Edith Wharton

"I wonder if we are not all rather like a flock of frightened sheep."

"The effort to acquire distinction in literature lay but in the struggle against expression."

"There is much to be said for the virtue of making a beginning."

"Letters are the only substantial thing left to me in the world."

"It takes a great deal of courage to see the world in the eyes of a child."

"Pleasure is the only thing that one should live for."

"The only way to understand people is through their love of money."

"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."

"One can't lead a public life without learning to behave like an automaton."

"The question of a woman's sphere is not settled by the fact that she reads or writes."

"Time is the most precious thing we have, and yet we squander it."

"There is a certain moment when an author must choose between the demands of truth and the demands of his audience."

"The most tragic thing in the world is innocence."

"We are all visibly dying, though some of us are given more time than others."

"Silence may be golden, but it can also be deadly."

"The function of art is to enlarge our conception of the possible."

"To refuse to think is a form of death."

"One's past is made up of the accumulation of little events."

"The deepest thoughts come in silence."

"To be able to change is not always a blessing."

"The greatest value of a man is in his independence of spirit."

"Love is a battle between two people who have not yet learned to live separately."

"A woman's greatest victory is in being indispensable."

"The meaning of things lies not in the things themselves but in our attitude toward them."

"There is nothing like the real thing."

"Consciousness is the only prison."

"There are always two deaths—the first when we die, the second when we are forgotten."

"We read to know we are not alone."

"The beauty of nature is that it is always renewing itself."

"To be a man is to accept responsibility."