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D. H. Lawrence

D. H. Lawrence Quotes

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Famous D. H. Lawrence Quotes

“Melville had to fight, fight against the existing world, against his own very self. Only he would never quite put the knife in the heart of his paradisal ideal. Somehow, somewhere, somewhen, love should be a fulfillment, and life should be a thing of bliss. That was his fixed ideal. Fata Morgana. That was the pin he tortured himself on, like a pinned-down butterfly.”

WorldShouldHeartSelfFightingIdealsFulfillmentFixedBlissKnivesButterflyNever QuitPinsMelvilleMorgana
Book:Delphi Complete Works of D.H. Lawrence (Illustrated)
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“I believe that there was a great age, a great epoch when man did not make war: previous to 2000 B.C. Then the self had not reallybecome aware of itself, it had not separated itself off, the spirit was not yet born, so there was no internal conflict, and hence no permanent external conflict.”

MenBelieveWarSelfAgeSpiritI BelieveBornConflictPermanentInternalsEpochInternal Conflict
Book:D. H. Lawrence: Late Essays and Articles
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“In masturbation there is nothing but loss. There is no reciprocity. There is merely the spending away of a certain force, and no return. The body remains, in a sense, a corpse, after the act of self-abuse. There is no change, only deadening. There is what we call dead loss. And this is not the case in any act of sexual intercourse between two people. Two people may destroy one another in sex. But they cannot just produce the null effect of masturbation.”

PeopleMayTwoSelfBodyCertainForceSexLossCasesEffectsProduceReturnAbuseRemainsSpendingCorpsesIntercourseMasturbationReciprocityNull
Book:Phoenix: the Posthumous Papers of D. H. Lawrence by D. H. Lawrence (Illustrated)
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“This is what I believe: That I am I. That my soul is a dark forest. That my known self will never be more than a little clearing in the forest. That gods, strange gods, come forth from the forest into the clearing of my known self, and then go back. That I must have the courage to let them come and go. That I will never let mankind put anything over me, but that I will try always to recognize and submit to the gods in me and the gods in other men and women. There is my creed.”

MenTryingBelieveLittlesSoulSelfI BelieveDarkKnownMankindStrangeMen And WomenForestsMy SoulSubmitCreedsComes And GoesClearingSelf Will
Author:D. H. Lawrence
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“In the short summer night she learned so much. She would have thought a woman would have died of shame... She felt, now, she had come to the real bedrock of her nature, and was essentially shameless. She was her sensual self, naked an unashamed. She felt a triumph, almost a vainglory. So! That was how it was! That was life! That was how onself really was! There was nothing left to disguise or be ashamed of. She shared her ultimate nakedness with a man, another being.”

MenRealSelfNightLeftFeltSummerUltimateDiedShameNakedSensualTriumphAshamedDisguiseShamelessBedrockSummer NightsShort Summer
Author:D. H. Lawrence
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“There was a warmth of fury in his last phrases. He meant she loved him more than he her. Perhaps he could not love her. Perhaps she had not in herself that which he wanted. It was the deepest motive of her soul, this self-mistrust. It was so deep she dared neither realise nor acknowledge. Perhaps she was deficient. Like an infinitely subtle shame, it kept her always back. If it were so, she would do without him. She would never let herself want him. She would merely see.”

IfsWantSoulSelfWantedLastsShameAcknowledgePhrasesMotiveSubtleRealisingWarmthFuryMistrustWant Him
Book:The Essential D.H. Lawrence
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“I am not a mechanism, an assembly of various sections. and it is not because the mechanism is working wrongly, that I am ill. I am ill because of wounds to the soul, to the deep emotional self, and the wounds to the soul take a long, long time, only time can help and patience, and a certain difficult repentance long difficult repentance, realization of life’s mistake, and the freeing oneself from the endless repetition of the mistake which mankind at large has chosen to sanctify.”

LongSoulSelfHelpingCertainDifficultMistakeMankindEmotionalLong TimeIllOneselfVariousWoundsEndlessChosenRealizationRepentanceMechanismRepetitionSectionsOnly TimeAssemblySanctifyDeep Emotional
Book:Complete Poems by Lawrence: Easyread Super Large 24pt Edition
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“I am part of the sun as my eye is part of me. That I am part of the earth my feet know perfectly, and my blood is part of the sea. My soul knows that I am part of the human race, my soul is an organic part of the great human race, as my spirit is part of my nation. In my own very self, I am part of my family.”

KnowsHumansSoulSelfEyeEarthSpiritNationsMy OwnRaceFamilySunBloodSeaFeetMy FamilyMy SoulHuman Race
Book:Apocalypse and the Writings on Revelation
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“The reaction to any word may be, in an individual, either a mob-reaction or an individual reaction. It is up to the individual to ask himself: Is my reaction individual, or am I merely reacting from my mob-self? When it comes to the so-called obscene words, I should say that hardly one person in a million escapes mob-reaction.”

ShouldMayPersonsSelfAsksIndividualLanguageMillionsReactionsEnglish LanguageReactingObscene
Book:D. H. Lawrence: Late Essays and Articles
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“Let man only approach his own self with a deep respect, even reverence for all that the creative soul, the God-mystery within us, puts forth. Then we shall all be sound and free. Lewdness is hateful because it impairs our integrity and our proud being. The creative, spontaneous soul sends forth its promptings of desire and aspiration in us. These promptings are our true fate, which is our business to fulfill. A fate dictated from outside, from theory or from circumstance, is a false fate.”

PersonsSoulSelfSpiritDesireSoundCreativeFateMysteryTheoryCircumstancesApproachAspirationReverenceSpontaneous
Author:D. H. Lawrence
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