Virginia Woolf Quotes And Sayings

Adeline Virginia Woolf, known professionally as 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 (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927) and Orlando (1928), and the book-length essay A Room of One’s Own (1929), with its famous dictum, “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.”

One Cannot Think Well, Love Well, Sleep Well, If One Has Not Dined Well.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (1) - One Cannot Think Well, Love Well, Sle... - QuotesOne Cannot Think Well, Love Well, Sleep Well, If One Has Not Dined Well.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (1) - One Cannot Think Well, Love Well, Sle... - Quotes

The Eyes Of Others Our Prisons; Their Thoughts Our Cages.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (10) - The Eyes Of Others Our Prisons; Thei... - QuotesThe Eyes Of Others Our Prisons; Their Thoughts Our Cages.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (10) - The Eyes Of Others Our Prisons; Thei... - Quotes

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.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (11) - We Can Best Help You To Prevent War ... - QuotesWe 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.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (11) - We Can Best Help You To Prevent War ... - Quotes

If We Help An Educated Man's Daughter To Go To Cambridge Are We Not Forcing Her To Think Not About Education But About War? - Not How She Can Learn, But How She Can Fight In Order That She Might Win The Same Advantages As Her Brothers?

Virginia Woolf Quotes (12) - If We Help An Educated Man's Daughte... - QuotesIf We Help An Educated Man's Daughter To Go To Cambridge Are We Not Forcing Her To Think Not About Education But About War? - Not How She Can Learn, But How She Can Fight In Order That She Might Win The Same Advantages As Her Brothers?

Virginia Woolf Quotes (12) - If We Help An Educated Man's Daughte... - Quotes

Every Secret Of A Writer's Soul, Every Experience Of His Life, Every Quality Of His Mind Is Written Large In His Works.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (13) - Every Secret Of A Writer's Soul, Eve... - QuotesEvery Secret Of A Writer's Soul, Every Experience Of His Life, Every Quality Of His Mind Is Written Large In His Works.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (13) - Every Secret Of A Writer's Soul, Eve... - Quotes

If You Insist Upon Fighting To Protect Me, Or 'Our' Country, Let It Be Understood Soberly And Rationally Between Us That You Are Fighting To Gratify A Sex Instinct Which I Cannot Share; To Procure Benefits Where I Have Not Shared And Probably Will Not Share.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (14) - If You Insist Upon Fighting To Prote... - QuotesIf You Insist Upon Fighting To Protect Me, Or 'Our' Country, Let It Be Understood Soberly And Rationally Between Us That You Are Fighting To Gratify A Sex Instinct Which I Cannot Share; To Procure Benefits Where I Have Not Shared And Probably Will Not Share.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (14) - If You Insist Upon Fighting To Prote... - Quotes

I Want The Concentration And The Romance, And The Worlds All Glued Together, Fused, Glowing: Have No Time To Waste Any More On Prose.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (16) - I Want The Concentration And The Rom... - QuotesI Want The Concentration And The Romance, And The Worlds All Glued Together, Fused, Glowing: Have No Time To Waste Any More On Prose.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (16) - I Want The Concentration And The Rom... - Quotes

It Is Far Harder To Kill A Phantom Than A Reality.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (17) - It Is Far Harder To Kill A Phantom T... - QuotesIt Is Far Harder To Kill A Phantom Than A Reality.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (17) - It Is Far Harder To Kill A Phantom T... - Quotes

Where The Mind Is Biggest, The Heart, The Senses, Magnanimity, Charity, Tolerance, Kindliness, And The Rest Of Them Scarcely Have Room To Breathe.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (15) - Where The Mind Is Biggest, The Heart... - QuotesWhere The Mind Is Biggest, The Heart, The Senses, Magnanimity, Charity, Tolerance, Kindliness, And The Rest Of Them Scarcely Have Room To Breathe.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (15) - Where The Mind Is Biggest, The Heart... - Quotes

You Cannot Find Peace By Avoiding Life.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (18) - You Cannot Find Peace By Avoiding Li... - QuotesYou Cannot Find Peace By Avoiding Life.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (18) - You Cannot Find Peace By Avoiding Li... - Quotes

It Is Far More Difficult To Murder A Phantom Than A Reality.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (19) - It Is Far More Difficult To Murder A... - QuotesIt Is Far More Difficult To Murder A Phantom Than A Reality.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (19) - It Is Far More Difficult To Murder A... - Quotes

The Telephone, Which Interrupts The Most Serious Conversations And Cuts Short The Most Weighty Observations, Has A Romance Of Its Own.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (20) - The Telephone, Which Interrupts The ... - QuotesThe Telephone, Which Interrupts The Most Serious Conversations And Cuts Short The Most Weighty Observations, Has A Romance Of Its Own.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (20) - The Telephone, Which Interrupts The ... - Quotes

My Own Brain Is To Me The Most Unaccountable Of Machinery - Always Buzzing, Humming, Soaring Roaring Diving, And Then Buried In Mud. And Why? What's This Passion For?

