Quotes by Edith Wharton

A classic is classic not because it conforms to certain structural rules, or fits certain definitions (of which its author had quite probably never heard). It is classic because of a certain eternal and irrepressible freshness. (Edith Wharton)

A New York divorce is in itself a diploma of virtue. (Edith Wharton)

After all, one knows ones weak points so well, that its rather bewildering to have the critics overlook them and invent others. (Edith Wharton)

Another unsettling element in modern art is that common symptom of immaturity, the dread of doing what has been done before. (Edith Wharton)

Art is on the side of the oppressed. Think before you shudder at the simplistic dictum and its heretical definition of the freedom of art. For if art is freedom of the spirit, how can it exist within the oppressors. (Edith Wharton)

Habit is necessary; it is the habit of having habits, of turning a trail into a rut, that must be incessantly fought against if one is to remain alive. (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, and having the same intellectual discipline as other civilized countries. (Edith Wharton)

I don't know if I should care for a man who made life easy; I should want someone who made it interesting. (Edith Wharton)

I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story. (Edith Wharton)

I have never known a novel that was good enough to be good in spite of its being adapted to the authors political views. (Edith Wharton)