It is not helpful to help a friend by putting coins in his pockets when he has got holes in his pockets.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Help, His, Putting, Pockets
No object is mysterious. The mystery is your eye.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Eye, Mystery, Mysterious, Object
If a theme or idea is too near the surface, the novel becomes simply a tract illustrating an idea.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Surface, Tract, Too, Illustrating
Experience isn't interesting until it begins to repeat itself. In fact, till it does that, it hardly is experience.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Fact, Begins, Itself, Hardly
If you look at life one way, there is always cause for alarm.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Always, Cause, One Way, Alarm
Pity the selfishness of lovers: it is brief, a forlorn hope; it is impossible.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Impossible, Pity, Brief, Forlorn
Nobody can be kinder than the narcissist while you react to life in his own terms.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Than, His, Terms, Kinder
The best that an individual can do is to concentrate on what he or she can do, in the course of a burning effort to do it better.
- Elizabeth Bowen
She, Better, Burning, Concentrate
We are minor in everything but our passions.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Everything, Minor, Our, Passions
Intimacies between women often go backwards, beginning in revelations and ending in small talk.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Women, Small, Ending, Small Talk
Autumn arrives in early morning, but spring at the close of a winter day.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Nature, Winter, Spring, Early Morning
Illusions are art, for the feeling person, and it is by art that we live, if we do.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Art, Feeling, Person, Illusions
Art is one thing that can go on mattering once it has stopped hurting.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Art, Once, Stopped, Hurting
Meeting people unlike oneself does not enlarge one's outlook; it only confirms one's idea that one is unique.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Idea, Does, Unlike, Outlook
I became, and remain, my characters' close and intent watcher: their director, never. Their creator I cannot feel that I was, or am.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Creator, Became, Remain, Intent
The heart may think it knows better: the senses know that absence blots people out. We really have no absent friends.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Think, Senses, May, Absent
Nothing can happen nowhere. The locale of the happening always colours the happening, and often, to a degree, shapes it.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Happen, Always, Nowhere, Colours
That is partly why women marry - to keep up the fiction of being in the hub of things.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Fiction, Marry, Keep, Hub
Fate is not an eagle, it creeps like a rat.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Fate, Rat, Like, Creeps
Silences have a climax, when you have got to speak.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Speak, Got, Silences, Climax
Mechanical difficulties with language are the outcome of internal difficulties with thought.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Thought, Internal, Outcome
The innocent are so few that two of them seldom meet - when they do meet, their victims lie strewn all round.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Innocent, Lie, Them, Victims
Who is ever adequate? We all create situations each other can't live up to, then break our hearts at them because they don't.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Other, Break, Adequate, Situations
Ireland is a great country to die or be married in.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Great, Die, Country, Ireland
Jealousy is no more than feeling alone against smiling enemies.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Alone, Jealousy, Smiling, Enemies
One can live in the shadow of an idea without grasping it.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Shadow, Imagination, Idea, Grasping
When you love someone all your saved up wishes start coming out.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Love, Saved, Valentine's Day, Wishes
There is no end to the violations committed by children on children, quietly talking alone.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Children, Alone, Committed, Violations
The wish to lead out one's lover must be a tribal feeling; the wish to be seen as loved is part of one's self-respect.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Wish, Loved, Self-Respect, Tribal
Language is a mixture of statement and evocation.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Language, Statement, Mixture
All your youth you want to have your greatness taken for granted; when you find it taken for granted, you are unnerved.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Greatness, Want, Your, Granted
Nobody speaks the truth when there is something they must have.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Truth, Must, Speaks, Nobody
Never to lie is to have no lock on your door, you are never wholly alone.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Alone, Door, Never, Lock
Fantasy is toxic: the private cruelty and the world war both have their start in the heated brain.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Fantasy, Toxic, Private, Cruelty
The importance to the writer of first writing must be out of all proportion of the actual value of what is written.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Importance, Proportion, Actual
I think the main thing, don't you, is to keep the show on the road.
- Elizabeth Bowen
Road, Think, I Think, Main Thing
Loading more quotes...
If you're searching for quotes on a different topic, feel free to browse our Topics page or explore a diverse collection of quotes from various Authors to find inspiration.