All Henry James Quotes
- One doesn't defend one's god: one's god is in himself a defense. Defend
- The faculty of attention has utterly vanished from the Anglo-Saxon mind, extinguished at its source by the big bayad?re of journalism, of the newspaper and… Advertising
- I recall this passage as the hour of its first fully coming over me that she was a beautiful liberal creature. I had seen her… Air
- She had her own way of doing all that she did, and this is the simplest description of a character which, although by no means… All
- To read between the lines was easier than to follow the text. Book
- Experience was to be taken as showing that one might get a five-pound note as one got a light for a cigarette; but one had… Ask
- I've always expected the worst, and it's always worse than I expected. Always Expected
- I don't care anything about reasons, but I know what I like. Care
- [Thomas Henry] Huxley is a very genial, comfortable being-yet with none of the noisy and windy geniality of some folks here, whom you find with… Backs
- Kidd, turn off the light to spare my blushes. Blushes
- England always seems to me like a man swimming with his clothes on his head. Always Seems
- Art is a point of view, and a genius way of looking at things. Art
- I have only to let myself go! So I have said all my life, yet I have never fully done it. All
- It's a complex fate, being an American, and one of the responsibilities it entails is fighting against a superstitious valuation of Europe. American
- There are two kinds of taste, the taste for emotions of surprise and the taste for emotions of recognition. Emotion
- I hold any writer sufficiently justified who is himself in love with his theme. Any
- In museums and palaces we are alternate radicals and conservatives. Alternate
- It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature. Deal
- The only obligation to which in advance we may hold a novel, without incurring the accusation of being arbitrary, is that it be interesting. Accusation
- Young men of this class never do anything for themselves that they can get other people to do for them, and it is the infatuation,… Cases
- I hate American simplicity. I glory in the piling up of complications of every sort. If I could pronounce the name James in any different… American
- Do not mind anything that anyone tells you about anyone else. Judge everyone and everything for yourself. Anyone
- Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be… Firsts
- Deep experience is never peaceful. Deep
- Money's a horrid thing to follow, but a charming thing to meet. Charming