Quotes by F. Scott Fitzgerald

“his [Gatsby] career as Trimalchio was over.”

“They’re a rotten crowd’, I shouted across the lawn. ‘You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.”

“There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams — no through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion…”

“And it occurred to me that there was no difference between men, in intelligence or race, so profound as the difference between the sick and the well.”

“All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.”

“An author ought to write for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmaster of ever afterwards.”

“Often people display a curious respect for a man drunk, rather like the respect of simple races for the insane... There is something awe-inspiring in one who has lost all inhibitions.”

“No grand idea was ever born in a conference, but a lot of foolish ideas have died there.”

“I cant describe to you how surprised I was to find out I loved her, old sport. I even hoped for a while that shed throw me over, but she didnt, because she was in love with me too. She thought I knew a lot beacause I knew different things from her....Well, there I was, way off my ambitions, getting deeper in love every minute, and all of a sudden I didnt care. What was the use of doing great things if I could have a better time telling her what I was going to do? Gatsby”

“It isnt given for us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world. They will not be cured by our most efficacious drugs or slain with our sharpest swords.”

“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning—— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past”

I fell in love with her courage, her sincerity, and her flaming self respect. And its these things Id believe in, even if the whole world indulged in wild suspicions that she wasnt all she should be. I love her and it is the beginning of everything.

I wasnt actually in love, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity.

Im not sentimental--Im as romantic as you are. The idea, you know,is that the sentimental person thinks things will last--the romanticperson has a desperate confidence that they wont.

She was beautiful, but not like those girls in the magazines. She was beautiful, for the way she thought. She was beautiful, for the sparkle in her eyes when she talked about something she loved. She was beautiful, for her ability to make other people smile, even if she was sad. No, she wasnt beautiful for something as temporary as her looks. She was beautiful, deep down to her soul. She is beautiful.

Actually that’s my secret — I can’t even talk about you to anybody because I don’t want any more people to know how wonderful you are.

Ah, she cried, you look so cool. Their eyes met, and they stared together at each other, alone in space. With an effort she glanced down at the table.You always look so cool, she repeated.She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw.

I love her, and thats the beginning and end of everything.

Think how you love me, she whispered. I don’t ask you to love me always like this, but I ask you to remember. Somewhere inside me there’ll always be the person I am to-night.

You know Im old in some ways-in others-well, Im just a little girl. I like sunshine and pretty things and cheerfulness-and I dread responsibility.