229 Quotes by Jean Rhys

  • Author Jean Rhys
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    I want more of this feeling – fire and wings.

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  • Author Jean Rhys
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    I had had the job for three weeks. It was dreary. You couldn’t read; they didn’t like it. I would feel as if I were drugged, sitting there, watching those damned dolls, thinking what a success they would have made of their lives if they had been women. Satin skin, silk hair, velvet eyes, sawdust heart – all complete.

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  • Author Jean Rhys
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    She was a shadow, kept alive by a flame of hatred for somebody who had long ago forgotten all about her.

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  • Author Jean Rhys
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    If this is a sad story, don’t tell it to me tonight.’‘It is not sad,’ she said. ‘Only some things happen and are there for always even though you forget why or when.

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  • Author Jean Rhys
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    But they left their treasure, gold and more gold. Some of it is found- but the finders never tell, because you see they’d only get one-third then: that’s the law of treasure. They want it all, so never speak of it.

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  • Author Jean Rhys
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    If all good, respectable people had one face, I’d spit in it.

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  • Author Jean Rhys
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    Now I no longer wish to be loved, beautiful, happy or successful. I want one thing and one thing only – to be left alone.

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  • Author Jean Rhys
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    The prayer ended, ‘May Almighty God defend us.’ And God who is indeed mysterious, who had made no sign when they burned Pierre as he slept – not a clap of thunder, not a flash of lighting – mysterious God heard Mr Mason at once and answered him. The yells stopped.

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  • Author Jean Rhys
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    It was like letting go and falling back into water and seeing yourself grinning up through the water, your face like a mask, and seeing the bubbles coming up as if you were trying to speak from under the water. And how do you know what it’s like to try to speak from under water when you’re drowned?

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