Today is the birthday of one of my favorite authors — F. Scott Fitzgerald! So for fun (and because he is endlessly quotable) here are 18 of my favorite Fitzgerald quotes from across his bibliography.
“Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy.”
— Notebook E
“That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.”
— to journalist Sheilah Graham
“One should, for example, be able to see things as hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.”
― The Crack-Up
“It is not life that’s complicated, it’s the struggle to guide and control life.” ― This Side of Paradise
― This Side of Paradise
“Experience is the name so many people give to their mistakes.”
― This Side of Paradise
“I wanted to know you moved and breathed in the same world with me.”
— Benediction
“I want leisure to read—an immense amount.”
― The Offshore Pirate
“Lie to me by the moonlight. Do a fabulous story.”
― The Offshore Pirate
“Things are sweeter when they’re lost. I know–because once I wanted something and got it. It was the only thing I ever wanted badly, Dot, and when I got it it turned to dust in my hand.”
— The Beautiful and Damned
“I shall go on shining as a brilliantly meaningless figure in a meaningless world.”
— The Beautiful and Damned
“We all have souls of different ages”
― The Beautiful and Damned
“For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.”
― The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
“Whenever you feel like criticizing any one…just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”
— The Great Gatsby
“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.”
— The Great Gatsby
“Can’t repeat the past?” he cried incredulously. “Why of course you can!”
― The Great Gatsby
He looked around him wildly, as if the past were lurking here in the shadow of his house, just out of reach of his hand.
“It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living.”
— Tender is the Night
“In any case you mustn’t confuse a single failure with a final defeat.”
— Tender is the Night
“Well, you never knew exactly how much space you occupied in people’s lives.”
— Tender Is the Night
Do you have a favorite Fitzgerald quote? Let me know in the comments!
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