Edith Wharton

"I wonder, among all the tangles of this mortal coil, which one contains tighter knots to undo, & consequently suggests more tugging, & pain, & diversified elements of misery, than the marriage tie."

"A New York divorce is in itself a diploma of virtue."

"There are two ways of spreading light: to be The candle or the mirror that reflects it."

"It was part of her discernment to be aware that life is the only real counselor, that wisdom unfiltered through personal experience does not become a part of the moral tissues."

"Set wide the window. Let me drink the day. I loved light ever, light in eye and brain — No tapers mirrored in long palace floors, Nor dedicated depths of silent aisles, But just the common dusty wind-blown day That roofs earths millions."

"The only way not to think about money is to have a great deal of it."

"He had come on her that morning in a moment of disarray; her face had been pale and altered, and the diminution of her beauty had lent her a poignant charm. That is how she looks when she is alone! had been his first thought; and the second was to note in her the change which his coming produced."

"After all, one knows ones weak points so well, that its rather bewildering to have the critics overlook them & invent others that (one is fairly sure) dont exist — or exist in a less measure."

"How much longer are we going to think it necessary to be "American" before (or in contradistinction to) being cultivated, being enlightened, being humane, & having the same intellectual discipline as other civilized countries?"

"Mrs. Ballinger is one of the ladies who pursue Culture in bands, as though it were dangerous to meet it alone."

"Another unsettling element in modern art is that common symptom of immaturity, the dread of doing what has been done before."

"No insect hangs its nest on threads as frail as those which will sustain the weight of human vanity."