Virginia Woolf Quotes (2) - My Own Brain Is To Me The Most Unacco... - QuotesMy Own Brain Is To Me The Most Unaccountable Of Machinery - Always Buzzing, Humming, Soaring Roaring Diving, And Then Buried In Mud. And Why? What's This Passion For?

Virginia Woolf Quotes (2) - My Own Brain Is To Me The Most Unacco... - Quotes

One Has To Secrete A Jelly In Which To Slip Quotations Down People's Throats - And One Always Secretes Too Much Jelly.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (22) - One Has To Secrete A Jelly In Which ... - QuotesOne Has To Secrete A Jelly In Which To Slip Quotations Down People's Throats - And One Always Secretes Too Much Jelly.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (22) - One Has To Secrete A Jelly In Which ... - Quotes

It Seems As If An Age Of Genius Must Be Succeeded By An Age Of Endeavour; Riot And Extravagance By Cleanliness And Hard Work.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (21) - It Seems As If An Age Of Genius Must... - QuotesIt Seems As If An Age Of Genius Must Be Succeeded By An Age Of Endeavour; Riot And Extravagance By Cleanliness And Hard Work.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (21) - It Seems As If An Age Of Genius Must... - Quotes

The Beautiful Seems Right By Force Of Beauty, And The Feeble Wrong Because Of Weakness.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (23) - The Beautiful Seems Right By Force O... - QuotesThe Beautiful Seems Right By Force Of Beauty, And The Feeble Wrong Because Of Weakness.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (23) - The Beautiful Seems Right By Force O... - Quotes

I Read The Book Of Job Last Night, I Don't Think God Comes Out Well In It.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (24) - I Read The Book Of Job Last Night, I... - QuotesI Read The Book Of Job Last Night, I Don't Think God Comes Out Well In It.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (24) - I Read The Book Of Job Last Night, I... - Quotes

Fiction Is Like A Spider's Web, Attached Ever So Slightly Perhaps, But Still Attached To Life At All Four Corners. Often The Attachment Is Scarcely Perceptible.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (26) - Fiction Is Like A Spider's Web, Atta... - QuotesFiction Is Like A Spider's Web, Attached Ever So Slightly Perhaps, But Still Attached To Life At All Four Corners. Often The Attachment Is Scarcely Perceptible.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (26) - Fiction Is Like A Spider's Web, Atta... - Quotes

Each Has His Past Shut In Him Like The Leaves Of A Book Known To Him By His Heart, And His Friends Can Only Read The Title.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (25) - Each Has His Past Shut In Him Like T... - QuotesEach Has His Past Shut In Him Like The Leaves Of A Book Known To Him By His Heart, And His Friends Can Only Read The Title.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (25) - Each Has His Past Shut In Him Like T... - Quotes

These Are The Soul's Changes. I Don't Believe In Ageing. I Believe In Forever Altering One's Aspect To The Sun. Hence My Optimism.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (27) - These Are The Soul's Changes. I Don'... - QuotesThese Are The Soul's Changes. I Don't Believe In Ageing. I Believe In Forever Altering One's Aspect To The Sun. Hence My Optimism.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (27) - These Are The Soul's Changes. I Don'... - Quotes

Indeed, I Would Venture To Guess That Anon, Who Wrote So Many Poems Without Signing Them, Was Often A Woman.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (28) - Indeed, I Would Venture To Guess Tha... - QuotesIndeed, I Would Venture To Guess That Anon, Who Wrote So Many Poems Without Signing Them, Was Often A Woman.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (28) - Indeed, I Would Venture To Guess Tha... - Quotes

One Of The Signs Of Passing Youth Is The Birth Of A Sense Of Fellowship With Other Human Beings As We Take Our Place Among Them.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (29) - One Of The Signs Of Passing Youth Is... - QuotesOne Of The Signs Of Passing Youth Is The Birth Of A Sense Of Fellowship With Other Human Beings As We Take Our Place Among Them.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (29) - One Of The Signs Of Passing Youth Is... - Quotes

Humor Is The First Of The Gifts To Perish In A Foreign Tongue.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (3) - Humor Is The First Of The Gifts To Pe... - QuotesHumor Is The First Of The Gifts To Perish In A Foreign Tongue.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (3) - Humor Is The First Of The Gifts To Pe... - Quotes

