To be an artist includes much; one must possess many gifts - absolute gifts - which have not been acquired by one's own effort. And, moreover, to succeed, the artist much possess the courageous soul.
Kate ChopinShe had all her life long been accustomed to harbor thoughts and emotions which never voiced themselvesโฆ They belonged to her her and were her own, and she entertained the conviction that she had a right to them and they they concerned no one but herself.
Kate ChopinExhaustion was pressing upon and overpowering her. "Good-by--because I love you." He did not know; he did not understand. He would never understand. Perhaps Doctor Mandelet would have understood if she had seen him--but it was too late; the shore was far behind her, and her strength was gone. She looked into the distance, and the old terror flamed up for an instant, then sank again.
Kate ChopinWho can tell what metals the gods use in forging the subtle bond which we call sympathy, which we might as well call love.
Kate Chopinโฆthere would be no powerful will binding hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creatureโฆAnd yet she had loved him- sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being.
Kate Chopin