Famous Quotes of Virginia Woolf

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Virginia Woolf is one of the most renowned British writers of the 20th century. Her beautiful sentences and distinctly modernist approach to literature have made her works staples in college English courses. She was also a feminist before feminism was even a movement. These outspoken opinions about gender can be seen throughout her work. Though unspeakable talent has earned her fame, she is also renowned for her tragic death. Woolf was prone to periods of severe depression, and ultimately drowned herself in a river not far from her country home. Many of postulated that it was her genius that killed her, as she felt imprisoned by both the times and her expansive mind. Some of her most praised works include To the Lighthouse, Mrs. Dalloway, and A Room of One’s Own.

1. ‘I can only note that the past is beautiful because one never realizes an emotion at the time. It expands later, and thus we don’t have complete emotions about the present, only about the past.’

Woolf points out that the human tendency to find the past appealing and whole when compared to the present. This can cause some to perpetually live in the past, though here Woolf implies that all present moments worth remembering will eventually evolve into something more ‘complete’ as time passes and you have more time to consider events.

2. ‘The eyes of others our prisons; their thoughts our cages.’

The impressions of others can feel more like a prison than any physical constraints we may face in our lives. Caring about what people think of you will ultimately lead to unhappiness and despair because you are never allowed to simply be yourself.

3. ‘I thought how unpleasant it is to be locked out; and I thought how it is worse, perhaps, to be locked in.’

Though being locked out of something is isolating, there is nothing more terrible than confinement. When you are locked out, you still have the rest of the world to explore, but when you are locked in, you are limited to only yourself for company. In many ways, Woolf knew this better than anyone. Her periods of mental illness made her into a prisoner of her own mind.

4. ‘I have lost friends, some by death, others by sheer inability to cross the street.’

Friendships are some of the most rewarding kinds of relationships one can have with another human being. Though culture venerates romantic love, friendships can be just as complex. Much like romantic relationships, some friendships are cut short by death and others are the result of a slow drifting apart, the inability to simply reach out and connect with that person.

5. ‘For masterpieces are not single and solitary births; they are the outcome of many years of thinking in common, of thinking by the body of the people, so that the experience of the mass is behind the single voice.’

What makes a true masterpiece isn’t necessarily the genius of an individual. What makes a masterpiece is one person’s ability to observe the collective ideas of the people around them, organize the ideas into something streamlined, and then elegantly express what everyone had been thinking all along.

6. ‘It is in our idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth sometimes makes its way to the surface.’

From Keats to Buddha, many famous thinkers in human history have pushed the importance of taking time away from bustling life to meditate and reflect. Reverie will sometimes give way to truth, what is really going on beneath the fantasy. Woolf follows this line of thinking, though she expresses the old idea in a way that it distinctly her own.

7. ‘What is the meaning of life? That was all – a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years, the great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead, there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark; here was one.’

This quote eloquently captures the constant search for meaning in ones life. One never does quite capture the grand idea or the big picture, but there are moments when we find meaning in the smaller moments and the daily epiphanies. Somehow this is what keeps us going.

8. ‘Illusions are to the soul what atmosphere is to the earth.’

Woolf perfectly encapsulates this idea succinctly. Life is difficult and at times simply existing in the world presents numerous hardships. Keeping that fire going ‘ that desire to continue living with vigor and hope ‘ requires a certain degree of illusion at times. The truth is not always the best medicine for morale.

9. ‘Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.’

Though this quote is plucked from her feminist essay A Room of One’s Own and applies specifically to women, it can stand for the entirety of humanity. Education nurses the mind, but it is not essential to make it function. The mind is a place of whimsy and infinite wonder, a place of true freedom.

10. ‘You cannot find peace by avoiding life.’

While illusion can sustain a person for a time, coming to terms with yourself and the world around you is not achievable unless you can find the courage to look life in the face. Though there are times when illusion is necessary to fend off the stresses of everyday life, there is no true peace to be found within an illusion.

11. ‘Literature is strewn with the wreckage of those who have minded beyond reason the opinion of others.’

Writers often gain renown for the insights and ideas expressed in their work. All of these great writers did not care what other people think, sometimes to their detriment socially, politically, mentally, etc. Woolf speaks so well about the subject because was one of these writers herself.

12. ‘The beauty of the world has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder.’

There are times when life seems grand and other times when life seems like the most miserable of things. Rarely is there perfect harmony and balance. There is something beautiful about it ‘ which is reflected in the composition of this quote ‘ but it is a fact that can cause people a great deal of pain.

13. ‘There are moments when one can neither think nor feel, she thought, and if one can neither feel nor think, where’s one?’

Though the old philosophical saying goes ‘I think, therefore I am,’ here Woolf suggests that emotions play a large part in locating the self. If neither thought nor emotion is present, one might as well not exist at all.

14. ‘It might be possible that the world itself is without meaning.’

This may seem like an odd idea to come from a woman who spent so much time contemplating the significance of life and human emotion. However, here Woolf proposes a simple, yet somewhat terrifying idea: We might be wasting our time trying to decipher the meaning of life. Perhaps there is simply nothing to decipher.

15. ‘When you consider things like the stars, our affairs don’t seem to matter very much, do they?’

It is easy to become caught up in day-to-day minutiae ‘ especially the constant stimuli and rush of modern life ‘ but ultimately there are moments when we take a step back and realize our true insignificance. Here Woolf captures this humbling feeling perfectly. It makes you consider both sides of this feeling: the relief it can provide and the feeling of sheer terror.

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