You walk into a room, see a woman, and something happens. It's chemical. What are you going to do about it?
Theodore DreiserLet no one underestimate the need of pity. We live in a stony universe whose hard, brilliant forces rage fiercely.
Theodore DreiserNature, machine-like, works definitely and heartlessly, if in the main beautifully. Hence, if we, as individuals, do not make this dream of a god or what he stands for us real in our thoughts and deeds, then he is not real or true.
Theodore DreiserI sacrifice to the God of Beauty โ the impulse to beauty in nature. Here are flowers. Here is wine spilled on the floor. I will burn incense & myrhh. I will kneel & strike my breast & touch the dust with my forehead. I will I will! Only do not forsake me, Oh God of beauty.
Theodore DreiserPeople in general attach too much importance to words. They are under the illusion that talking effects great results. As a matter of fact, words are, as a rule, the shallowest portion of all the argument. They but dimly represent the great surging feelings and desires which lie behind. When the distraction of the tongue is removed, the heart listens.
Theodore Dreiser