"There was a day when I liked writing letters -- it has gone. Unfortunately the passion for getting them remains."
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Quote collection
Virginia Woolf quotes (page 23 of 41)
817 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"She thought there were no Gods; no one was to blame; and so she evolved this atheist's religion of doing good for the sake of goodness."
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"The word-coining genius, as if thought plunged into a sea of words and came up dripping."
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"O why do I ever let anyone read what I write! Every time I have to go through a breakfast with a letter of criticism I swear I will write for my own praise or blame in future. It is a misery."
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"Yes, yes, I'm coming. Right up the top of the house. One moment I'll linger. How the mud goes round in the mind-what a swirl these monsters leave, the waters rocking, the weeds waving and green here, black there, striking to the sand, till by degrees the atoms reassemble, the deposit sifts itself, and a gain through the eyes one sees clear and still, and there comes to the lips some prayer for the departed, some obsequy for the souls of those one nods to, the one never meets again."
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"History is too much about wars; biography too much about great men."
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"Clothes are but a symbol of something hid deep beneath."
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"Altogether, the task of estimating the length of human life is beyond our capacity, for directly we say that it is ages long, we are reminded that it is briefer than the fall of a rose leaf to the ground."
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"As nobody can possibly tell me whether one's writing is bad or good, the only certain value is one's own pleasure. I am sure of that."
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"The chief glory of a woman is not to be talked of, said Pericles, himself a much-talked-of-man."
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"Have you any notion how many books are written about women in the course of one year? Have you any notion how many are written by men? Are you aware that you are, perhaps, the most discussed animal in the universe?"
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"Does housekeeping interest you at all? I think it really ought to be just as good as writing and I never see where the separation between the too comes in. At least if you must put books on one side and life on the other, each is a poor and bloodless thing; but my theory is that they mix indistinguishable."
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"When an arguer argues dispassionately he thinks only of the argument."
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"I have a feeling I shall go mad. I cannot go on longer in these terrible times. I shan't recover this time. I hear voices and cannot concentrate on my work. I have fought against it but cannot fight any longer."
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"Women alone stir my imagination."
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"Sir, I would trust you with my heart. Moreover, we have left our bodies in the banqueting hall. Those on the turf are the shadows of our souls."
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"You cannot lecture on really pure poetry any more than you can talk about the ingredients of pure water-it is adulterated, methylated, sanded poetry that makes the best lectures."
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"The history of most women is hidden either by silence, or by flourishes and ornaments that amount to silence."
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"... why do people who live in the country always give themselves such airs?"
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"One must love everything."
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