Quotessence
Home / Topics / Henry James Quotes

Henry James Quotes

Browse 146 quotes about Henry James.

Henry James Quotes

“After this she paid him a daily visit — always under the conviction that they were great enemies. 'Oh yes, we're intimate enemies,' Ralph used to say; and he accused her freely — as freely as the humor of it would allow — of coming to worry him to death. In reality they became excellent friends, Henrietta much wondering that she should never have liked him before. Ralph liked her exactly as much as he had always done; he had never doubted for a moment that she was an excellent fellow.They talked about everything and always differed . . .”

HumorFriendshipSweetFriendsEnemiesHenry JamesThe Portrait Of A LadyFrenemiesEnemies To Friends
Book:The Portrait of a Lady
Create image

“I shall stay here as long as I may, I don't want to think — I needn't think. I don't care for anything but you, and that's enough for the present. It will last a little yet. Here on my knees, with you dying in my arms, I'm happier than I've been for a long time. And I want you to be happy — not to think of anything sad; only to feel that I'm near you and I love you. Why should there be pain? In such hours as this what have we to do with pain? That's not the deepest thing; there's something deeper.”

LoveDyingSadSpeechDeathbedHenry JamesDeclaration Of LoveThe Portrait Of A Lady
Book:The Portrait of a Lady
Create image

“You did something once — you know it. O Ralph, you've been everything! What have I done for you — what can I do to-day? I would die if you could live. But I don't wish you to live; I would die myself, not to lose you." Her voice was as broken as his own and full of tears and anguish. "You won't lose me — you'll keep me. Keep me in your heart; I shall be nearer to you than I've ever been.”

DyingEmotionalSadHenry JamesDeclaration Of LoveThe Portrait Of A LadyDie For You
Book:The Portrait of a Lady
Create image

“The charm turned on them a face that was cold in its beauty, that was full of a poetry never to be theirs, that spoke, with an ironic smile, of a possible but forbidden life. It all rolled afresh over Milly: 'Oh, the impossible romance—!' The romance for her, yet once more, would be to sit there for ever, through all her time, as in a fortress; and the idea became an image of never going down, of remaining aloft in the divine, dustless air, where she would hear but the plash of the water against stone. The great floor on which they moved was at an altitude, and this prompted the rueful fancy. 'Ah, not to go down—never, never to go down!' she strangely sighed to her friend.”

RomanceBeautyRomanticLovelyCharmDescriptionForbiddenHenry JamesThe Wings Of The DoveHomebody
Book:The Wings of the Dove
Create image

“Suddenly she said to him with extraordinary beauty: "I engage myself to you forever." The beauty was in everything, and he could have separated nothing—couldn't have thought of her face as distinct from the whole joy. Yet her face had a new light. "And I pledge you—I call God to witness!—every spark of my faith; I give you every drop of my life.”

LoveCoupleRomanticVowPledgeHenry JamesDeclaration Of LoveThe Wings Of The Dove
Book:The Wings of the Dove
Create image

“When I tell you I love you it's simply what I came for. I thought it was for something else; but it was for that. I shouldn't say it if I didn't believe I should never see you again. It's the last time — let me pluck a single flower! I've no right to say that, I know; and you've no right to listen. But you don't listen; you never listen, you're always thinking of something else.”

SadSpeechRomanticUnrequited LoveHenry JamesDeclaration Of LoveThe Portrait Of A LadyThe Last Time
Book:The Portrait of a Lady
Create image

“After the departure of her cousin and his companions she roamed more than usual; she carried her somber spirit from one familiar shrine to the other. Even when Pansy and the Countess were with her she felt the touch of a vanished world. The carriage, leaving the walls of Rome behind, rolled through narrow lanes where the wild honeysuckle had begun to tangle itself in the hedges, or waited for her in quiet places where the fields lay near, while she strolled further and further over the flower-freckled turf, or sat on a stone that had once had a use and gazed through the veil of her personal sadness at the splendid sadness of the scene — at the dense, warm light, the far gradations and soft confusions of colour, the motionless shepherds in lonely attitudes, the hills where the cloud-shadows had the lightness of a blush.”

BeautifulSadnessDescriptionRomeHenry JamesThe Portrait Of A Lady
Book:The Portrait of a Lady
Create image

“Don't you know the soul is an immortal principle? How can it suffer alteration?" "I don't believe at all that it's an immortal principle. I believe it can perfectly be destroyed. That's what has happened to mine, which was a very good one to start with; and it's you I have to thank for it. You're very bad," she added with gravity in her emphasis.”

SoulDialogueDamageHenry JamesThe Portrait Of A LadyToxic Relationship
Book:The Portrait of a Lady
Create image

“They stood together a moment; both her hands were in both of his. 'You've been my best friend,' she said. 'It was for you that I wanted — that I wanted to live. But I'm of no use to you.' Then it came over her more poignantly that she should not see him again. She could not accept that; she could not part with him that way. 'If you should send for me I'd come,' she said at last. 'Your husband won't consent to that.' 'Oh yes, I can arrange it.' 'I shall keep that for my last pleasure!' said Ralph. In answer to which she simply kissed him.”

MovingDialogueKissGoodbyeBest FriendsPartingPoignantHenry JamesThe Portrait Of A Lady
Book:The Portrait of a Lady
Create image