Quotes and anectdotes from the wise to the foolish, and the courageous to the drunk

H. G. Wells Novelist

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: United Kingdom
  • Born: Sep 21, 1866
  • Died: Aug 13, 1946

Herbert George "H. G." Wells was a prolific English writer in many genres, including the novel, history, politics, and social commentary, and textbooks and rules for war games. He is now best remembered for his science fiction novels, and Wells is sometimes called the father of science fiction, as are Jules Verne and Hugo Gernsback. His most notable science fiction works include The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The Island of Doctor Moreau.

Wells's earliest specialized training was in biology, and his thinking on ethical matters took place in a specifically and fundamentally Darwinian context. He was also from an early date an outspoken socialist, often sympathising with pacifist views. His later works became increasingly political and didactic, and he wrote little science fiction, while he sometimes indicated on official documents that his profession was that of journalist.

Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race. funny, future & time

Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. education & history

Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo. jealousy

In politics, strangely enough, the best way to play your cards is to lay them face upwards on the table. best & politics

If we don't end war, war will end us. war

I want to go ahead of Father Time with a scythe of my own. time

Affliction comes to us, not to make us sad but sober not to make us sorry but wise. sad

Human history in essence is the history of ideas. history

Advertising is legalized lying. legal

Heresies are experiments in man's unsatisfied search for truth. truth

Cynicism is humor in ill health. health & humor

After people have repeated a phrase a great number of times, they begin to realize it has meaning and may even be true. great

Nothing leads so straight to futility as literary ambitions without systematic knowledge. knowledge

Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature's inexorable imperative. nature

Beauty is in the heart of the beholder. beauty

Crime and bad lives are the measure of a State's failure, all crime in the end is the crime of the community. failure

I must confess that my imagination refuses to see any sort of submarine doing anything but suffocating its crew and floundering at sea. imagination

History is a race between education and catastrophe. education & history

No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else's draft. communication