The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of Godโa phrase which, if it means anything, means just thatโand he must be about His Fatherโs Business, the service of a vast, vulgar and meretricious beauty.
F. Scott FitzgeraldBeauty is only to be admired, only to be loved - to be harvested carefully and then flung at a chosen lover like a gift of roses. It seems to me, so far as I can judge clearly at all, that my beauty would be used like that.
F. Scott FitzgeraldI canโt tell you just how wonderful she is. I donโt want you to know. I donโt want any one to know.
F. Scott FitzgeraldHe had seen me several times, and had intended to call on me long before, but a peculiar combination of circumstances had prevented it.
F. Scott FitzgeraldDon't let yourself feel worthless: often through life you will really be at your worst when you seem to think best of yourself; and don't worry about losing your "personality," as you persist in calling it: at fifteen you had the radiance of early morning, at twenty you will begin to have the melancholy brilliance of the moon, and when you are my age you will give out, as I do, the genial golden warmth of 4 p.m.
F. Scott FitzgeraldAs he took her hand she saw him look her over from head to foot, a gesture she recognized and that made her feel at home, but gave her always a faint feeling of superiority to whoever made it. If her person was property she could exercise whatever advantage was inherent in its ownership.
F. Scott Fitzgerald