Tales of Men and Ghosts

“She yearned to be admired, and feared to be insulted; and yet seemed tragically conscious that she was destined to miss both these extremes of sensation, or to enjoy them only at second hand in the experiences of her more privileged friends.””

— Edith Wharton

“He was as inexpressive as he is to-day, and yet oddly obtrusive: one of those uncomfortable presences whose silence is an interruption.””

— Edith Wharton

“He hasn't written a line for twenty years." "A line of what? What kind of literature can one keep corked up for twenty years?" Wade surprised him. "The real kind, I should say.””

— Edith Wharton

“Often he woke up from brief snatches of sleep with the feeling that something material was clinging to him, was on his hands and face, and in his throat - and as his own loathed personality that stuck to him like some thick viscous substance.””

— Edith Wharton

“He had not guessed that the mind was capable of such intricacies of self-realization, of penetrating so deep into its own dark windings.””

— Edith Wharton

“In exactly three minutes Mr. Peter Ascham, of the eminent legal firm of Ascham and Pettilow, would have his punctual hand on the door-bell of the flat.””

— Edith Wharton

“He had to the full the courage of his lack of convictions.””

— Edith Wharton

“minnows who go to a whale to learn how to grow bigger are likely to be swallowed in the process.””

— Edith Wharton

“There's always a reason for wanting to get out of life”

— Edith Wharton