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D. H. Lawrence

D. H. Lawrence Quotes

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Famous D. H. Lawrence Quotes

“He had made a passionate study of education, only to come, gradually, to the knowledge that education is nothing but the process of building up, gradually, a complete unit of consciousness. And each unit of consciousness is the living unit of that great social, religious, philosophic idea towards which humankind, like an organism seeking its final form, is laboriously growing.”

MadeIdeasFormSocialProcessReligiousEducationConsciousnessStudyGrowingBuildingFinalsPassionateSeekingHumankindOrganismsUnitsBuilding UpPhilosophic
Book:Women in Love
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“Why has mankind had such a craving to be imposed upon? Why this lust after imposing creeds, imposing deeds, imposing buildings, imposing language, imposing works of art? The thing becomes an imposition and a weariness at last. Give us things that are alive and flexible, which won't last too long and become an obstruction and a weariness. Even Michelangelo becomes at last a lump and a burden and a bore. It is so hard to see past him.”

GivingLongArtHardLastsPastLanguageAliveMankindBuildingInstitutionsDeedsBurdenLustWorks Of ArtCreedsBoresFlexibleCravingImposingLumpsWearinessImpositionObstruction
Book:Sketches of Etruscan Places and Other Italian Essays
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“It is all a question of sensitiveness. Brute force and overbearing may make a terrific effect. But in the end, that which lives by delicate sensitiveness. If it were a question of brute force, not a single human baby would survive for a fortnight. It is the grass of the field, most frail of all things, that supports all life all the time. But for the green grass, no empire would rise, no man would eat bread: for grain is grass; and Hercules or Napoleon or Henry Ford would alike be denied existence.”

IfsMenHumansMayEndsForceExistenceSupportEffectsFieldsBabyAll ThingsGreenBreadGrassEmpiresLive ByDeniedDelicateGrainSensitivityTerrificBrutesFrailBrute ForceOverbearingGreen GrassFortnight
Book:Etruscan Places
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“America is neither free nor brave, but a land of tight, iron-clanking little wills, everybody trying to put it over everybody else, and a land of men absolutely devoid of the real courage of trust, trust in life's sacred spontaneity. They can't trust life until they can control it.”

MenLifeTryingLittlesRealAmericaLandSacredBraveIronSpontaneityReal Courage
Book:Delphi Complete Works of D.H. Lawrence (Illustrated)
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“I want relations which are not purely personal, based on purely personal qualities; but relations based upon some unanimous accord in truth or belief, and a harmony of purpose, rather than of personality. I am weary of personality. Let us be easy and impersonal, not forever fingering over our own souls, and the souls of our acquaintances, but trying to create a new life, a new common life, a new complete tree of life from the roots that are within us.”

WantLifeTryingSoulPurposeBeliefEasyCommonQualityForeverRelationshipTreePersonalityRootsRelationHarmonyWearyNew LifeAcquaintanceAccordTree Of LifeCommon LifePersonal Qualities
Author:D. H. Lawrence
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“I cannot be a materialist - but Oh, how is it possible that a God who speaks to all hearts can let Belgravia go laughing to a vicious luxury, and Whitechapel cursing to a filthy debauchery - such suffering, such dreadful suffering - and shall the short years of Christ's mission atone for it all?”

YearsHeartSufferingSpeakChristLaughingAtheismMissionsPositive AtheismLuxuryViciousFilthyCursingDebaucheryWhitechapel
Book:The Letters of D. H. Lawrence
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“She wished some help would come from outside. But in the whole world there was no help. Society was terrible because it was insane. Civilized society is insane. Money and so-called love are its two great manias; money a long way first. The individual asserts himself in his disconnected insanity in these two modes: money and love.”

WorldWayFirstsLongTwoWholeHelpingIndividualTerribleDepressionAnd LoveIllnessWhole WorldMental IllnessInsaneInsanityGreat MenCivilizedLong WayDisconnectedManiaCivilized SocietyLove And Money
Book:Delphi Complete Works of D.H. Lawrence (Illustrated)
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“After all, the world is not a stage-not to me: nor a theatre: nor a show-house of any sort. And art, especially novels, are not little theatres where the reader sits aloft and watches...and sighs, commiserates, condones and smiles. That's what you want a book to be: because it leaves you so safe and superior, with your two-dollar ticket to the show. And that's what my books are not and never will be...Whoever reads me will be in the thick of the scrimmage, and if he doesn't like it if he wants a safe seat in the audience-let him read someone else.”

IfsWorldWantLittlesArtTwoBookShowsReadingHouseWatchesNovelAudienceStageReaderSafeDollarsTheatreWhat You WantSuperiorsSeatsThickTicketsSigh
Author:D. H. Lawrence
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“It seems to me that the chief thing about a woman - who is much of a woman - is that in the long run she is not to be had... She is not to be caught by any of the catch-words, love, beauty, honor, duty, worth, work, salvation - none of them - not in the long run. In the long run she only says Am I satisfied, or is there some beastly dissatisfaction gnawing and gnawing inside me. And if there is some dissatisfaction, it is physical, at least as much as psychic, sex as much as soul.”

IfsLoveLongSoulRunningSexWomenLove IsDutyHonorSalvationCaughtSatisfiedChiefsLong RunsPsychicsDissatisfactionWords LoveBeastly
Author:D. H. Lawrence
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