87 Quotes by Theodore Dreiser

The thing that impressed me then as now about New York… was the sharp, and at the same time immense, contrast it showed between the dull and the shrewd, the strong and the weak, the rich and the poor, the wise and the ignorant… the strong, or those who ultimately dominated, were so very strong, and the weak so very, very weak - and so very, very many.

Life is a God-damned, stinking, treacherous game and nine hundred and ninety-nine men out of a thousand are bastards.

Oh, blessed are the children of endeavor in this, that they try and are hopeful. And blessed also are they who, knowing, smile and approve.

Only in rare instances and with rare individuals does there seem to be any guiding light from within.

Peace, peace. So shall it soon be with all of us. It was a dream. It is. I am. You are. And shall we grieve over or hark back to dreams?" (from My Brother Paul)

The growth of a passion is a very peculiar thing. In highlyorganized intellectual and artistic types it is so often apt tobegin with keen appreciation of certain qualities, modified bymany, many mental reservations. The egoist, the intellectual,gives but little of himself and asks much. Nevertheless, thelover of life, male or female, finding himself or herself insympathetic accord with such a nature, is apt to gain much.

Words are but the vague shadows of the volumes we mean. Little audible links, they are, chaining together great inaudible feelings and purposes.

Our civilization is still in a middle stage, scarcely beast, in that it is no longer wholly guided by instinct; scarcely human, in that it is not yet wholly guided by reason.

I believe in the compelling power of love. I do not understand it. I believe it to be the most fragrant blossom of all this thorny existence.