Edith Wharton quotes

Edith Wharton, a renowned American author born in 1862, captivated readers with her exceptional storytelling and keen insights into the upper-class society of her time. Wharton, widely recognized for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "The Age of Innocence," explored themes of love, marriage, and societal expectations. Her works, including "Ethan Frome" and "The House of Mirth," continue to resonate with readers today. Edith Wharton's writing style, characterized by vivid descriptions and complex characters, remains beloved by literature enthusiasts worldwide. Discover the elegance and depth of Wharton's literary masterpieces as you immerse yourself in her enchanting narratives of privilege, morality, and longing.

We can't behave like people in novels, though, can we?

- Edith Wharton

The real loneliness is living among all these kind people who only ask one to pretend!

- Edith Wharton

Set wide the window. Let me drink the day.

- Edith Wharton

Nothing is more perplexing to a man than the mental process of a woman who reasons her emotions.

- Edith Wharton

Life is always either a tightrope or a feather bed. Give me the tightrope.

- Edith Wharton

If only we'd stop trying to be happy, we could have a pretty good time.

- Edith Wharton

I don't know if I should care for a man who made life easy; I should want someone who made it interesting.

- Edith Wharton

Half the trouble in life is caused by pretending there isn't any.

- Edith Wharton

Genius is of small use to a woman who does not know how to do her hair.

- Edith Wharton

She had no tolerance for scenes which were not of her own making.

- Edith Wharton

The only way not to think about money is to have a great deal of it.

- Edith Wharton

I don't know if I should care for a man who made life easy; I should want someone who made it interesting.

- Edith Wharton

I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story.

- Edith Wharton

What's the use of making mysteries? It only makes people want to nose 'em out.

- Edith Wharton

To be able to look life in the face: that's worth living in a garret for, isn't it?

- Edith Wharton

If only we'd stop trying to be happy we'd have a pretty good time.

- Edith Wharton

Old age, calm, expanded, broad with the haughty breadth of the universe, old age flowing free with the delicious near-by freedom of death.

- Edith Wharton

Life is always a tightrope or a feather bed. Give me the tightrope.

- Edith Wharton

Habit is necessary; it is the habit of having habits, of turning a trail into a rut, that must be incessantly fought against if one is to remain alive.

- Edith Wharton

My little dog - a heartbeat at my feet.

- Edith Wharton

After all, one knows one's weak points so well, that it's rather bewildering to have the critics overlook them and invent others.

- Edith Wharton

I have never known a novel that was good enough to be good in spite of its being adapted to the author's political views.

- Edith Wharton

In any really good subject, one has only to probe deep enough to come to tears.

- Edith Wharton

The American landscape has no foreground and the American mind no background.

- Edith Wharton

There are moments when a man's imagination, so easily subdued to what it lives in, suddenly rises above its daily level and surveys the long windings of destiny.

- Edith Wharton

He had to deal all at once with the packed regrets and stifled memories of an inarticulate lifetime.

- Edith Wharton

A New York divorce is in itself a diploma of virtue.

- Edith Wharton

Misfortune had made Lily supple instead of hardening her, and a pliable substance is less easy to break than a stiff one.

- Edith Wharton

Life is the only real counselor; wisdom unfiltered through personal experience does not become a part of the moral tissue.

- Edith Wharton

When people ask for time, it's always for time to say no. Yes has one more letter in it, but it doesn't take half as long to say.

- Edith Wharton