One Likes People Much Better When They're Battered Down By A Prodigious Siege Of Misfortune Than When They Triumph.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (30) - One Likes People Much Better When Th... - QuotesOne Likes People Much Better When They're Battered Down By A Prodigious Siege Of Misfortune Than When They Triumph.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (30) - One Likes People Much Better When Th... - Quotes

Yet It Is In Our Idleness, In Our Dreams, That The Submerged Truth Sometimes Comes To The Top.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (31) - Yet It Is In Our Idleness, In Our Dr... - QuotesYet It Is In Our Idleness, In Our Dreams, That The Submerged Truth Sometimes Comes To The Top.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (31) - Yet It Is In Our Idleness, In Our Dr... - Quotes

There Is Much To Support The View That It Is Clothes That Wear Us, And Not We, Them; We May Make Them Take The Mould Of Arm Or Breast, But They Mould Our Hearts, Our Brains, Our Tongues To Their Liking.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (32) - There Is Much To Support The View Th... - QuotesThere Is Much To Support The View That It Is Clothes That Wear Us, And Not We, Them; We May Make Them Take The Mould Of Arm Or Breast, But They Mould Our Hearts, Our Brains, Our Tongues To Their Liking.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (32) - There Is Much To Support The View Th... - Quotes

Rigid, The Skeleton Of Habit Alone Upholds The Human Frame.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (34) - Rigid, The Skeleton Of Habit Alone U... - QuotesRigid, The Skeleton Of Habit Alone Upholds The Human Frame.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (34) - Rigid, The Skeleton Of Habit Alone U... - Quotes

Some People Go To Priests; Others To Poetry; I To My Friends.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (33) - Some People Go To Priests; Others To... - QuotesSome People Go To Priests; Others To Poetry; I To My Friends.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (33) - Some People Go To Priests; Others To... - Quotes

A Good Essay Must Have This Permanent Quality About It; It Must Draw Its Curtain Round Us, But It Must Be A Curtain That Shuts Us In Not Out.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (35) - A Good Essay Must Have This Permanen... - QuotesA Good Essay Must Have This Permanent Quality About It; It Must Draw Its Curtain Round Us, But It Must Be A Curtain That Shuts Us In Not Out.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (35) - A Good Essay Must Have This Permanen... - Quotes

Boredom Is The Legitimate Kingdom Of The Philanthropic.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (36) - Boredom Is The Legitimate Kingdom Of... - QuotesBoredom Is The Legitimate Kingdom Of The Philanthropic.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (36) - Boredom Is The Legitimate Kingdom Of... - Quotes

To Enjoy Freedom We Have To Control Ourselves.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (37) - To Enjoy Freedom We Have To Control ... - QuotesTo Enjoy Freedom We Have To Control Ourselves.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (37) - To Enjoy Freedom We Have To Control ... - Quotes

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.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (39) - It's Not Catastrophes, Murders, Deat... - QuotesIt'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.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (39) - It's Not Catastrophes, Murders, Deat... - Quotes

Language Is Wine Upon The Lips.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (40) - Language Is Wine Upon The Lips.... - QuotesLanguage Is Wine Upon The Lips.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (40) - Language Is Wine Upon The Lips.... - Quotes

The Beauty Of The World, Which Is So Soon To Perish, Has Two Edges, One Of Laughter, One Of Anguish, Cutting The Heart Asunder.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (4) - The Beauty Of The World, Which Is So ... - QuotesThe Beauty Of The World, Which Is So Soon To Perish, Has Two Edges, One Of Laughter, One Of Anguish, Cutting The Heart Asunder.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (4) - The Beauty Of The World, Which Is So ... - Quotes

Nothing Has Really Happened Until It Has Been Recorded.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (41) - Nothing Has Really Happened Until It... - QuotesNothing Has Really Happened Until It Has Been Recorded.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (41) - Nothing Has Really Happened Until It... - Quotes

Someone Has To Die In Order That The Rest Of Us Should Value Life More.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (42) - Someone Has To Die In Order That The... - QuotesSomeone Has To Die In Order That The Rest Of Us Should Value Life More.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (42) - Someone Has To Die In Order That The... - Quotes

Yet, It Is True, Poetry Is Delicious; The Best Prose Is That Which Is Most Full Of Poetry.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (43) - Yet, It Is True, Poetry Is Delicious... - QuotesYet, It Is True, Poetry Is Delicious; The Best Prose Is That Which Is Most Full Of Poetry.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (43) - Yet, It Is True, Poetry Is Delicious... - Quotes

It Is Fatal To Be A Man Or Woman Pure And Simple: One Must Be A Woman Manly, Or A Man Womanly.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (45) - It Is Fatal To Be A Man Or Woman Pur... - QuotesIt Is Fatal To Be A Man Or Woman Pure And Simple: One Must Be A Woman Manly, Or A Man Womanly.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (45) - It Is Fatal To Be A Man Or Woman Pur... - Quotes

