Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Theodore Dreiser

Quote by Theodore Dreiser

Work

Sister Carrie

Sister Carrie is a seminal work of American literature, exploring themes of ambition, social mobility, and the complexities of urban life. The story follows the protagonist, Carrie Meeber, as she navigates the challenges and opportunities presented by the bustling cities of the Midwest during the late 19th century. more

Author

Theodore Dreiser
Theodore Dreiser

Theodore Dreiser was a prominent American novelist known for his profound social realism. His works often focused on the lives and moral dilemmas of the American middle class, with notable novels including 'The Financier' and 'An American Tragedy'. Dreiser's writing style had a significant impact on 20th-century American literature. more

You May Also Like

“The mystery of life--its inexplicability, beauty, cruelty, tenderness, folly . . . has occupied the greater part of my waking thoughts; and in reverence or rage or irony, as the moment or situation might dictate, I have pondered and even demanded of cosmic energy to know Why.”

“Innate sensuousness rarely has any desire for accuracy, no desire for precise information. It basks in sunshine, bathes in color, dwells in a sense of the impressive and the gorgeous, and rests there. Accuracy is not necessary except in the case of aggressive, acquisitive natures, when it manifests itself in a desire to seize. True controlling sensuousness cannot be manifested in the most active dispositions, nor again in the most accurate.”

“Few tasks are more like the torture of Sisyphus than housework, with its endless repetition: the clean becomes soiled, the soiled is made clean, over and over, day after day. The housewife wears herself out marking time: she makes nothing, simply perpetuates the present … Eating, sleeping, cleaning – the years no longer rise up towards heaven, they lie spread out ahead, grey and identical. The battle against dust and dirt is never won.”