F. Scott Fitzgerald quotes

F. Scott Fitzgerald, born in 1896, was an American novelist and short story writer. An iconic figure of the Roaring Twenties, Fitzgerald's works epitomize the Jazz Age. His masterpiece, "The Great Gatsby," explores the hollowness of the American dream, earning him lasting acclaim. Fitzgerald's impeccable prose and vivid characters captivate readers to this day. He delves into themes of love, wealth, and social status with a keen eye for detail. Despite his literary success, Fitzgerald faced personal struggles, battling alcoholism and a tumultuous relationship with wife Zelda. His final novel, "Tender Is the Night," reflects his own experiences, illustrating the dark side of glamour and excess. F. Scott Fitzgerald's legendary works continue to inspire and entertain readers worldwide, making him one of America's most influential authors.

It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Whenever you feel like criticizing any one...just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

I like people and I like them to like me, but I wear my heart where God put it, on the inside.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Only remember west of the Mississippi it's a little more look, see, act. A little less rationalize, comment, talk.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

A big man has no time really to do anything but just sit and be big.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Great art is the contempt of a great man for small art.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Family quarrels are bitter things. They don't go according to any rules. They're not like aches or wounds, they're more like splits in the skin that won't heal because there's not enough material.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

The compensation of a very early success is a conviction that life is a romantic matter. In the best sense one stays young.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

I'm a romantic; a sentimental person thinks things will last, a romantic person hopes against hope that they won't.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

What'll we do with ourselves this afternoon? And the day after that, and the next thirty years?

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

I've been drunk for about a week now, and I thought it might sober me up to sit in a library.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

The victor belongs to the spoils.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

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.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

No decent career was ever founded on a public.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Action is character.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Forgotten is forgiven.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

The idea that to make a man work you've got to hold gold in front of his eyes is a growth, not an axiom. We've done that for so long that we've forgotten there's any other way.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Genius goes around the world in its youth incessantly apologizing for having large feet. What wonder that later in life it should be inclined to raise those feet too swiftly to fools and bores.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

It's not a slam at you when people are rude, it's a slam at the people they've met before.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Her body calculated to a millimeter to suggest a bud yet guarantee a flower.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Advertising is a racket, like the movies and the brokerage business. You cannot be honest without admitting that its constructive contribution to humanity is exactly minus zero.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

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

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

It is in the thirties that we want friends. In the forties we know they won't save us any more than love did.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Riches have never fascinated me, unless combined with the greatest charm or distinction.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Men get to be a mixture of the charming mannerisms of the women they have known.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Everybody's youth is a dream, a form of chemical madness.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald