Henry James Quotes

Quotes about:

• Excellence does not require perfection.

  Henry James

  Perfection, Excellence, Doe

  64 Copy quote
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  Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.

  Henry James

  Inspirational, Life, Friendship

  "Henry James: A Life". Book by Leon Edel. Volume 5: "The Master 1901-1916", 1972.

  80 Copy quote
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  Do not mind anything that anyone tells you about anyone else. Judge everyone and everything for yourself.

  Henry James

  Friendship, Relationship, Judging

  Henry James (2016). “The Daily Henry James: A Year of Quotes from the Work of the Master”, p.172, University of Chicago Press

  69 Copy quote

• It's time to start living the life you've imagined.

  Henry James

  Inspirational, Life, Positive

  93 Copy quote

• Until you try, you don't know what you can't do.

  Henry James

  Trying, Knows

  43 Copy quote
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  We work in the dark - we do what we can - we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.

  Henry James

  Inspirational, Life, Art

  "The Middle Years" (1893)

  80 Copy quote

• You must save what you can of your life; you musn't lose it all simply because you've lost a part.

  Henry James

  Lost, Loses

  Henry James (1963). “The Portrait of a Lady”

  44 Copy quote

• Life is, in fact, a battle. Evil is insolent and strong; beauty enchanting, but rare; goodness very apt to be weak; folly very apt to be defiant; wickedness to carry the day; imbeciles to be in great places, people of sense in small, and mankind generally unhappy. But the world as it stands is no narrow illusion, no phantasm, no evil dream of the night; we wake up to it, forever and ever; and we can neither forget it nor deny it nor dispense with it.

  Henry James

  Dream, Strong, Believe

  Henry James (2016). “The Daily Henry James: A Year of Quotes from the Work of the Master”, p.4, University of Chicago Press

  11 Copy quote

• If you have work to do, don't wait to feel like it; set to work and you will feel like it.

  Henry James

  Waiting, Feels, Ifs

  Henry James (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry James (Illustrated)”, p.280, Delphi Classics

  8 Copy quote

• Sorrow comes in great waves...but rolls over us, and though it may almost smother us, it leaves us. And we know that if it is strong, we are stronger, inasmuch as it passes and we remain.

  Henry James

  Strong, Hard Times, Sorrow

  29 Copy quote

• Deep experience is never peaceful.

  Henry James

  Love, Inspirational, Peace

  Henry James (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry James (Illustrated)”, p.6871, Delphi Classics

  38 Copy quote

• The right time is any time that one is still so lucky as to have.

  Henry James

  Lucky, Right Time, So Lucky

  Henry James (2015). “The Ambassadors”, p.151, Xist Publishing

  11 Copy quote

• I've always expected the worst, and it's always worse than I expected.

  Henry James

  Worst, Expected

  11 Copy quote

• Experience is never limited, and it is never complete

  Henry James

  Experience, Spiders, Tissues

  "The Art of Fiction" (1884)

  18 Copy quote

• Life is a predicament which precedes death.

  Henry James

  Life, Judging, Inspire

  12 Copy quote

• Live all you can; it's a mistake not to.

  Henry James

  Mistake, Inspirational Life, Ambassadors

  The Ambassadors bk. 5, ch. 11 (1903)

  20 Copy quote
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  It is art that makes life, makes interest, makes importance, for our consideration and application of these things, and I know of no substitute whatever for the force and beauty of its process.

  Henry James

  Art, Consideration, Process

  Letter to H. G. Wells, 10 July 1915

  46 Copy quote

• Don't try so much to form your character - it's like trying to pull open a tight, tender young rose. Live as you like best and your character will take care of itself.

  Henry James

  Character, Rose, Trying

  Henry James (2016). “Henry James: The Complete Novels [The Portrait of a Lady, The Ambassadors, The Golden Bowl, etc.] (Book House)”, p.988, Book House

  8 Copy quote

• And remember this, that if you've been hated, you've also been loved.

  Henry James

  Love, Remember, Hated

  Henry James (2015). “The Complete Novels of Henry James: The Portrait of a Lady + The Wings of the Dove + What Maisie Knew + The American + The Bostonian + The Ambassadors + Washington Square and more (Unabridged): Confidence + Roderick Hudson + The Awkward Age + The Europeans + The Golden Bowl + The Other House + The Outcry + The Princess Casamassima + The Reverberator + The Sacred Fount….”, p.2844, e-artnow

  36 Copy quote

• The power to guess the unseen from the seen, to trace the implications of things, to judge the whole piece by the pattern . . . this cluster of gifts may almost be said to constitute experience.

  Henry James

  Judging, Unseen, Pieces

  Henry James (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry James (Illustrated)”, p.12972, Delphi Classics

  6 Copy quote

• There were several ways of understanding her: there was what she said, and there was what she meant, and there was something between the two, that was neither.

  Henry James

  Two, Understanding, Way

  Henry James (2015). “The Complete Novels of Henry James: The Portrait of a Lady + The Wings of the Dove + What Maisie Knew + The American + The Bostonian + The Ambassadors + Washington Square and more (Unabridged): Confidence + Roderick Hudson + The Awkward Age + The Europeans + The Golden Bowl + The Other House + The Outcry + The Princess Casamassima + The Reverberator + The Sacred Fount….”, p.1700, e-artnow

  41 Copy quote

• True happiness, we are told, consists in getting out of one's self; but the point is not only to get out - you must stay out; and to stay out you must have some absorbing errand.

  Henry James

  Happiness, Self, Inner Peace

  Henry James (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry James (Illustrated)”, p.159, Delphi Classics

  18 Copy quote

• I call people rich when they're able to meet the requirements of their imagination.

  Henry James

  People, Imagination, Requirements

  Henry James (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry James (Illustrated)”, p.1417, Delphi Classics

  9 Copy quote

• Love has nothing to do with good reasons.

  Henry James

  Reason

  Henry James (2016). “Portrait of a Lady”, p.394, Henry James

  13 Copy quote

• Adjectives are the sugar of literature and adverbs the salt.

  Henry James

  Adjectives, Literature, Sugar

  Henry James (2016). “Henry James: Autobiographies: A Small Boy and Others / Notes of a Son and Brother / The Middle Years / Other Writings: Library of America #274”, p.1142, Library of America

  40 Copy quote

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