I didn’t refuse often enough.
Henry James
Regret, Refusal, Missed Opportunities, Decisions, Self-awareness, Learning
Henry James’s Quotes On Topics
Closure | Worth Living | Quiet | Healing | Reality | Peril | Metaphysics | Cessation | Pocket Book | Living Threat | Custom | Melancholy | Production | Distrust | Surreal Reflections | Youthful | Subordination | Obsession | Narrative Effort | Pearls | More
More Henry James Quotes
“When once the gate is opened to self-torture, the whole army of fiends files in.” Henry James
Self-torture, Fiends, Agony, Descent, Darkness, Obsession
Henry James Self-torture, Fiends, Agony, Descent, Darkness, Obsession“If she had troubles she must keep them to herself, and if life was difficult it would not make it easier to confess herself beaten.” Henry James
Troubles, Secrecy, Difficulties, Self-reliance, Struggle, Acceptance
Henry James Troubles, Secrecy, Difficulties, Self-reliance, Struggle, Acceptance“I’ve been deceived too often; I’ve ceased to form attachments, to permit myself to feel attractions.” Henry James
Deception, Caution, Emotional Detachment, Trust, Attraction, Cessation
Henry James Deception, Caution, Emotional Detachment, Trust, Attraction, Cessation“And the figure of the income he had arrived at had never been high enough to look any one in the face.” Henry James
Ambition, Financials, Reality, Success, Confidence, Perception
Henry James Ambition, Financials, Reality, Success, Confidence, Perception“Young men of this class never do anything for themselves that they can get other people to do for them, and it is the infatuation, the devotion, the superstition of others that keeps them going. These others in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred are women.” Henry James
Youth, Dependency, Infatuation, Devotion, Superstition, Influence
Henry James Youth, Dependency, Infatuation, Devotion, Superstition, Influence“And to ply them with that evil still, to keep up the work of demons, is what brings the others back.” Henry James
Demonic Work, Persistent Evil, Haunting Actions, Malevolent Forces, Sinister Influence, Moral Conflict
Henry James Demonic Work, Persistent Evil, Haunting Actions, Malevolent Forces, Sinister Influence, Moral Conflict“Little by little, even with other cares, the slowly but surely working poison of the garden-mania begins to stir in my long-sluggish veins.” Henry James
Garden Obsession, Growing Passion, Poison, Obsession, Passion, Garden
Henry James Garden Obsession, Growing Passion, Poison, Obsession, Passion, Garden“What was at all events not permanently hidden from him was a truth much less invidious about his years of darkness. It was the strange scheme of things again: the years of darkness had been needed to render possible the years of light.” Henry James
Darkness And Light, Hidden Truth, Truth, Light, Darkness, Hidden
Henry James Darkness And Light, Hidden Truth, Truth, Light, Darkness, Hidden“His great, his inestimable merit was a complete appreciation of the usual.” Henry James
Simplicity, Understanding, Gratitude, Merit, Clarity, Insight
Henry James Simplicity, Understanding, Gratitude, Merit, Clarity, Insight“We see our lives from our own point of view; that is the privilege of the weakest and humblest of us;.” Henry James
Self-Perspective, Privilege, Weakness, View, Humbleness, Reflection
Henry James Self-Perspective, Privilege, Weakness, View, Humbleness, Reflection“He reconstructed a possible groping Chad of three or four years before, a Chad who had, after all, simply – for that was the only way to see it – been too vulgar for his privilege. Surely it was a privilege to have been young and happy just there. Well, the best thing Strether knew of him was that he had had such a dream.” Henry James
Lost Privilege, Youthful Dream, Dream, Privilege, Youthful, Lost
Henry James Lost Privilege, Youthful Dream, Dream, Privilege, Youthful, Lost“He had seen the follies of the romantic disposition, but there seemed somehow no follies in theirs – nothing, one was obliged to recognise, but innocent pleasures, pleasures without penalties.” Henry James
Romantic Innocence, Penalty-Free Joy, Innocence, Romantic, Joy, Penalty
Henry James Romantic Innocence, Penalty-Free Joy, Innocence, Romantic, Joy, Penalty“She believed me, I was sure, absolutely; if she hadn’t I don’t know what would have become of me, for I couldn’t have borne the strain alone.” Henry James
Trust, Emotional Support, Belief, Strain, Dependence, Confidence
Henry James Trust, Emotional Support, Belief, Strain, Dependence, Confidence“A novel is in its broadest sense a personal, a direct impression of life: that, to begin with, constitutes its value, which is greater or less according to the intensity of the impression.” Henry James
Novel, Life, Impression, Experience, Intensity, Personal
Henry James Novel, Life, Impression, Experience, Intensity, Personal“She took refuge on the firm ground of fiction, through which indeed there curled the blue river of truth.” Henry James
Fictional Truth, Creative Escape, Truth, Fiction, Escape, Creative
Henry James Fictional Truth, Creative Escape, Truth, Fiction, Escape, Creative“It was in her disposition at all times to lose faith in the reality of absent things; she could summon back her faith, in case of need, with with an effort, but the effort was often painful even when the reality had been pleasant. The past was apt to look dead and its revival rather to show the livid light of a judgement-day.” Henry James
Faith, Past, Revival, Reality, Pain, Judgment
Henry James Faith, Past, Revival, Reality, Pain, Judgment“The main object of the novel is to represent life. The success of a work of art, to my mind, may be measured by the degree to which it produces a certain illusion; that illusion makes it appear to us for the time that we have lived another life - that we have had a miraculous enlargement of experience.” Henry James
Art, Illusion, Reflection, Narrative, Life, Experience
Henry James Art, Illusion, Reflection, Narrative, Life, Experience“His very quietness was part of it now, as always part of everything, of his success, his originality, his modesty, his exquisite public perversity, his inscrutable incalculable energy; and this quality perhaps it might be – all the more too as the result, for the present occasion, of an admirable traceable effort – that placed him in her eyes as no precious work of art probably had ever been placed in his own.” Henry James
Quiet Strength, Unique Essence, Poise, Power, Legacy
Henry James Quiet Strength, Unique Essence, Poise, Power, Legacy