Kate Chopin quotes

Kate Chopin was an American author known for her pioneering works in feminist literature. Her most famous novel, "The Awakening," explores themes of female independence and identity. She is remembered as a significant figure in early American literature and a trailblazer for women writers. Here are 62 of her quotes:

There are some people who leave impressions not so lasting as the imprint of an oar upon the water. (Kate Chopin)
The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. View quote
Kate Chopin
To be an artist includes much; one must possess many gift -absolute gifts- which have not been acquired by one's effort. And, moreover, to succeed, the artist must possess the courageous soul. View quote
Kate Chopin
You have been a very foolish boy, wasting your time dreaming of impossible things when you speak of Mr. Pontellier setting me free! I am no longer one of Mr. Pontelliere's possessions to dispose of or not. I give myself where I choose. If he were to say, 'here Robert, take her and be happy; she is yours,' I should laugh at you both. View quote
Kate Chopin
She had resolved never again to belong to another than herself. View quote
Kate Chopin
She was moved by a kind of commiseration for Madame Ratignolle - a pity for that colorless existence which never uplifted its possessor beyond the region of blind contentment, in which no moment of anguish ever visited her soul, in which she would never have the taste of life's delirium. View quote
Kate Chopin
She wanted something to happen - something, anything: she did not know what. View quote
Kate Chopin
And Nature takes no account of moral consequences, of arbitrary conditions which we create, and which we feel obliged to maintain at any cost. View quote
Kate Chopin
There was no despondency when she fell asleep that night; nor was there hope when she awoke in the morning. View quote
Kate Chopin
She looked into the distance, and the old terror flamed up for an instant, then sank again. Edna heard her father's voice and her sister Margaret's. She heard the barking of an old dog that was chained to the sycamore tree. The spurs of the cavalry officer clanged as he walked across the porch. There was the hum of bees, and the musky odor of pinks filled the air. View quote
Kate Chopin
The bird that would soar above the plane of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings. It is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth. (Kate Chopin)
She missed him the days when some pretext served to take him away from her, just as one misses the sun on a cloudy day without having thought much about the sun when it was shining. View quote
Kate Chopin
The city atmosphere certainly has improved her. Some way she doesn't seem like the same woman. View quote
Kate Chopin
I would give up the unessential; I would give up my money, I would give up my life for my children; but I wouldn't give myself. I can't make it more clear; it's only something I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me. View quote
Kate Chopin
The artist must possess the courageous soul that dares and defies. View quote
Kate Chopin
He could see plainly that she was not herself. That is, he could not see that she was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world. View quote
Kate Chopin
The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude. View quote
Kate Chopin
Even as a child she had lived her own small life within herself. At a very early period she had apprehended instinctively the dual life - that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions. View quote
Kate Chopin
It was not despair, but it seemed to her as if life were passing by, leaving its promises broken and unfulfilled. Yet there were other days when she listened, was led on and deceived by fresh promises which her youth had held out to her. View quote
Kate Chopin
We shall be everything to each other. Nothing else shall be of any consequence. View quote
Kate Chopin
Some people are born with a vital and responsive energy. It not only enables them to keep abreast of the times; it qualifies them to furnish in their own personality a good bit of the motive power to the mad pace. (Kate Chopin)
I trust it will not be giving away professional secrets to say that many readers would be surprised, perhaps shocked, at the questions which some newspaper editors will put to a defenseless woman under the guise of flattery. View quote
Kate Chopin
She felt like a chess player who, by the clever handling of his pieces, sees the game taking the course intended. Her eyes were bright and tender with a smile as they glanced up into his; and her lips looked hungry for the kiss which they invited. View quote
Kate Chopin
There was a dull pang of regret because it was not the kiss of love which had inflamed her, because it was not love which had held this cup of life to her lips. View quote
Kate Chopin
She's got some sort of notion in her head concerning the eternal rights of women. View quote
Kate Chopin