“They who do not understand that a man may be brought to hope that which of all things is the most grievous to him, have not observed with sufficient closeness the perversity of the human mind.”

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.