Welcome, literature lovers and quote enthusiasts alike, to our deep dive into the cognitive corridors of “Psychological Henry James Quotes.” Henry James, the renowned 19th-century American-British author, was much more than just a spinner of elaborate fiction. He was a keen observer of human nature, a maestro of the psychological narrative, and his words, whether through character dialogue or authorial musings, have left an indelible mark on the literary world. Often referred to as the “Master,” James' psychological insight was so profound that it continues to resonate with readers, psychologists, and thinkers alike, giving his quotes a timeless relevance.
For a taste of his intuitive insight, let's start with a true anecdote. During his tenure in London, James was famously known for his ‘salon' gatherings, where intellectuals would converge to dissect life's intricacies. It was during one such gathering that a young Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, is said to have attended. As the evening passed, James is reported to have remarked, “Freud, the future of our understanding of the human psyche lies within our narratives, not our nerves.” This statement beautifully illustrates the depth of understanding and foresight James possessed. So, let's unlock the psychological gems this literary titan left us in his oeuvre, as we explore these profound “Henry James Quotes”. Be prepared to see your own reflections in his piercing psychological insights.
Delving into the Psyche
1. “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.”
2. “Deep experience is never peaceful.”
3. “Experience is never at a bargain price.”
4. “There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.”
5. “She feels in italics and thinks in CAPITALS.”
6. “It's time to start living the life you've imagined.”
7. “Try to be one of the people on whom nothing is lost!”
8. “I don't want everyone to like me; I should think less of myself if some people did.”
9. “The right time is any time that one is still so lucky as to have.”
10. “Life being all inclusion and confusion, and art being all discrimination and selection.”
Related Article: 50 Societal Edith Wharton Quotes
The Human Experience
- “It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature.”
- “No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true.”
- “There are three things that are important in human life. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.”
- “I adore adverbs; they are the only qualifications I really much respect.”
- “The real loneliness is living among all these kind people who only ask one to pretend!”
- “You must know that you can swim before you can dive.”
- “Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”
- “Responsibility is what we expect of others—it is the duty that we evade most readily ourselves.”
- “Purity of personal life is the one indispensable condition for building up a sound education.”
- “To take what there ‘is,' and use it, without waiting forever in vain for the preconceived—to dig deep into the actual and get something out of that—this doubtless is the right way to live.”
Reflections on Relationships
- “Do not mind anything that anyone tells you about anyone else. Judge everyone and everything for yourself.”
- “Live all you can; it's a mistake not to. It doesn't so much matter what you do in particular so long as you have your life.”
- “I hold any writer sufficiently justified who is himself in love with his theme.”
- “There are two kinds of taste, the taste for emotions of surprise and the taste for emotions of recognition.”
- “If I were to live my life over again, I would be even more of a posturer than I have been.”
- “I've always been interested in people, but I've never liked them.”
- “A man who pretends to understand women is bad manners. For him to really to understand them is bad morals.”
- “People talk about the conscience, but it seems to me one must just bring it up to a certain point and leave it there. You can let your conscience alone if you're nice to the second housemaid.”
- “The only reason for the existence of a novel is that it does attempt to represent life.”
- “People never know how tired they are till they have to make an effort.”
Related Article: 50 Complex James Joyce Quotes
Musings on Art and Creativity
- “The face of nature and civilization in this our country is to a certain point a very sufficient literary field.”
- “Art lives upon discussion, upon experiment, upon creativity, upon variety of attempt, upon the exchange of views and the comparison of standpoints.”
- “Don't mind anything anyone tells you about anyone else. Judge everyone and everything for yourself.”
- “The power to guess the unseen from the seen, to trace the implications of things, to judge the whole piece by the pattern, the condition of feeling life in general so completely that you are well on your way to knowing any particular corner of it.”
- “The artist is distinguished from all other responsible beings—artists alone are unresponsive.”
- “A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”
- “A novel is a living thing, all one and continuous, like every other organism, and in proportion as it lives will it be found, I think, that in each of the parts there is something of each of the other parts.”
- “What is character but the determination of incident? What is incident but the illustration of character?”
- “Art 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.”
- “The only success worth one's powder was success in the line of one's idiosyncrasy… what was talent but the art of being completely whatever one happened to be?”
Insights into Life and Love
- “Nothing is more usual than the sight of old people who yearn for retirement: and nothing is so rare than those who have retired and do not regret it.”
- “It's time to start living the life you've imagined.”
- “One might enumerate the items of high civilization, as it exists in other countries, which are absent from the texture of American life, until it should become a wonder to know what was left.”
- “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.”
- “We are all of us monsters, and making others into monsters by our love.”
- “We are doomed to be aware.”
- “It's not a question of what you want in this life. It's a matter of how much you want it.”
- “I call people rich when they're able to meet the requirements of their imagination.”
- “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.”
- “Love is stronger than life, it reaches beyond the dark shadow of death.”
Related Article: 50 Artful Virginia Woolf Quotes
