Kate Chopin citations

“Goodbye -- Because I love you.”

“She could only realize that she herself — her present self — was in some way different from the other self. That she was seeing with different eyes.”

“The voice of the sea speaks to the soul.”

“She wanted something to happen - something, anything: she did not know what.”

“Perhaps it is better to wake up after all, even to suffer, rather than to remain a dupe to illusions all one's life.”

“The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation.”

“She had resolved never again to belong to another than herself.”

“The bird that would soar above the plane of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings. It is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth.”

“She was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world.”

“I would give up the unessential; I would give up my money, I would give up my life for my children; but I wouldn't give myself. I can't make it more clear; it's only something I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me.”

“The artist must possess the courageous soul that dares and defies”

“Even as a child she had lived her own small life within herself. At a very early period she had apprehended instinctively the dual life - that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions.”

“The bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings.”

“The delicious breath of rain was in the air.”

“The past was nothing to her; offered no lesson which she was willing to heed. The future was a mystery which she never attempted to penetrate. The present alone was significant.”

“She missed him the days when some pretext served to take him away from her, just as one misses the sun on a cloudy day without having thought much about the sun when it was shining.”

“We shall be everything to each other. Nothing else shall be of any consequence.”

“It was not despair, but it seemed to her as if life were passing by, leaving its promises broken and unfulfilled. Yet there were other days when she listened, was led on and deceived by fresh promises which her youth had held out to her.”

“A certain light was beginning to dawn dimly within her,—the light which, showing the way, forbids it.”

“There was a dull pang of regret because it was not the kiss of love which had inflamed her, because it was not love which had held this cup of life to her lips.”

“At a very early period she had apprehended the instinctively the dual life - that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions.”

“There was no despondency when she fell asleep that night; nor was there hope when she awoke in the morning.”

“She's got some sort of notion in her head concerning the eternal rights of women.”

“The city atmosphere certainly has improved her. Some way she doesn't seem like the same woman.”

“Does he write to you? Never a line. Does he send you a message? Never a word. It is because he loves you, poor fool, and is trying to forget you, since you are not free to listen to him or to belong to him.”

“one who awakens gradually out of a dream, a delicious, grotesque, impossible dream, to feel again the realities pressing into her soul”

“When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease - of the joy that kills.”

“To be an artist includes much; one must possess many gift -absolute gifts- which have not been acquired by one's effort. And, moreover, to succeed, the artist must possess the courageous soul.”

“And moreover, to succeed, the artist must possess the courageous soul… the brave soul. The soul that dares and defies.”