H. G. Wells

Novelist, Author

1866 – 1946

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Who was H. G. Wells?

Herbert George "H. G." Wells was an English writer, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing textbooks and rules for war games. Wells is one person 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 specialised 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 sometimes indicated on official documents that his profession was that of "Journalist." Most of his later novels were not science fiction. Some described lower-middle class life, leading him to be touted as a worthy successor to Charles Dickens, but Wells described a range of social strata and even attempted, in Tono-Bungay, a diagnosis of English society as a whole.

Famous Quotes:

  • Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo.
  • The crisis of yesterday is the joke of tomorrow.
  • Cycle tracks will abound in Utopia.
  • It is possible to believe that all the past is but the beginning of a beginning, and that all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn. It is possible to believe that all the human mind has ever accomplished is but the dream before the awakening.
  • Crime and bad lives are the measure of a State's failure, all crime in the end is the crime of the community.
  • A time will come when a politician who has wilfully made war and promoted international dissension will be as sure of the dock and much surer of the noose than a private homicide. It is not reasonable that those who gamble with mens lives should not stake their own.
  • Go away...I'm alright.
  • Adapt or perish, now as ever, is Nature's inexorable imperative.
  • The path of social advancement is, and must be, strewn with broken friendships.
  • There is nothing in machinery, there is nothing in embankments and railways and iron bridges and engineering devices to oblige them to be ugly. Ugliness is the measure of imperfection.

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Born
Sep 21, 1866
Bromley
Also known as
  • H.G. Wells
  • Walter Shockenhammer
  • Sosthenes Smith
  • Septimus Browne
  • Herbert George Wells
  • HG Wells
  • The Man Who Invented Tomorrow
  • Herbert George "H. G." Wells
Parents
Spouses
Children
Religion
  • Atheism
Nationality
  • United Kingdom
  • England
Profession
Education
  • Imperial College London
  • University of London
  • Royal College of Science
  • Midhurst Grammar School
Employment
  • Diabetes UK
Died
Aug 13, 1946
London
Resting place
Golders Green Crematorium

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

Citation

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"H. G. Wells." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/h_g_wells>.

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