Henry James quotes

Henry James was an American-British author, renowned for his novels, short stories, and literary criticism. His works often explore themes of consciousness, perception, and the contrasts between the Old World and the New. He influenced the development of modern fiction and remains celebrated for his psychological depth and narrative technique. Here are 194 of his quotes:

Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.

Henry James

The only obligation to which in advance we may hold a novel, without incurring the accusation of being arbitrary, is that it be interesting.

Henry James

Cats and monkeys; monkeys and cats; all human life is there.

Henry James

Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.

Henry James

It is, I think, an indisputable fact that Americans are, as Americans, the most self-conscious people in the world, and the most addicted to the belief that the other nations of the earth are in a conspiracy to under value them.

Henry James

Do not mind anything that anyone tells you about anyone else. Judge everyone and everything for yourself.

Henry James

It's a complex fate, being an American, and one of the responsibilities it entails is fighting against a superstitious valuation of Europe.

Henry James

To criticize is to appreciate, to appropriate, to take intellectual possession, to establish in fine a relation with the criticized thing and to make it one's own.

Henry James

Deep experience is never peaceful.

Henry James

The right time is any time that one is still so lucky as to have.

Henry James

In art economy is always beauty.

Henry James

What is character but the determination of incident? What is incident but the illustration of character?

Henry James

Young men of this class never do anything for themselves that they can get other people to do for them, and it is the infatuation, the devotion, the superstition of others that keeps them going. These others in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred are women.

Henry James

Though there are some disagreeable things in Venice there is nothing so disagreeable as the visitors.

Henry James

I hold any writer sufficiently justified who is himself in love with his theme.

Henry James

She was a woman who, between courses, could be graceful with her elbows on the table.

Henry James

The only reason for the existence of a novel is that it does attempt to represent life.

Henry James

If I were to live my life over again, I would be an American. I would steep myself in America, I would know no other land.

Henry James

We work n 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.

Henry James

People talk about the conscience, but it seems to me one must just bring it up to a certain point and leave it there. You can let your conscience alone if you're nice to the second housemaid.

Henry James

The superiority of one man's opinion over another's is never so great as when the opinion is about a woman.

Henry James

I adore adverbs; they are the only qualifications I really much respect.

Henry James