The Man Who Is Aware Of Himself Is Henceforward Independent; And He Is Never Bored, And Life Is Only Too Short, And He Is Steeped Through And Through With A Profound Yet Temperate Happiness.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (44) - The Man Who Is Aware Of Himself Is H... - QuotesThe Man Who Is Aware Of Himself Is Henceforward Independent; And He Is Never Bored, And Life Is Only Too Short, And He Is Steeped Through And Through With A Profound Yet Temperate Happiness.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (44) - The Man Who Is Aware Of Himself Is H... - Quotes

I Thought How Unpleasant It Is To Be Locked Out; And I Thought How It Is Worse, Perhaps, To Be Locked In.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (46) - I Thought How Unpleasant It Is To Be... - QuotesI Thought How Unpleasant It Is To Be Locked Out; And I Thought How It Is Worse, Perhaps, To Be Locked In.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (46) - I Thought How Unpleasant It Is To Be... - Quotes

Really I Don't Like Human Nature Unless All Candied Over With Art.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (47) - Really I Don't Like Human Nature Unl... - QuotesReally I Don't Like Human Nature Unless All Candied Over With Art.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (47) - Really I Don't Like Human Nature Unl... - Quotes

On The Outskirts Of Every Agony Sits Some Observant Fellow Who Points.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (49) - On The Outskirts Of Every Agony Sits... - QuotesOn The Outskirts Of Every Agony Sits Some Observant Fellow Who Points.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (49) - On The Outskirts Of Every Agony Sits... - Quotes

There Can Be No Two Opinions As To What A Highbrow Is. He Is The Man Or Woman Of Thoroughbred Intelligence Who Rides His Mind At A Gallop Across Country In Pursuit Of An Idea.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (48) - There Can Be No Two Opinions As To W... - QuotesThere Can Be No Two Opinions As To What A Highbrow Is. He Is The Man Or Woman Of Thoroughbred Intelligence Who Rides His Mind At A Gallop Across Country In Pursuit Of An Idea.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (48) - There Can Be No Two Opinions As To W... - Quotes

If You Do Not Tell The Truth About Yourself You Cannot Tell It About Other People.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (5) - If You Do Not Tell The Truth About Yo... - QuotesIf You Do Not Tell The Truth About Yourself You Cannot Tell It About Other People.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (5) - If You Do Not Tell The Truth About Yo... - Quotes

I Can Only Note That The Past Is Beautiful Because One Never Realises An Emotion At The Time. It Expands Later, And Thus We Don't Have Complete Emotions About The Present, Only About The Past.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (50) - I Can Only Note That The Past Is Bea... - QuotesI Can Only Note That The Past Is Beautiful Because One Never Realises An Emotion At The Time. It Expands Later, And Thus We Don't Have Complete Emotions About The Present, Only About The Past.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (50) - I Can Only Note That The Past Is Bea... - Quotes

Great Bodies Of People Are Never Responsible For What They Do.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (51) - Great Bodies Of People Are Never Res... - QuotesGreat Bodies Of People Are Never Responsible For What They Do.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (51) - Great Bodies Of People Are Never Res... - Quotes

Women Have Served All These Centuries As Looking Glasses Possessing The Power Of Reflecting The Figure Of Man At Twice Its Natural Size.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (52) - Women Have Served All These Centurie... - QuotesWomen Have Served All These Centuries As Looking Glasses Possessing The Power Of Reflecting The Figure Of Man At Twice Its Natural Size.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (52) - Women Have Served All These Centurie... - Quotes

The Older One Grows, The More One Likes Indecency.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (53) - The Older One Grows, The More One Li... - QuotesThe Older One Grows, The More One Likes Indecency.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (53) - The Older One Grows, The More One Li... - Quotes

When The Shriveled Skin Of The Ordinary Is Stuffed Out With Meaning, It Satisfies The Senses Amazingly.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (54) - When The Shriveled Skin Of The Ordin... - QuotesWhen The Shriveled Skin Of The Ordinary Is Stuffed Out With Meaning, It Satisfies The Senses Amazingly.

Virginia Woolf Quotes (54) - When The Shriveled Skin Of The Ordin... - Quotes

For What Harley Street Specialist Has Time To Understand The Body, Let Alone The Mind Or Both In Combination, When He Is A Slave To Thirteen Thousand A Year?

Virginia Woolf Quotes (55) - For What Harley Street Specialist Ha... - QuotesFor What Harley Street Specialist Has Time To Understand The Body, Let Alone The Mind Or Both In Combination, When He Is A Slave To Thirteen Thousand A Year?

Virginia Woolf Quotes (55) - For What Harley Street Specialist Ha... - Quotes