Quotes by Henry James

“We work in the dark - we do what we can - we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.””

“There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.””

“Sorrow comes in great waves...but rolls over us, and though it may almost smother us, it leaves us. And we know that if it is strong, we are stronger, inasmuch as it passes and we remain.””

“Her reputation for reading a great deal hung about her like the cloudy envelope of a goddess in an epic.””

“I'm yours for ever--for ever and ever. Here I stand; I'm as firm as a rock. If you'll only trust me, how little you'll be disappointed. Be mine as I am yours.””

“I always want to know the things one shouldn't do.""So as to do them?" asked her aunt."So as to choose," said Isabel””

“She had an immense curiosity about life, and was constantly staring and wondering.””

“I call people rich when they're able to meet the requirements of their imagination.””

“Life is, in fact, a battle. Evil is insolent and strong; beauty enchanting, but rare; goodness very apt to be weak; folly very apt to be defiant; wickedness to carry the day; imbeciles to be in great places, people of sense in small, and mankind generally unhappy. But the world as it stands is no narrow illusion, no phantasm, no evil dream of the night; we wake up to it, forever and ever; and we can neither forget it nor deny it nor dispense with it.””

“And remember this, that if you've been hated, you've also been loved.””

“Live all you can: it's a mistake not to. It doesn't matter what you do in particular, so long as you have had your life. If you haven't had that, what have you had?””

“Never say you know the last word about any human heart.””

“Try to be one of those on whom nothing is lost.””