William Dean Howells Quotes
An American realist author and literary critic.
(1837 - 1920)
|
|
|
|
A man never sees all that his mother has been to him till it's too late to let her know that he sees it.
[Mother]
|
|
|
|
Does it afflict you to find your books wearing out? I mean literally .. . the mortality of all inanimate things is terrible to me, but that of books most of all.
|
|
|
|
He kept up with the current literature, and distilled from it a polite essence, with which he knew how to perfume his conversation.
[Conversation]
|
|
|
|
He was in love with his work, and he felt the enthusiasm for it which nothing but the work we can do well inspires in us.
[Work]
|
|
|
|
He who sleeps in continual noise is wakened by silence.
|
|
|
|
How is it the great pieces of good luck fall to us?
|
|
|
|
If I were authorized to address any word directly to our novelists, I should say: Do not trouble yourself about standards or ideals, but try to be faithful and natural.
[Writing]
|
|
|
|
If we like a man's dream, we call him a reformer; if we don't like his dream, we call him a crank.
|
|
|
|
In Europe life is histrionic and dramatized, and in America, except when it is trying to be European, it is direct and sincere.
|
|
|
|
Inequality is as dear to the American heart as liberty itself.
|
|
|
|
Is it worth while to observe that there are no Venetian blinds in Venice?
|
|
|
|
It is the still, small voice that the soul heeds, not the deafening blasts of doom.
|
|
|
|
Primitive societies without religion have never been found.
|
|
|
|
Some people can stay longer in an hour than others can in a week.
|
|
|
|
The action is best that secures the greatest happiness for the greatest number.
|
|
|
|
The book which you read from a sense of duty, or because for any reason you must, does not commonly make friends with you.
|
|
|
|
The conqueror is regarded with awe; the wise man commands our respect; but it is only the benevolent man that wins our affection.
[Benevolence]
|
|
|
|
The disposition to give a cup of cold water to a disciple, is a far nobler property than the finest intellect.
[Benevolence]
|
|
|
|
The mortality of all inanimate things is terrible to me, but that of books most of all.
|
|
|
|
The religion of Christ reaches and changes the heart, which no other religion does.
[Religion]
|
|
|
|
|