Quotes from book
The Nemesis of Faith

Name: The Nemesis of Faith
Author: James Anthony Froude

The Nemesis of Faith is an epistolary philosophical novel by James Anthony Froude published in 1849. Partly autobiographical, the novel depicts the causes and consequences of a young priest's crisis of faith. Like many of his contemporaries, Froude came to question his Christian faith in light of early nineteenth century developments in history, theology, and science. Froude was particularly influenced by the Catholic teachings of the Oxford Movement and by the new approach to religious scholarship developed by the German Higher Critics.

“Charity is from person to person; and it loses half, far more than half, its moral value when the giver is not brought into personal relation with those to whom he gives.”

James Anthony Froude book The Nemesis of Faith

Letter IX
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)

“Life is change, to cease to change is to cease to live; yet if you may shed a tear beside the death-bed of an old friend, let not your heart be silent on the dissolving of a faith.”

James Anthony Froude book The Nemesis of Faith

Letter IV
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)

“The trials of life will not wait for us. They come at their own time, not caring much to inquire how ready we may be to meet them.”

James Anthony Froude book The Nemesis of Faith

Arthur's commentary
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)

“I could never fear a God who kept a hell prison-house. No, not though he flung me there because I refused. There is a power stronger than such a one; and it is possible to walk unscathed even in the burning furnace.”

James Anthony Froude book The Nemesis of Faith

Letter II
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)

“Look not to have your sepulchre built in after ages hy the same foolish hands which still ever destroy the living prophet. Small honour for you if they do build it; and may be they never will build it.”

James Anthony Froude book The Nemesis of Faith

Confessions Of A Sceptic
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)

“I think there is a spiritual scent in us which feels mischief coming, as they say birds scent storms.”

James Anthony Froude book The Nemesis of Faith

Letter IX
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)

“The moral of human life is never simple, and the moral of a story which aims only at being true to human life cannot be expected to be any more so.”

James Anthony Froude book The Nemesis of Faith

Preface, Second edition (21 June 1849), added in response to some controversies and rumors caused by the publication of the first edition of his novel. There were no changes made in the text of the novel itself.
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)

“You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.”

James Anthony Froude book The Nemesis of Faith

Markham Sutherland's father, quoted in Letter I.
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)

“I cannot think the disputes and jealousies of Heaven are tried and settled by the swords of earth.”

James Anthony Froude book The Nemesis of Faith

Letter II
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)

“Perhaps the heart does not deceive; never does give a false answer, except to those double-minded unhappy ones who do care about themselves, and so play tricks with it and tamper with it.”

James Anthony Froude book The Nemesis of Faith

The Nemesis of Faith (1849)

“A dreamer he was, and ever would be. Yet dreaming need not injure us, if it do but take its turn with waking; and even dreams themselves may be turned to beauty, by favoured men to whom nature has given the powers of casting them into form.”

James Anthony Froude book The Nemesis of Faith

Arthur's commentary
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)