Quotes & anectdotes from the wise, the foolish, the courageous & the drunk

Virginia Woolf Novelist

  • Gender: Female
  • Citizenship: England
  • Born: Jan 25, 1882
  • Died: Mar 28, 1941

Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English writer and one of the foremost modernists of the twentieth century.

During the interwar period, Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society and a central figure in the influential Bloomsbury Group of intellectuals. Her most famous works include the novels Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse and Orlando, and the book-length essay A Room of One's Own, with its famous dictum, "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." Woolf suffered from severe bouts of mental illness throughout her life, thought to have been the result of what is now termed bipolar disorder, and committed suicide by drowning in 1941 at the age of 59.

Yet, it is true, poetry is delicious the best prose is that which is most full of poetry. best & poetry

The beauty of the world, which is so soon to perish, has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder. beauty

Rigid, the skeleton of habit alone upholds the human frame. being alone

Every secret of a writer's soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind is written large in his works. experience

We can best help you to prevent war not by repeating your words and following your methods but by finding new words and creating new methods. best & war

It's not catastrophes, murders, deaths, diseases, that age and kill us it's the way people look and laugh, and run up the steps of omnibuses. aging

A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction. money

Why are women... so much more interesting to men than men are to women? men & women

The history of men's opposition to women's emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself. history & women

It seems as if an age of genius must be succeeded by an age of endeavour riot and extravagance by cleanliness and hard work. aging & work

The beautiful seems right by force of beauty, and the feeble wrong because of weakness. beauty

Yet it is in our idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth sometimes comes to the top. dreams & truth

Some people go to priests others to poetry I to my friends. friendship & poetry

When the shriveled skin of the ordinary is stuffed out with meaning, it satisfies the senses amazingly. amazing

The truth is, I often like women. I like their unconventionality. I like their completeness. I like their anonymity. truth & women

It is in our idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth sometimes comes to the top. dreams & truth

Really I don't like human nature unless all candied over with art. art & nature

You cannot find peace by avoiding life. peace

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. love

Nothing induces me to read a novel except when I have to make money by writing about it. I detest them. money

The connection between dress and war is not far to seek your finest clothes are those you wear as soldiers. war

The telephone, which interrupts the most serious conversations and cuts short the most weighty observations, has a romance of its own. romance

To enjoy freedom we have to control ourselves. freedom

Mental fight means thinking against the current, not with it. It is our business to puncture gas bags and discover the seeds of truth. business & truth

If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people. truth

Women have served all these centuries as looking glasses possessing the power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size. power & women

I read the book of Job last night, I don't think God comes out well in it. God

Odd how the creative power at once brings the whole universe to order. power

For most of history, Anonymous was a woman. history

Humor is the first of the gifts to perish in a foreign tongue. humor

St. Patrick's Day March 17, 2025

There is no language like the Irish for soothing and quieting. 3 quotes from John Millington Synge

3 quotes from John Millington Synge

Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy. 28 quotes from William Butler Yeats

28 quotes from William Butler Yeats

Geographically, Ireland is a medium-sized rural island that is slowly but steadily being consumed by sheep. 27 quotes from Dave Barry

27 quotes from Dave Barry

We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English. 74 thoughts from Winston Churchill

74 thoughts from Winston Churchill