“People seem to think that if a man is a Member of Parliament he may do what he pleases. ... Being in Parliament used to be something when I was young, but it won't make a make a gentleman now-a-days. It seems to me that none but brewers, and tallow-chandlers, and lawyers go into Parliament now.”

English novelist and civil servant, Victorian era

Anthony Trollope was an English novelist of the Victorian era. He is best known for his long, carefully observed novels about social life, public institutions, and the routines of work and class in 19th-century England. Trollope also worked as a civil servant, and that experience shaped much of his fiction. His writing is noted for its clear style and close attention to everyday conduct, especially the pressures of duty, ambition, and social expectation.