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Reflection Quotes by Famous Authors

Death’s an old joke but each individual encounters it anew

1. “Death’s an old joke, but each individual encounters it anew.”

Why is it that when one is enjoying say a

2. “Why is it that when one is enjoying, say, a piece of music, or a beautiful summer evening, or a conversation with a sympathetic companion, the occasion seems rather a hint at an infinite felicity existent elsewhere than a real felicity actually being experienced?”

I gave myself up to fruitless speculation and was always

3. “I gave myself up to fruitless speculation, and was always looking for secluded places. I became particularly fond of the ruined greenhouse. I used to climb, I remember, on to the high wall, settle myself on it and sit there, a youth afflicted by such misery, solitude and grief that I would be overcome with self-pity. How I reveled in these melancholy feelings – how I adored them.”

I had no first love′ he said at last; ‘I

4. “I had no first love,′ he said at last; ‘I began with the second.”

Looking about me listening and recalling what the day had

5. “Looking about me, listening and recalling what the day had been like, I suddenly felt a secret unease in my heart and raised my eyes to the sky, but even in the sky there seemed to be no tranquillity. Dotted with stars, it constantly quivered and danced and shivered.”

I’m incapable of describing the feeling with which I left

6. “I’m incapable of describing the feeling with which I left. I wouldn’t want it ever to be repeated, but I would have considered myself unfortunate if I’d never experienced it.”

Time as is well known sometimes flies like a bird

7. “Time, as is well known, sometimes flies like a bird and sometimes crawls like a worm, but human beings are generally particularly happy when they don’t notice whether it’s passing quickly or slowly.”

So many memories and so little worth remembering and in

8. “So many memories and so little worth remembering, and in front of me – a long, long road without a goal...”

To be young and not to know how is bearable;

9. “To be young and not to know how, is bearable; to be old and not have the strength, is too great a weight to carry. And what’s is so painful you can’t sense your powers leaving you. It’s hard for an old man to ensure such blows!”

I walked in the meadows of green grieving for my

10. “I walked in the meadows of green grieving for my life.”

While a man is living he is not conscious of

11. “While a man is living he is not conscious of his own life; it becomes audible to him, like a sound, after the lapse of time.”

I never placed my head upon the pillow at night

12. “I never placed my head upon the pillow at night without reminding myself that my success might only be temporary.”

John D. Rockefeller

Writing is therapeutic It helps you cope with issues that

13. “Writing is therapeutic. It helps you cope with issues that seem gargantuan at the time. The process of expressing yourself about a problem, editing your thoughts, and writing some more can help you control issues that you face.”

We love to chew the cud of a foregone vision;

14. “We love to chew the cud of a foregone vision; to collect the scattered rays of a brighter phantasm, or act over again, with firmer nerves, the sadder nocturnal tragedies.”

Not if I know myself at all

15. “Not if I know myself at all.”

What is reading but silent conversation

16. “What is reading, but silent conversation.”

We do not go to the theatre like our ancestors

17. “We do not go to the theatre like our ancestors, to escape from the pressure of reality, so much as to confirm our experience of it.”

How sickness enlarges the dimension of a man’s self to

18. “How sickness enlarges the dimension of a man’s self to himself!”

New Year’s Day is every man’s birthday

19. “New Year’s Day is every man’s birthday.”

Books think for me I can read anything which I

20. “Books think for me. I can read anything which I call a book.”

When I am not walking I am reading I cannot

21. “When I am not walking, I am reading. I cannot sit and think.”

By myself walking To myself talking

22. “By myself walking, To myself talking.”

She unbent her mind afterwards – over a book

23. “She unbent her mind afterwards – over a book.”

Our spirits grow gray before our hairs

24. “Our spirits grow gray before our hairs.”

All all are gone the old familiar faces

25. “All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.”

Gluttony and surfeiting are no proper occasions for thanksgiving

26. “Gluttony and surfeiting are no proper occasions for thanksgiving.”

How some they have died and some they have left

27. “How some they have died, and some they have left me, And some are taken from me; all are departed; All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.”

We encourage one another in mediocrity

28. “We encourage one another in mediocrity.”

I cannot sit and think; books think for me

29. “I cannot sit and think; books think for me.”

I love to lose myself in other men’s minds

30. “I love to lose myself in other men’s minds.”

Oh breathe not his name let it sleep in the

31. “Oh, breathe not his name! let it sleep in the shade, Where cold and unhonour’d his relics are laid.”

From a poor man poor in Time I was suddenly

32. “From a poor man, poor in Time, I was suddenly lifted up into a vast revenue; I could see no end of my possessions; I wanted some steward, or judicious bailiff, to manage my estates in Time for me.”

To be thankful for what we grasp exceeding our proportion

33. “To be thankful for what we grasp exceeding our proportion is to add hypocrisy to injustice.”

In every thing that relates to science I am a

34. “In every thing that relates to science, I am a whole Encyclopaedia behind the rest of the world.”

Cultivate simplicity Coleridge

35. “Cultivate simplicity, Coleridge.”

If there be a regal solitude it is a sick-bed

36. “If there be a regal solitude, it is a sick-bed. How the patient lords it there!”

The red-letter days now become to all intents and purposes

37. “The red-letter days, now become, to all intents and purposes, dead-letter days.”

What have I gained by health? Intolerable dullness What by

38. “What have I gained by health? Intolerable dullness. What by mode meals? A total blank.”

The most mortifying infirmity in human nature to feel in

39. “The most mortifying infirmity in human nature, to feel in ourselves, or to contemplate in another, is perhaps cowardice.”

I’d like to grow very old as slowly as possible

40. “I’d like to grow very old as slowly as possible.”

No one ever regarded the First of January with indifference

41. “No one ever regarded the First of January with indifference. It is that from which all date their time, and count upon what is left. It is the nativity of our common Adam.”

Milton almost requires a solemn service of music to be

42. “Milton almost requires a solemn service of music to be played before you enter upon him. But he brings his music, to which who listen had need bring docile thoughts and purged ears.”

The mind is not I know a highway but a

43. “The mind is not, I know, a highway, but a temple, and its doors should not be carelessly left open.”

Margaret Fuller

I stand in the sunny noon of life Objects no

44. “I stand in the sunny noon of life. Objects no longer glitter in the dews of morning, neither are yet softened by the shadows of evening.”

Margaret Fuller

Our desires once realized haunt us again less readily

45. “Our desires, once realized, haunt us again less readily.”

Margaret Fuller

Amid all your duties keep some hours to yourself

46. “Amid all your duties, keep some hours to yourself.”

Margaret Fuller

Men for the sake of getting a living forget to

47. “Men for the sake of getting a living forget to live.”

Margaret Fuller

We need to hear the excuses men make to themselves

48. “We need to hear the excuses men make to themselves for their worthlessness.”

Margaret Fuller

To one who has enjoyed the full life of any

49. “To one who has enjoyed the full life of any scene, of any hour, what thoughts can be recorded about it seem like the commas and semicolons in the paragraph—mere stops.”

Margaret Fuller

Let every woman who has once begun to think examine

50. “Let every woman, who has once begun to think, examine herself.”

Margaret Fuller