Edith Wharton

“How much longer are we going to think it necessary to be "American" before (or in contradistinction to) being cultivated, being enlightened, being humane, & having the same intellectual discipline as other civilized countries? Letter to Barrett Wendell”

“Mrs. Ballinger is one of the ladies who pursue Culture in bands, as though it were dangerous to meet it alone. "Xingu" (1911), from Xingu and Other Stories”

“I wonder, among all the tangles of this mortal coil, which one contains tighter knots to undo, & consequently suggests more tugging, & pain, & diversified elements of misery, than the marriage tie. Letter to John Hugh Smith (12 February 1909), published in The Letters of Edith Wharton”

“After all, one knows one's weak points so well, that it's rather bewildering to have the critics overlook them & invent others that (one is fairly sure) don't exist”

“No insect hangs its nest on threads as frail as those which will sustain the weight of human vanity. "The House of Mirth" (1905), ch. X, pg. 69”

“He had come on her that morning in a moment of disarray; her face had been pale and altered, and the diminution of her beauty had lent her a poignant charm. That is how she looks when she is alone! had been his first thought; and the second was to note in her the change which his coming produced. "The House of Mirth" (1905), bk. 1, ch. 6”

“The only way not to think about money is to have a great deal of it. The House of Mirth (1905), bk.1, ch. 6”

“A New York divorce is in itself a diploma of virtue. "The Other Two," ch. 1, from The Descent of Man and Other Stories”

“It was part of her discernment to be aware that life is the only real counselor, that wisdom unfiltered through personal experience does not become a part of the moral tissues. Sanctuary , (1903) part II, ch. IV”

“Vesalius in Zante”