Henry James

human life important kind

“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 (1843-1916)

feel italics think capitals

“She feels in italics and thinks in CAPITALS.”

― Henry James (1843-1916)

live life imagine

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

― Henry James (1843-1916)

second chance work dark give do doubt passion task madness art

“A second chance—that’s the delusion. There never was to be but one. 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 (1843-1916)

remember hated loved

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

― Henry James (1843-1916)

obstacles fright goal

“Obstacles are those frightening things you see when you take you eyes off your goal.”

― Henry James (1843-1916)

right time any lucky

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

― Henry James (1843-1916)

mind tell judge everyone everything yourself

“Don't mind anything any one tells you about any one else. Judge everyone and everything for yourself.”

― Henry James (1843-1916)

want life allow punish mill conventional

“You wanted to look at life for yourself - but you were not allowed; you were punished for your wish. You were ground in the very mill of the conventional.”

― Henry James (1843-1916)

life predicament precede death

“Life is a predicament which precedes death.”

― Henry James (1843-1916)

experience peaceful

“Deep experience is never peaceful.”

― Henry James (1843-1916)

money horrid follow charming meet

“Money's a horrid thing to follow, but a charming thing to meet.”

― Henry James (1843-1916)

clever good useless

“do you think it is better to be clever than to be good?”

“Good for what?” asked the Doctor. “You are good for

nothing unless you are clever.”

― Henry James (1843-1916)

work do like inspiration

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

― Henry James (1843-1916)

live all mistake

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

― Henry James (1843-1916)

judge forty eager hard cruel ignorant

"One can't judge till one's forty; before that we're too eager, too hard, too cruel, and in addition much too ignorant."

― Henry James (1843-1916)

excellence perfection

"Excellence does not require perfection."

― Henry James (1843-1916)

try know can't do

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

― Henry James (1843-1916)

push jump

"if you are going to be pushed you had better jump"

― Henry James (1843-1916)

beleve child future

"To believe in a child is to believe in the Future."

― Henry James (1843-1916)

american garbage ketchup

"Americans will eat garbage provided you sprinkle it liberally with ketchup."

― Henry James (1843-1916)

story picture idea storytelling

Every good story is of course both a picture and an idea, and the more they are interfused the better.

― Henry James (1843-1916)

always expect worse

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

― Henry James (1843-1916)

adjectives sugar literature adverb salt

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

― Henry James (1843-1916)

basis union mutual misunderstanding

"There's no more usual basis of union than mutual misunderstanding."

― Henry James (1843-1916)