Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Edith Wharton

Quote by Edith Wharton

“Why must a girl pay so dearly for her least escape," Lily muses as she contemplates the prospect of being bored all afternoon by Percy Grice, dull but undeniably rich, "on the bare chance that he might ultimately do her the honor of boring her for life?”

Quote by Edith Wharton

Book:The House of Mirth
Create image

Work

The House of Mirth

Edith Wharton's classic novel delves into the complexities of high society, following the life of Lily Bart, a young woman who navigates the intricate web of relationships and expectations in the Gilded Age. The story is rich in detail, offering a critical examination of the era's values and the limitations placed on women. more

Author

Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton

American novelist known for her delicate psychological portrayals and profound social insights. Edith Wharton came from a wealthy New York family and her works mainly reflect the American society at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Her representative works include 'The Age of Innocence' and 'The House of Mirth' among others. more

You May Also Like

“Somewhere in this period I moved, for the first time, into an apartment by myself. A junior one bedroom between Fourth and Fifth Avenues in Park Slope. To be able to live alone, in such a quiet, light-filled, tree-shaded trio of rooms, for $850 a month - I felt incredibly lucky. I woke up to birds. So many birds, in the spring, it was as if the tree outside my front windows held one hundred nine-year-old girls on a Skittles high.”

Girl LoveMorning BirdsBird SongsHappy Loud Little GirlsJoy In The MorningLife In NyNine Year Old Girls
Book:Not That Kind of Girl: A Memoir
Create image

“Where was he now, old Patera Pike? Where did he sleep, and did he sleep well there at last? Or did he wake as he always had, stirring in the long bedroom next to Silk's own, his old bed creaking, creaking? Praying at midnight or past midnight, at shadeup with the skylands fading, praying as Viron extinguished its bonfires and its lanterns, its many-branched candelabras, praying as they were forfeited to the revealed sun. Praying as day's uncertain shadows reappeared and resumed their accustomed places, as the morning glories flared and the long, white trumpets of the night silently folded themselves upon themselves.”

PrayingLanternsBonfiresMorning GloriesCandelabrasPatera PikePatera SilkSkylandsViron
Book:Nightside the Long Sun
Create image

“It Hurts To Be Alive and Obsolete: Often when men are attracted to me, they feel ashamed and conceal it. They act as if it were ridiculous. If they do become involved, they are still ashamed and may refuse to appear publicly with me. Their fear of mockery is enormous. There is no prestige attached to having sex with me. Since we are all far more various sexually than we are supposed to be, often, in fact, younger men become aware of me sexually. Their response is similar to what it is when they find themselves feeling attracted to a homosexual: they turn those feelings into hostility and put me down. Listen to me! Think what it is like to have most of your life ahead and be told you are obsolete! Think what it is like to feel attraction, desire, affection towards others, to want to tell them about yourself, to feel that assumption on which self-respect is based, that you are worth something, and that if you like someone, surely he will be pleased to know that. To be, in other words, still a living woman, and to be told that every day that you are not a woman but a tired object that should disappear. That you are not a person but a joke. Well, I am a bitter joke. I am bitter and frustrated and wasted, but don’t you pretend for a minute as you look at me, forty-three, fat, and looking exactly my age, that I am not as alive as you are and that I do not suffer from the category into which you are forcing me.”

JudgementAging WomenUnattractiveness
Book:Sisterhood is powerful: an anthology of writings from the women's liberation movement
Create image

“We must admit that simply knowing the contents of the Bible is not a sure route to spiritual growth. There is an aweful assumption in evangelical churches that if we can just get the Word of God into people's heads, then the Spirit of God will apply it to their hearts. That assumption is aweful, not because the Spirit never does what the assumption supposes, but because it excused pastors and leaders from the responsibility to tangle with people's lives. Many remain safely hidden behind pulpits, hopelessly out of touch with the struggles of their congregations, proclaiming the Scriptures with a pompous accuracy that touches no one. Pulpits should provide bridges, not barriers, to life-changing relationships.”

RelationshipsKnowledgeLearningBiblePastorsPulpits
Book:Inside Out
Create image