Theodore Dreiser Quotes

Quotes about:

• Life is made for the strong. There is no mercy in it for the weak– none...Such is the tragedy of desire.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Strong, Tragedy, Desire

  12 Copy quote

• I believe in the compelling power of love. I do not understand it. I believe it to be the most fragrant blossom of all this thorny existence.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Love, Believe, Existence

  Theodore Dreiser (1977). “Theodore Dreiser: a selection of uncollected prose”, Wayne State Univ Pr

  47 Copy quote

• A thought will color a world for us.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Color, World

  Theodore Dreiser (2016). “Sister Carrie”, p.54, Simon and Schuster

  9 Copy quote

• How true it is that words are but the vague shadows of the volumes we mean.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Mean, Shadow, Chakra

  Theodore Dreiser (2016). “Sister Carrie”, p.10, Theodore Dreiser

  20 Copy quote

• Assure a man that he has a soul and then frighten him with old wives' tales as to what is to become of him afterward, and you have hooked a fish, a mental slave.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Men, Wife, Scary

  Theodore Dreiser (1965). “Theodore Dreiser; His Autobiography”

  47 Copy quote

• Life is a God-damned, stinking, treacherous game and nine hundred and ninety-nine men out of a thousand are bastards.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Life, Men, Ninety Nine

  Theodore Dreiser, T. D. Nostwich (1991). “Newspaper Days”, p.69, University of Pennsylvania Press

  22 Copy quote

• Love is the only thing you can really give in all this world. When you give love, you give everything.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Love You, Love Is, Giving

  Theodore Dreiser (2015). “Twelve Men: Famous People”, p.51, 谷月社

  13 Copy quote

• Our civilization is still in a middle stage, scarcely beast, in that it is no longer wholly guided by instinct; scarcely human, in that it is not yet wholly guided by reason.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Civilization, Intuition, Beast

  Theodore Dreiser (2016). “Sister Carrie”, p.77, Simon and Schuster

  11 Copy quote

• Art is the stored honey of the human soul, gathered on wings of misery and travail.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Art, Sadness, Wings

  Theodore Dreiser (1920). “Hey Rub-a-dub-dub: A Book of the Mystery and Wonder and Terror of Life”

  12 Copy quote

• In order to have wisdom we must have ignorance.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Ignorance, Order

  14 Copy quote

• The most futile thing in this world is any attempt, perhaps, at exact definition of character. All individuals are a bundle of contradictions - none more so than the most capable.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Honesty, Character, World

  Theodore Dreiser (2015). “The Financier: Top American Novels”, p.78, 谷月社

  10 Copy quote

• Nothing is proved, all is permitted.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Theodore Dreiser (2015). “The Titan: Top American Novels”, p.204, 谷月社

  8 Copy quote

• Let no one underestimate the need of pity. We live in a stony universe whose hard, brilliant forces rage fiercely.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Needs, Brilliant, Underestimate

  Theodore Dreiser, Roark Mulligan (2010). “The Financier: The Critical Edition”, p.264, University of Illinois Press

  17 Copy quote

• People in general attach too much importance to words. They are under the illusion that talking effects great results. As a matter of fact, words are, as a rule, the shallowest portion of all the argument. They but dimly represent the great surging feelings and desires which lie behind. When the distraction of the tongue is removed, the heart listens.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Lying, Heart, Talking

  Theodore Dreiser (2004). “Sister Carrie”, p.83, Courier Corporation

  10 Copy quote

• The thing that impressed me then as now about New York… was the sharp, and at the same time immense, contrast it showed between the dull and the shrewd, the strong and the weak, the rich and the poor, the wise and the ignorant… the strong, or those who ultimately dominated, were so very strong, and the weak so very, very weak - and so very, very many.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Wise, Strong, New York

  28 Copy quote

• Words are but the vague shadows of the volumes we mean. Little audible links, they are, chaining together great inaudible feelings and purposes.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Mean, Feelings, Shadow

  Theodore Dreiser (2016). “Sister Carrie”, p.10, Theodore Dreiser

  10 Copy quote

• The true meaning of money yet remains to be popularly explained and comprehended.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Remains, True Meaning

  Theodore Dreiser (2015). “Sister Carrie: Top American Novels”, p.54, 谷月社

  4 Copy quote

• If we are to extract any joy out of our span, we must think and plan and make things better not only for ourselves but for others, since joy for ourselves depends upon our joy in others and theirs in us.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Thinking, Joy, Plans

  8 Copy quote

• All forms of dogmatic religion should go. The world did without them in the past and can do so again.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Past, Atheism, World

  6 Copy quote

• If you have that unconquerable urge to write, nothing will stop you from writing.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Writing, Unconquerable, Ifs

  7 Copy quote

• To the untraveled, territory other than their own familiar heath is invariably fascinating. Next to love it is the one thing that solaces and delights.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Delight, Territory, Next

  Theodore Dreiser (2017). “Delphi Complete Works of Theodore Dreiser (Illustrated)”, p.325, Delphi Classics

  8 Copy quote

• The strong man wants to be allowed to DO; the little man wants to stop him.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Strong, Business, Men

  7 Copy quote

• If I were personally to define religion, I would say that it is a bandage that man has invented to protect a soul made bloody by circustance.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Atheist, Men, Soul

  Theodore Dreiser (2015). “The Genius”, p.859, Booklassic

  9 Copy quote

• The mystery of life--its inexplicability, beauty, cruelty, tenderness, folly . . . has occupied the greater part of my waking thoughts; and in reverence or rage or irony, as the moment or situation might dictate, I have pondered and even demanded of cosmic energy to know Why.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Energy, Might, Waking

  Theodore Dreiser (1977). “Theodore Dreiser: a selection of uncollected prose”, Wayne State Univ Pr

  5 Copy quote

• It is a sad thing to want for happiness, but it is a terrible thing to see another groping about blindly for it, when it is almost within the grasp.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Want, Terrible, Sad Things

  Theodore Dreiser (2016). “Sister Carrie”, p.181, Theodore Dreiser

  7 Copy quote

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