Victorian Sayings and Words of Wisdom
Witty Quotes and Tips on Health, Wealth and Happiness.
Jan 23, 2009
From bringing up children, to moral instruction, to advice on finances, the Victorians passed on a wealth of advice.
These quotes passed on from generation to generation. Many of these quotes and/or metaphors are still used in many households on a regular basis and others are relics of a time and era which has taken its place in the past.
Technically, the Victorian period spans from 1837 to 1901. Others place the Victorian period within the passages of the great reform bills in 1832 and 1867. The period was marked by great change, chaos, prosperity for some with poverty and misery for others. It was a time of great inventiveness but also a time of great upheaval. Advice and quotes were always at hand, whether one belonged in the upper or lower classes.
Quotes and Advice to Daughters in Victorian Times
- Least said soonest mended.
- Eavesdroppers never hear good of themselves.
- A secret is only a secret when you don't tell anyone.
- Protect yourself from other people's bad manners by a conspicuous display of your own good ones.
- If you can't say something nice about someone don't say anything at all.
- Elbows off the table, hands in laps.
- Don't start until your mother is served.
- Eat your greens or you will get warts.
- How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child.
- Don't make mountains out of molehills.
- Brush your hair one hundred times before bed.
- Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Expressions and quotes regarding Finances in Victorian Times
- Neither a borrower or a lender be.
- When poverty comes in at the door, love flies out at the window.
- Spend not where you may save; spare not where you must spend.
- Worth has been underrated ever since wealth was overvalued.
- The worth of a thing is best known by the want of it.
- Do not kill the goose that lays the golden egg.
- All that glitters is not gold.
Prudent and Precautionary Quotes in Victorian Times
- The devil goes away when he finds the door shut against him.
- It takes two fools to argue.
- Some are refined, like gold, in the furnace of affliction.
- The stone that lies not in your road need not offend you.
- None are so deaf as they that will not hear.
- It's a long road without a turn.
- Empty vessels make the most noise.
- The devil makes work for idle hands.
- Children should be seen and not heard.
- Speak when you are spoken to and not before.
- If a job's worth doing it's worth doing well.
- Play your cards close to your chest.
- Discretion is the better part of valor.
There are many more phrases and great quotes common in daily English today that have their roots in not only Victorian times, but that go back further into history, folklore, superstition, old customs and practices and foreign languages and cultures.
Other articles related to Victorian Times:
How to Make a Victorian Hair Work Bracelet
Domestic Servants in Victorian Times
Victorian Arts, Crafts and Leisure Activities
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