William McFee Quotes

• The world is not interested in the storms you encountered, but did you bring in the ship?

  William McFee

  Inspirational, Courage, Storm

  32 Copy quote

• If fate means you to lose, give him a good fight anyhow.

  William McFee

  Mean, Fighting, Fate

  William McFee (1916). “Casuals of the Sea: The Voyage of a Soul”

  47 Copy quote

• The world belongs to the Enthusiast who keeps cool.

  William McFee

  Life, Travel, Attitude

  William McFee (1916). “Casuals of the Sea: The Voyage of a Soul”

  17 Copy quote

• The artist isn't particularly keen on getting a thing done, as you call it. He gets his pleasure out of doing it, playing with it, fooling with it, if you like. The mere completion of it is an incident.

  William McFee

  Art, Done, Pleasure

  William McFee (1921). “Harbours of Memory”

  10 Copy quote

• It is extraordinary how many emotional storms one may weather in safety if one is ballasted with ever so little gold.

  William McFee

  Emotional, Weather, Safety

  William McFee (1916). “Casuals of the Sea: The Voyage of a Soul”

  8 Copy quote

• It is so much easier to tell intimate things in the dark.

  William McFee

  Dark, Intimate, Easier

  William McFee (1916). “Casuals of the Sea: The Voyage of a Soul”

  6 Copy quote

• There is nothing like an odor to stir memories.

  William McFee

  Memories, Odor, Good Memories

  "Modern Essays" edited by Christopher Morley, ("The Market"), 1921.

  7 Copy quote

• There is a pleasure unknown to the landsman in reading at sea.

  William McFee

  Reading, Sea, Pleasure

  William McFee (1921). “Harbours of Memory”

  8 Copy quote

• Responsibility's like a string we can only see the middle of. Both ends are out of sight.

  William McFee

  Responsibility, Sight, Ethics

  "Casuals of the Sea : The Voyage of a Soul" by William McFee, Book II: The City, Ch. VI, 1916.

  8 Copy quote

• Wives invariably flourish when deserted; ... it is the deserting male, the reckless idealist rushing about the world seeking a non-existent felicity, who often ends in disaster.

  William McFee

  Rushing, Wife, Infidelity

  7 Copy quote

• People don't ever seem to realize that doing what's right, writes no guarantee against misfortune.

  William McFee

  Failure, Writing, People

  7 Copy quote

• It may be that, while we plodding realists go on, for ever preoccupied with our daily chores, abstracting a microscopic pleasure from each microscopic duty, your true romantic has the truer vision, and beholds, afar off, in all its lurid splendour and terrible proportions, the piquant adventure we call life.

  William McFee

  Romantic, Adventure, Vision

  William McFee (1921). “Harbours of Memory”

  4 Copy quote

• The worldly relations of men and women often form an equation that cancels out without warning when some insignificant factor has been added to either side.

  William McFee

  Men, Sides, Warning

  William McFee (1916). “Casuals of the Sea: The Voyage of a Soul”

  4 Copy quote

• There are some men whom a staggering emotional shock, so far from making them mental invalids for life, seems, on the other hand, to awaken, to galvanize, to arouse into an almost incredible activity of soul.

  William McFee

  Men, Emotional, Hands

  William McFee (1921). “Harbours of Memory”

  6 Copy quote

• A trouble is a trouble, and the general idea, in the country, is to treat it as such, rather than to snatch the knotted cords from the hand of God and deal out murderous blows.

  William McFee

  Country, Blow, Ideas

  William McFee (1916). “Casuals of the Sea: The Voyage of a Soul”

  4 Copy quote

• The artist in his teens who is happy is a charlatan. Life comes bursting in all around lis too suddenly, too crudely, too cruelly, for happiness.

  William McFee

  Artist, Teens, Bursting

  4 Copy quote

• An Englishman never takes his collar off when he is writing. How can you expect him to show you his soul?

  William McFee

  Writing, Soul, Shows

  William McFee (1921). “Harbours of Memory”

  7 Copy quote

• A young man must let his ideas grow, not be continually rooting them up to see how they are getting on.

  William McFee

  Men, Ideas, Incubation

  "Harbours of Memory" by William McFee, (p. 236), 1921.

  9 Copy quote

• Terrible and sublime thought, that every moment is supreme for some man and woman, every hour the apotheosis of some passion!

  William McFee

  Passion, Men, Sublime

  William McFee (1916). “Casuals of the Sea: The Voyage of a Soul”

  23 Copy quote

• Woman dwell always in the palace of unpalatable truth and never by any chance is there a magic talisman to save them from their destiny. Speech is their ultimate need. We men exist for them only in so far as we can be described.

  William McFee

  Destiny, Men, Magic

  William McFee (1921). “Harbours of Memory”

  4 Copy quote

• There is far too much talk of love and grief benumbing the faculties, turning the hair gray, and destroying a man's interest in his work. Grief has made many a man look younger.

  William McFee

  Grief, Men, Hair

  William McFee (1921). “Harbours of Memory”

  4 Copy quote

• The wives who are not deserted, but who have to feed and clothe and comfort and scold and advise, are the true objects of commiseration; wives whose existence is given over to a ceaseless vigil of cantankerous affection.

  William McFee

  Marriage, Wife, Comfort

  William McFee (1921). “Harbours of Memory”

  4 Copy quote

• Fear, born of the stern matron Responsibility, sits on one's shoulders like some heavy imp of darkness, and one is preoccupied and, possibly, cantankerous.

  William McFee

  Responsibility, Anxiety, Darkness

  William McFee (1921). “Harbours of Memory”

  4 Copy quote

• One must choose between obscurity with efficiency, and fame with its inevitable collateral of bluff.

  William McFee

  Obscurity, Reputation, Fame

  William McFee (1921). “Harbours of Memory”

  9 Copy quote

• There is nothing like a start, and being born, however pessimistic one may become in later years, is undeniably a start.

  William McFee

  Years, Pessimistic, May

  William McFee (1921). “Harbours of Memory”

  4 Copy quote

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