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Ten of My Favorite Henry James Quotes
Henry James, a writer whom I am guessing you love? Here are our 10 best Henry James quotes for you to enjoy. At Australia Unwrapped we believe every book has at least one quotable line, and our mission is to find them all. Here you will find Henry James’s top 10 popular and famous quotes. Like every good writer Henry James made a number of memorable quotes, here are some of our favorites:
About Henry James
Henry James, OM, a son of theologian Henry James Sr. and brother of philosopher and psychologist William James, as well as diarist Alice James, was an American-born author who founded a school of realism in fiction. Before his death, he became a British subject after he spent much of his life in England. As a writer, he was primarily known for his major novels depicting the encounter between America and Europe. His plots revolved around personal relationships, the proper exercise of power within such relationships, and other moral issues. Using the point of view of a character within a story allowed him to explore the phenomena of consciousness and perception, and his later works have been compared to impressionist paintings.
James urged writers in Great Britain and America to be given as much freedom as possible in presenting their view of the world, as French authors were. He foreshadowed the twentieth century’s modernist work with the imaginative use of point of view, interior monologue, and unreliable narrators in his own novels and tales. His voluminous works of fiction were accompanied by articles and books of travel writing, biography, autobiography, criticism, and plays, some of which he performed during his lifetime. He is thought to have been profoundly influenced by his theatrical work in his later novels and tales.
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Popular Quotes
“She feels in italics and thinks in CAPITALS.”
― Henry James
“Sorrow comes in great waves…but rolls over us, and though it may almost smother us, it leaves us. And we know that if it is strong, we are stronger, inasmuch as it passes and we remain.”
― Henry James
“We work in the dark – we do what we can – we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.”
― Henry James, The Middle Years
“Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.”
― Henry James
“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”
― Henry James
“There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.”
― Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady
“Her reputation for reading a great deal hung about her like the cloudy envelope of a goddess in an epic.”
― Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady
“I’m glad you like adverbs — I adore them; they are the only qualifications I really much respect.”
― Henry James
“I don’t want everyone to like me; I should think less of myself if some people did.”
― Henry James
“It’s time to start living the life you’ve imagined.”
― Henry James
10 Famous Quotes by Author Henry James
Quotes for all, here you found our selection of 10 Henry James quotes. Make sure you help by commenting your best Henry James quote below and sharing our favorite authors so we can look them up, read some of their works and give you the best quotes we can find. We hope you enjoyed our top 10 quotes by Henry James. However, feel free to comment below if you disagree or would like to include some other great and memorable Henry James quotes in our list.
One Final Bonus – Henry James Quote
“It has made me better loving you… it has made me wiser, and easier, and brighter. I used to want a great many things before, and to be angry that I did not have them. Theoretically, I was satisfied. I flattered myself that I had limited my wants. But I was subject to irritation; I used to have morbid sterile hateful fits of hunger, of desire. Now I really am satisfied, because I can’t think of anything better. It’s just as when one has been trying to spell out a book in the twilight, and suddenly the lamp comes in. I had been putting out my eyes over the book of life, and finding nothing to reward me for my pains; but now that I can read it properly I see that it’s a delightful story.”
― Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady
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