If only she could put them together, she felt, write them out in some sentence, then she would have got at the truth of things. Virginia Woolf More Quotes by Virginia Woolf More Quotes From Virginia Woolf To read a novel is a difficult and complex art. You must be capable not only of great fineness of perception, but of great boldness of imagination. Virginia Woolf perception imagination art Every season is likeable, and wet days and fine, red wine and white, company and solitude. Even sleep, that deplorable curtailment of the joy of life, can be full of dreams; and the most common actions──a walk, a talk, solitude in one’s own orchard──can be enhanced and lit up by the association of the mind. Beauty is everywhere, and beauty is only two finger’s-breadth from goodness. Virginia Woolf wine dream sleep The eyes of others our prisons; their thoughts our cages. Virginia Woolf confidence love-yourself eye Vain trifles as they seem, clothes have, they say, more important offices than to merely keep us warm. They change our view of the world and the world's view of us. Virginia Woolf clothes fashion views My mind works in idleness. To do nothing is often my most profitable way. Virginia Woolf mind happiness way Habits and customs are a convenience devised for the support of timid natures who dare not allow their souls free play. Virginia Woolf support soul play When you consider things like the stars, our affairs don't seem to matter very much, do they? Virginia Woolf affair stars matter 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 soul secret writing Second hand books are wild books, homeless books; they have come together in vast flocks of variegated feather, and have a charm which the domesticated volumes of the library lack. Virginia Woolf healing book hands Once you begin to take yourself seriously as a leader or as a follower, as a modern or as a conservative, then you become a self-conscious, biting, and scratching little animal whose work is not of the slightest value or importance to anybody. Virginia Woolf leader self animal The depths of the sea are only water after all. Virginia Woolf depth sea water As long as she thinks of a man, nobody objects to a woman thinking. Virginia Woolf men long thinking For pleasure has no relish unless we share it. Virginia Woolf relish pleasure share A veil of insanity everywhere: Oh why I was born in this age? It is a terrible age. Virginia Woolf veils age insanity I want some one to sit beside after the day's pursuit and all its anguish, after its listening, its waitings, and its suspicions. After quarreling and reconciliation I need privacy--to be alone with you, to set this hubbub in order. For I am as neat as a cat in my habits. Virginia Woolf cat waiting order Without self awareness we are as babies in the cradles. Virginia Woolf daughter mother baby Each had his own business to think of. Each had his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by heart; and his friends could only read the title. Virginia Woolf women friendship book Fatigue is the safest sleeping draught. Virginia Woolf draught fatigue sleep It is a thousand pities never to say what one feels. Virginia Woolf mrs-dalloway pity thousand I like people to be unhappy because I like them to have souls. Virginia Woolf unhappy soul people