Grown up, and that is a terribly hard thing to do. It is much easier to skip it and go from one childhood to another.

we both fitted. If our corners were not rubbed off they were at least pulled in. But deep in us both was something that made us require more for happiness. I didn't know what I wanted

Her beauty climbed the rolling slope, it came into the room, rustling ghost-like through the curtains.

There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams -- not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way. No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.

So there was not an "I" anymore - not a basis on which I could organize my self-respect - save my limitless capacity for toil that it seemed I possessed no more.

Nothing is as obnoxious as other people's luck.

For what it’s worth, it’s never too late to be whoever you want to be.