---
title: "2 Defiance Quotes By Virginia Woolf"
description: "2 Defiance quotes by Virginia Woolf. Plus more from Virginia Woolf and more Defiance sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1e/virginia-woolf-49_centre_a-thing-there-was-that-mattered-a-thing_326901.jpg"
---

> [A thing there was that mattered; a thing, wreathed about with chatter, defaced, obscured in her own life, let drop every day in corruption, lies, chatter. This he had preserved. Death was defiance. Death was an attempt to communicate; people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/a-thing-there-was-that-mattered-a-thing-wreathed-about-with-chatter/)

[Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1e/virginia-woolf-49_centre_a-thing-there-was-that-mattered-a-thing_326901.jpg)

> [“Death was defiance. Death was an attempt to communicate; people feeling the impossibility of reaching the center which, mystically, evaded them; closeness drew apart; rapture faded, one was alone. There was an embrace in death.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/death-was-defiance-death-was-an-attempt-to-communicate-people-feeling/)

[Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/319/virginia-woolf-49_death_death-was-defiance-death-was-an-attempt_584805.jpg)

## Other authors on Defiance

- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b023/author-thomas-jefferson-90435.jpg) Thomas Jefferson 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/defiance/thomas-jefferson/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b011/author-howard-zinn-42481.jpg) Howard Zinn 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/defiance/howard-zinn/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b004/author-annette-lu-13893.jpg) C.J. Redwine 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/defiance/c-j-redwine/)

## 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/defiance/virginia-woolf/#itemlist",
            "name": "2 Defiance Quotes By Virginia Woolf",
            "numberOfItems": 2,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "A thing there was that mattered; a thing, wreathed about with chatter, defaced, obscured in her own life, let drop every day in corruption, lies, chatter. This he had preserved. Death was defiance. Death was an attempt to communicate; people feeling the impossibility of reaching the centre which, mystically, evaded them; closeness drew apart; rapture faded, one was alone. There was an embrace in death.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Virginia Woolf"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/a-thing-there-was-that-mattered-a-thing-wreathed-about-with-chatter/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1e/virginia-woolf-49_centre_a-thing-there-was-that-mattered-a-thing_326901.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1e/virginia-woolf-49_centre_a-thing-there-was-that-mattered-a-thing_326901.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1e/virginia-woolf-49_centre_a-thing-there-was-that-mattered-a-thing_326901.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“A thing there was that mattered; a thing, wreathed about with chatter, defaced, obscured in her own life…” — Virginia Woolf",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Death was defiance. Death was an attempt to communicate; people feeling the impossibility of reaching the center which, mystically, evaded them; closeness drew apart; rapture faded, one was alone. There was an embrace in death.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Virginia Woolf"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/death-was-defiance-death-was-an-attempt-to-communicate-people-feeling/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/319/virginia-woolf-49_death_death-was-defiance-death-was-an-attempt_584805.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/319/virginia-woolf-49_death_death-was-defiance-death-was-an-attempt_584805.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/319/virginia-woolf-49_death_death-was-defiance-death-was-an-attempt_584805.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Death was defiance. Death was an attempt to communicate; people feeling the impossibility of reaching the…” — Virginia Woolf",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/defiance/virginia-woolf/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/defiance/virginia-woolf/",
            "name": "Defiance Quotes by Virginia Woolf",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/defiance/virginia-woolf/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1e/virginia-woolf-49_centre_a-thing-there-was-that-mattered-a-thing_326901.jpg"
            },
            "description": "2 Defiance quotes by Virginia Woolf. Plus more from Virginia Woolf and more Defiance sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/defiance/virginia-woolf/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/defiance/virginia-woolf/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Defiance",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/defiance/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Virginia Woolf",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/defiance/virginia-woolf/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```