Famous quotes from books

An American Tragedy


“what matter it if a man gaineth the whole world and loseth his own soul?”  

“As they sang, this nondescript and indifferent street audience gazed, held by the peculiarity of such an unimportant-looking family publicly raising its collective voice against the vast skepticism and apathy of life.”  

  “Who were these people with money, and what had they done that they should enjoy so much luxury, where others as good seemingly as themselves had nothing? And wherein did these latter differ so greatly from the successful?


Sisiter Carrie


“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.”  

“How true it is that words are but the vague shadows of the volumes we mean. Little audible links, they are, chaining together great inaudible feelings and purposes.”  

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

“When a man, however passively, becomes an obstacle to the fulfillment of a woman's desires, he becomes an odious thing in her eyes, - or will, given time enough.”

The Genius


“And then he sank back and tried, as usual, not to think. He must succeed. That's what the world was made for. That`s what he was made for. That was what he would have to do.

“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.” 


The Financier


A man, a real man, must never be an agent, a tool, or a gambler—acting for himself or for others—he must employ such. A real man—a financier—was never a tool. He used tools. He created. He led. 

“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. ” 

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