Jennie Gerhardt: A Novel

“Only in rare instances and with rare individuals does there seem to be any guiding light from within.””

— Theodore Dreiser

“It is an exceptional thing to find beauty, youth, compatibility, intelligence, your own point of view”

— Theodore Dreiser

“In many cases where one is content to lead a secluded life it is not necessary to say much of one's past, but as a rule something must be said. People have the habit of inquiring”

— Theodore Dreiser

“She wondered curiously where she would be when she died.””

— Theodore Dreiser

“There's no explaining a good woman," he said to himself.””

— Theodore Dreiser

“Such extravagance!" Gerhardt complained to Jennie. "Such waste! No good can come of anything like that, It will mean want one of these days.””

— Theodore Dreiser

“One of his self–imposed tasks was to go about the house after Lester, or the servants, turning out the gas–jets or electric–light bulbs which might accidentally have been left burning. That was a sinful extravagance.””

— Theodore Dreiser

“It was that halcyon hour when the Angelus falls like a benediction upon the waning day. Far off the notes were sounding gently, and nature, now that she listened, seemed to have paused also. A scarlet–breasted robin was hopping in short spaces upon the grass before her. A humming bee hummed, a cow–bell tinkled, while some suspicious cracklings told of a secretly reconnoitering squirrel.””

— Theodore Dreiser