William Dean Howells Quotes


"Wisdom and goodness are twin-born, one heart must hold both sisters, never seen apart."
- William Dean Howells
(Related: Wisdom, Heart, Goodness, Sisters)

"What the American public wants in the theater is a tragedy with a happy ending."
- William Dean Howells
(Related: American, Ending, Public, Theater, Tragedy)

"We are creatures of the moment; we live from one little space to another, and only one interest at a time fills these."
- William Dean Howells
(Related: Time, Interest, Space)

"Tomorrow I shall be sixty-nine, but I do not seem to care. I did not start the affair, and I have not been consulted about it at any step."
- William Dean Howells
(Related: Care, Tomorrow)

"There will presently be no room in the world for things; it will be filled up with the advertisements of things."
- William Dean Howells
(Related: Will, World)

"The conqueror is regarded with awe; the wise man commands our respect; but it is only the benevolent man that wins our affection."
- William Dean Howells
(Related: Affection, Man, Respect)

"The secret of the man who is universally interesting is that he is universally interested."
- William Dean Howells
(Related: Man)

"The book which you read from a sense of duty, or because for any reason you must, does not commonly make friends with you."
- William Dean Howells
(Related: Duty, Friends, Reason, Sense)

"He who sleeps in continual noise is wakened by silence."
- William Dean Howells
(Related: Silence)

"The action is best that secures the greatest happiness for the greatest number."
- William Dean Howells
(Related: Happiness, Action)

"Some people can stay longer in an hour than others can in a week."
- William Dean Howells
(Related: People)

"Primitive societies without religion have never been found."
- William Dean Howells
(Related: Religion)

"It is the still, small voice that the soul heeds, not the deafening blasts of doom."
- William Dean Howells
(Related: Soul, Voice)

"Is it worth while to observe that there are no Venetian blinds in Venice?"
- William Dean Howells
(Related: Venice, Worth)

"Inequality is as dear to the American heart as liberty itself."
- William Dean Howells
(Related: Heart, American, Inequality, Liberty)

"In Europe life is histrionic and dramatized, and in America, except when it is trying to be European, it is direct and sincere."
- William Dean Howells
(Related: Life, America, Europe, Trying)

"If we like a man's dream, we call him a reformer; if we don't like his dream, we call him a crank."
- William Dean Howells
(Related: Dream, Man)

"How is it the great pieces of good luck fall to us?"
- William Dean Howells
(Related: Luck)

"A man never sees all that his mother has been to him until it's too late to let her know that he sees it."
- William Dean Howells
(Related: Mother, Man)

"The mortality of all inanimate things is terrible to me, but that of books most of all."
- William Dean Howells
(Related: Books, Mortality)