Suppose no one asked a question. Gertrude Stein More Quotes by Gertrude Stein More Quotes From Gertrude Stein I am writing for myself and strangers. This is the only way that I can do it. Everybody is a real one to me, everybody is like some one else too to me. No one of them that I know can want Gertrude Stein realwantwriting There is a difference between twenty-nine and thirty. When you are twenty-nine it can be the beginning of everything. When you are thirty it can be the end of everything. Gertrude Stein differencestwentiesliterature Men cannot count, they do not know that two and two make four if women do not tell them so. Gertrude Stein fourmentwo There is no such thing as being good to your wife. Gertrude Stein be-goodwife It is funny about money. And it is funny about identity. You are you because your little dog knows you, but when your public knows you and does not want to pay for you and when your public knows you and does want to pay for you, you are not the same you. Gertrude Stein identitydogdoe It always did bother me that the American public were more interested in me than in my work. And after all there is no sense in it because if it were not for my work they would not be interested in me so why should they not be more interested in my work than in me. That is one of the things one has to worry about in America. Gertrude Stein shouldworryamerica If anything is a surprise then there is not much difference between older and younger because the only thing that does make anybody older is that they cannot be surprised. Gertrude Stein surprisedifferencesdoe Before one is successful that is before any one is ready to pay money for anything you do then you are certain that every word you have written is an important word to have written and that any word you have written is as important as any other word and you keep everything you have written with great care. Gertrude Stein careimportantsuccessful Supposing everyone lived at one time what would they say. They would observe that stringing string beans is universal. Gertrude Stein stringsbeanssupposing-that All the world knows how to cry but not all the world knows how to sigh. Sighing is extra. Gertrude Stein sighcryworld From the very nature of progress, all ages must be transitional. If they were not, the world would be at a stand-still and death would speedily ensue. It is one of the tamest of platitudes but it is always introduced by a flourish of trumpets. Gertrude Stein progressagewould-be I have heard Will Honeycomb say, A Woman seldom Writes her Mind but in her Postscript. Gertrude Stein heardmindwriting I was undone by my Auxiliary; when I had once called him in, I could not subsist without Dependance on him. Gertrude Stein undone I simply contend that the middle-class ideal which demands that people be affectionate, respectable, honest and content, that they avoid excitements and cultivate serenity is the ideal that appeals to me, it is in short the ideal of affectionate family life, of honorable business methods. Gertrude Stein serenityclasspeople Silent gratitude isn't very much use to anyone. Gertrude Stein What is the answer I was silent. In that case, what is the question Gertrude Stein Everybody gets so much common information all day long that they lose their common sense. Gertrude Stein In the United States there is more space where nobody is than where anybody is. This is what makes America what it is. Gertrude Stein There ain't no answer. There ain't going to be any answer. There never has been an answer. That's the answer. Gertrude Stein What is the answer? she asked, and when no answer came she laughed and said: Then, what is the question? Gertrude Stein
