229 Quotes by Jean Rhys

I didn't know, I didn't know, I didn't know.

When I think about it, if I had to choose, I'd rather be happy than write.

He had discovered that people who allow themselves to be blown about by the winds of emotion and impulse are always unhappy people.

I hadn't bargained for this. I didn't think it would be like this - shabby clothes, worn-out shoes, circles under your eyes, your hair getting straight and lanky, the way people look at you. ... I didn't think it would be like this

Today I must be very careful, today I have left my armor at home.

If she says goodbye perhaps adieu. Adieu - like those old time songs she sang. Always adieu (and all songs say it). If she too says it, or weeps, I'll take her in my arms, my lunatic. She's mad but mine, mine. What will I care for gods or devils or for Fate itself. If she smiles or weeps or both. For me.

Every word I say has chains round its ankles; every thought I think is weighted with heavy weights.

You imagine the carefully pruned, shaped thing that is presented to you is truth. That is just what it isn't. The truth is improbable, the truth is fantastic; it's in what you think is a distorting mirror that you see the truth.

I am sad, sad as a circus-lioness...