--- title: "4 Butterfly Quotes By Virginia Woolf" description: "4 Butterfly quotes by Virginia Woolf. Plus more from Virginia Woolf and more Butterfly sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d6f/virginia-woolf-49_arms_for-some-time-she-observed-a-great-yello_393295.jpg" --- > [For some time she observed a great yellow butterfly, which was opening and closing its wings very slowly on a little flat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/for-some-time-she-observed-a-great-yellow-butterfly-which-was-opening/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d6f/virginia-woolf-49_arms_for-some-time-she-observed-a-great-yello_393295.jpg) > [The thing about Proust is his combination of the utmost sensibility with the utmost tenacity. He searches out these butterfly shades to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/the-thing-about-proust-is-his-combination-of-the-utmost-sensibility/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/061/virginia-woolf-49_butterfly_the-thing-about-proust-is-his-combinatio_2227485.jpg) > [“But I was thinking; feeling; living; those two lives that the two halves symbolized with the intensity, the muffled intensity, which a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/but-i-was-thinking-feeling-living-those-two-lives-that-the-two-halves/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52e/virginia-woolf-49_butterfly_but-i-was-thinking-feeling-living-those_2491044.jpg) > [...the problem of space remained, she thought, taking up her brush again. It glared at her. The whole mass of the picture…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/the-problem-of-space-remained-she-thought-taking-up-her-brush-again/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/885/virginia-woolf-49_beautiful_the-problem-of-space-remained-she-though_2839210.jpg) ## Other authors on Butterfly - [Matshona Dhliwayo 10 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/butterfly/matshona-dhliwayo/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b025/author-zhuangzi-97412.jpg) Zhuangzi 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/butterfly/zhuangzi/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b011/author-haruki-murakami-40784.jpg) Haruki Murakami 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/butterfly/haruki-murakami/) - [Trina Paulus 6 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/butterfly/trina-paulus/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-rabindranath-tagore-383.jpg) Rabindranath Tagore 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/butterfly/rabindranath-tagore/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b018/author-nathaniel-hawthorne-70480.jpg) Nathaniel Hawthorne 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/butterfly/nathaniel-hawthorne/) - [Melanie Dobson 5 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/butterfly/melanie-dobson/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b015/author-laini-taylor-58360.jpg) Laini Taylor 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/butterfly/laini-taylor/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-antoine-de-saint-exup-ry-174.jpg) Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/butterfly/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/) ## More by Virginia Woolf > [Fatigue is the safest sleeping draught.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/fatigue-is-the-safest-sleeping-draught/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“The train slows and lengthens, as we approach London, the centre, and my heart draws out too, in fear, in exaltation. I am about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/the-train-slows-and-lengthens-as-we-approach-london-the-centre-and-my/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“Across the broad continent of a woman's life falls the shadow of a sword. On one side all is correct, definite, orderly; the paths…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/across-the-broad-continent-of-a-woman-s-life-falls-the-shadow-of-a/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“Other worshipful objects were content with worship; men, women, God, all let one kneel prostrate; but this form, were it only the shape of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/other-worshipful-objects-were-content-with-worship-men-women-god-all/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [Why does Samuel Butler say, 'Wise men never say what they think of women'? Wise men never say anything else apparently.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/why-does-samuel-butler-say-wise-men-never-say-what-they-think-of/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“Sometimes he woke with a brain like lead; at others it was as if a thousand wax tapers were alight and people were throwing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/sometimes-he-woke-with-a-brain-like-lead-at-others-it-was-as-if-a/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [The extraordinary woman depends on the ordinary woman. It is only when we know what were the conditions of the average woman's life -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/the-extraordinary-woman-depends-on-the-ordinary-woman-it-is-only-when/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [A veil of insanity everywhere: Oh why I was born in this age? It is a terrible age.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/a-veil-of-insanity-everywhere-oh-why-i-was-born-in-this-age-it-is-a/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [Love ought to stop on both sides, don’t you think, simultaneously?’ He spoke without any stress on the words, so as not to wake…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/love-ought-to-stop-on-both-sides-don-t-you-think-simultaneously-he/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“It is so vast an alleviation to be able to point for another to look at. And then not to talk. To follow the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/it-is-so-vast-an-alleviation-to-be-able-to-point-for-another-to-look/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“What a vast fertility of pleasure books hold for me! (...) I think I could happily live here & read forever.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/what-a-vast-fertility-of-pleasure-books-hold-for-me-i-think-i-could/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“what a luxury to be alone once more,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/what-a-luxury-to-be-alone-once-more/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“...a woman writing thinks back through her mothers.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/a-woman-writing-thinks-back-through-her-mothers/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“For one's children so often gave one's own perceptions a little thrust forwards.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/for-one-s-children-so-often-gave-one-s-own-perceptions-a-little/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“She would not say of anyone in the world now that they were this or were that. She felt very young; at the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/she-would-not-say-of-anyone-in-the-world-now-that-they-were-this-or/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/butterfly/virginia-woolf/#itemlist", "name": "4 Butterfly Quotes By Virginia Woolf", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "For some time she observed a great yellow butterfly, which was opening and closing its wings very slowly on a little flat stone. \"What is it to be in love?\" she demanded, after a long silence; each word as it came into being seemed to shove itself out into an unknown sea. Hypnotized by the wings of the butterfly, and awed by the discovery of a terrible possibility in life, she sat for some time longer. 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It glared at her. The whole mass of the picture was poised upon that weight. 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