There are two ways to spread happiness; either be the light who shines it or be the mirror who reflects it.
Edith WhartonThe very good people didn't convince me; I felt they'd never been tempted. But you knew; you understood; you had felt the world outside tugging at one with all its golden hands โ and yet you hated the things it asks of one; you hated happiness bought by disloyalty and cruelty and indifference.
Edith WhartonHe knelt by the bed and bent over her, draining their last moment to its lees; and in the silence there passed between them the word which made all clear.
Edith WhartonThe real alchemy consists in being able to turn gold back again into something else; and that's the secret that most of your friends have lost.
Edith WhartonThrough this atmosphere of torrid splendor moved wan beings as richly upholstered as the furniture, beings without definite pursuits or permanent relations, who drifted on a languid tide of curiosity... Somewhere behind them, in the background of their lives there was doubtless a real past, yet they had no more real existence than the poet's shades in limbo.
Edith Wharton