley quotes by topic.

Charles Kingsley on Goodness 4 quotes

“Be good my child, and let who will be clever; Do noble deeds, not dream them all day long; And so make life, death, and that vast forever One grand, sweet song.”
Charles Kingsley
View all 4 quotes on Goodness →

Charles Kingsley on Work 2 quotes

“For men must work and women must weep, And the sooner it's over the sooner to sleep, And good-bye to the bar and its moaning.”
Charles Kingsley
View all 2 quotes on Work →

Charles Kingsley on Truth 2 quotes

“Pray over every truth ; for though the renewed heart is not " desperately wicked," it is quite deceitful enough to become so, if God be forgotten a moment.”
Charles Kingsley
View all 2 quotes on Truth →

Charles Kingsley on Hornbook

“And yet God made all three.''”
Charles Kingsley

Charles Kingsley on God

“All but God is changing day by day.”
Charles Kingsley

Charles Kingsley on Man

“There is a great deal of human nature in man.”
Charles Kingsley

Charles Kingsley on Heroes

“Still the race of hero spirits pass the lamp from hand to hand.”
Charles Kingsley

Charles Kingsley on Science

“For science is ... like virtue, its own exceeding great reward.”
Charles Kingsley

Charles Kingsley on Accident

“Our wanton accidents take root, and grow To vaunt themselves God's laws.”
Charles Kingsley

Charles Kingsley on Ownership

“Possession means to sit astride the world Instead of having it astride of you.”
Charles Kingsley

Charles Kingsley on Marriage

“Ay, marriage is the life-long miracle, The self-begetting wonder, daily fresh.”
Charles Kingsley

Charles Kingsley on Root

“May God keep our hearts pure from that selfishness which is the root of all sin.”
Charles Kingsley

What Charles Kingsley Said About Others

Discover personal opinions Charles Kingsley shared regarding contemporaries.

Charles Kingsley on Elizabeth of Hungary

“The ministering Saint, fresh from the poor of Christ.”
Charles Kingsley

Charles Kingsley on Women

“For men must work and women must weep, And the sooner it's over the sooner to sleep, And good-bye to the bar and its moaning.”
Charles Kingsley

Charles Kingsley on Maiden

“Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever; Do noble things, not dream them, all day long; And so make Life, and Death, and that For-Ever, One grand sweet song”
Charles Kingsley

Quotes About Charles Kingsley

Gain deeper perspective through quotes about Charles Kingsley from others.

Margaret Farrand Thorp on Charles Kingsley

“Born in the same year as the Queen, Kingsley typifies the Victorian man as closely as she presents the Victorian woman. He shared most of her fundamental principles. He believed in England, in the Empire, in the Established Church; in the ennobling influence of womanhood and the sanctity of the home; in a good God guiding the universe and each of its individual inhabitants; in the spiritual brotherhood of men within a benevolent aristocracy; in evolutionary progress and the compatibility of science and religion.”

William Warde Fowler on Charles Kingsley

“Every one who is fond of reading books of travel in the tropics must know what it is like to long for an hour or two of real life in a virgin forest, or in the boundless expanses of the pampas, or even in the depths of a mangrove swamp. We would willingly put up with mosquitoes and "piums" and poisonous ants, if we could but see that world for ourselves which Darwin and Bates and Wallace and Belt have made almost, but not quite, a reality for us. Charles Kingsley had this ambition all his life, and was able in the end to indulge it. His enthusiastic delight at what he saw in the West Indies made him more than usually eloquent, and his chapter on the "High Woods" marks perhaps the highest point which a traveller's descriptive power can reach.”

About Charles Kingsley

Charles Kingsley (June 12 1819 – January 23 1875) was a broad church priest of the Church of England, a university professor, social reformer, historian and novelist. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the working men's college, and forming labour cooperatives that failed but led to the working reforms of the progressive era.
QuotesCosmos Cross-Civilizational Archive

Explore Related Wisdom Pillars, Worldviews & Canonical Works

Discover how humanity's greatest philosophers, sacred scriptures, and literary masterpieces address the core questions of existence.

30 Wisdom Pillars
22 Worldviews & Traditions