There are bad manners everywhere, but an aristocracy is bad manners organized.
Henry James
Social Hierarchy, Manners, Class, Aristocracy, Society, Politeness
Henry James’s Quotes On Topics
Continuous Growth | Exploitation | Emotional Conflict | Skills | Unexpected Gains | Balance | Relics | Lessons | Possibilities | Dismay | Personal Sacrifice | Power Struggles | Agreeable | Cultural Norms | Precision | Personal Perspective | Fantasy Vision | Personal Tact | Generosity | Confused State | More
More Henry James Quotes
“The house of fiction has in short not one window, but a million—a number of possible windows not to be reckoned rather; every one of which has been pierced, or is still pierceable, in its vast front, by the need of the individual vision and by the pressure of the individual will.” Henry James
Fiction, Windows, Possibilities, Imagination, Creativity, Individuality
Henry James Fiction, Windows, Possibilities, Imagination, Creativity, Individuality“Take the word for it of a man who has made his way inch by inch, and does not believe that we’ll wake up to find our work done because we’ve lain all night a-dreaming of it; anything worth doing is devilish hard to do!” Henry James
Hard Work, Perseverance, Effort, Determination, Success
Henry James Hard Work, Perseverance, Effort, Determination, Success“I’m sure you’ve an excellent spirit; but don’t try to bear more things than you need.” Henry James
Strength, Endurance, Simplicity, Burden, Moderation, Contentment
Henry James Strength, Endurance, Simplicity, Burden, Moderation, Contentment“There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.” Henry James
Leisure Ritual, Gentle Moment, Tradition, Relaxation, Enjoyment
Henry James Leisure Ritual, Gentle Moment, Tradition, Relaxation, Enjoyment“The only obligation to which in advance we may hold a novel, without incurring the accusation of being arbitrary, is that it be interesting.” Henry James
Literary Freedom, Narrative Interest, Creativity, Engagement, Originality
Henry James Literary Freedom, Narrative Interest, Creativity, Engagement, Originality“She ordered a cup of tea, which proved excessively bad, and this gave her a sense that she was suffering in a romantic cause.” Henry James
Tea, Romanticism, Suffering, Experience, Mood, Reflection
Henry James Tea, Romanticism, Suffering, Experience, Mood, Reflection“They had from an early hour made up their mind that society was, luckily, unintelligent, and the margin allowed them by this had fairly become one of their commonplaces.” Henry James
Criticism, Intellectual Distance, Skepticism, Observation, Acceptance
Henry James Criticism, Intellectual Distance, Skepticism, Observation, Acceptance“She had taken his measure; he was made incorrigibly to try, irredeemably to fail – to be, in short, eternally defeated and eternally unaware. He wouldn’t rage he couldn’t, for the citadel might, in that case, have been carried by his assault; he would only spend his life in walking round and round it, asking everyone he met how in the name of goodness one did get in.” Henry James
Failure, Perseverance, Struggle, Introspection, Determination, Self-awareness
Henry James Failure, Perseverance, Struggle, Introspection, Determination, Self-awareness“He is outside of everything, and an alien everywhere. He is an aesthetic solitary. His beautiful, light imagination is the wing that on the autumn evening just brushes the dusky window.” Henry James
Solitude, Creativity, Aesthetics, Imagination, Reflection, Experience
Henry James Solitude, Creativity, Aesthetics, Imagination, Reflection, Experience“It’s her general air of being some one in particular that strikes me. Who is this rare creature, and what is she? Where did you find her, and how did you make her acquaintance?” Henry James
Unique Presence, Enigmatic Charm, Curiosity, Individuality, Magnetism
Henry James Unique Presence, Enigmatic Charm, Curiosity, Individuality, Magnetism“The church was simply the former chapel of the castle, fronting upon its grass-grown court, which, however, was of generous enough width to have given up its quaintest corner to a little graveyard.” Henry James
Historical Reflection, Serenity, Tradition, Faith, Rest, Memory
Henry James Historical Reflection, Serenity, Tradition, Faith, Rest, Memory“Really, universally, relations stop nowhere, and the exquisite problem of the artist is eternally but to draw, by a geometry of his own, the circle within which they shall happily appear to do so.” Henry James
Creativity, Relations, Complexity, Reflection, Expression, Boundaries
Henry James Creativity, Relations, Complexity, Reflection, Expression, Boundaries“It was the hushed daybreak of the Roman revelation in particular that he could usually best recover – the way that there above all, where the princes and popes had been before him, his divination of his faculty had gone to his head. He.” Henry James
Ancient Glory, Divine Revelation, Vision, Reflection, Power
Henry James Ancient Glory, Divine Revelation, Vision, Reflection, Power“You’re capable of anything, you and Osmond. I don’t mean Osmond by himself, and I don’t mean you by yourself. But together you’re dangerous – like some chemical combination.” Henry James
Dangerous, Chemistry, Union, Power, Influence, Complexity
Henry James Dangerous, Chemistry, Union, Power, Influence, Complexity“But James, as an artist, was deeply suspicious of what gave him pleasure, or indeed satisfaction. In his own complex sensibility, there was an ambiguity about most things, and this moved him towards subtlety when he approached character, drama, and scene, and nudged him towards many modifying subclauses when he wrote a sentence. Nothing came to him simply.” Henry James
Complexity, Artistic Caution, Ambiguity, Depth, Subtlety, Introspection
Henry James Complexity, Artistic Caution, Ambiguity, Depth, Subtlety, Introspection“He put into his one little glass everything he raised to his lips, and it was as if he had always carried in his pocket, like a tool of his trade, this receptacle, a little glass cut with a fineness of which the art had long since been lost, and kept in an old morocco case stamped in uneffaceable gilt with the arms of a deposed dynasty.” Henry James
Glass, Tradition, Elegance, Art, History, Symbolism
Henry James Glass, Tradition, Elegance, Art, History, Symbolism“If the artist is necessarily sensitive, does that sensitiveness form in its essence a state constantly liable to shade off into the morbid? Does this liability, moreover, increase in proportion as the effort is great and the ambition intense?” Henry James
Artistic Sensitivity, Creative Challenges, Ambition Impact, Emotional Depth, Morbid Tendencies, Artistic Effort
Henry James Artistic Sensitivity, Creative Challenges, Ambition Impact, Emotional Depth, Morbid Tendencies, Artistic Effort“To live in such a place was, for Isabel, to hold to her ear all day a shell of the sea of the past. This vague eternal rumor kept her imagination awake.” Henry James
Past, Imagination, Memory, Place, Reflection, Connection
Henry James Past, Imagination, Memory, Place, Reflection, Connection“There is always a place for chance in things.” Henry James
Chance Importance, Life Opportunities, Random Events, Personal Fate, Situational Luck, Open Possibilities
Henry James Chance Importance, Life Opportunities, Random Events, Personal Fate, Situational Luck, Open Possibilities“No evening I had passed at Bly had the portentous quality of this one; in spite of which – and in spite also of the deeper depths of consternation that had opened beneath my feet – there was literally, in the ebbing actual, an extraordinarily sweet sadness.” Henry James
Evening, Sadness, Reflection, Consternation, Atmosphere, Melancholy
Henry James Evening, Sadness, Reflection, Consternation, Atmosphere, Melancholy