I would give all I possess to get out of myself; but somehow, at the end, I find myself so vastly more interesting than nine tenths of the people I meet.
Henry JamesShe took refuge on the firm ground of fiction, through which indeed there curled the blue river of truth.
Henry JamesIf I were to live my life over again, I would be an American. I would steep myself in America, I would know no other land.
Henry JamesI always want to know the things one shouldn't do." "So as to do them?" asked her aunt. "So as to choose." said Isabel
Henry JamesLife is, in fact, a battle. Evil is insolent and strong; beauty enchanting, but rare; goodness very apt to be weak; folly very apt to be defiant; wickedness to carry the day; imbeciles to be in great places, people of sense in small, and mankind generally unhappy. But the world as it stands is no narrow illusion, no phantasm, no evil dream of the night; we wake up to it, forever and ever; and we can neither forget it nor deny it nor dispense with it.
Henry James