The Ambassadors is a 1903 novel by Henry James, originally published as a serial in the North American Review . This dark comedy, seen as one of the masterpieces of James's final period, follows the trip of protagonist Lewis Lambert Strether to Europe in pursuit of Chad Newsome, his widowed fiancée's supposedly wayward son; he is to bring the young man back to the family business, but he encounters unexpected complications. The third-person narrative is told exclusively from Strether's point of view.
“The right time is any time that one is still so lucky as to have.”
Henry James book The Ambassadors
The Ambassadors (1903), book V, ch. II.
Context: Live all you can — it's a mistake not to. It doesn't so much matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life. If you haven't had that, what have you had?.. What one loses one loses; make no mistake about that... The right time is any time that one is still so lucky as to have.. Live!
Henry James book The Ambassadors
Source: The Ambassadors (1903), book V, ch. II.
Context: Live all you can — it's a mistake not to. It doesn't so much matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life. If you haven't had that, what have you had?.. What one loses one loses; make no mistake about that... The right time is any time that one is still so lucky as to have.. Live!
“The terrible fluidity of self-revelation.”
Henry James book The Ambassadors
The Ambassadors
Prefaces (1907-1909)
“She was a woman who, between courses, could be graceful with her elbows on the table.”
Henry James book The Ambassadors
The Ambassadors, book VII, ch. I.
“[T]here are women who are for all your "times of life."”
Henry James book The Ambassadors
They're the most wonderful sort.
Book V, ch. III.
The Ambassadors (1903)
“When it's for each other that people give things up they don't miss them.”
Henry James book The Ambassadors
Book VI, ch. III
The Ambassadors (1903)
