Quotes from An American Tragedy

Theodore Dreiser ·  859 pages

Rating: (28.1K votes)


“what matter it if a man gaineth the whole world and loseth his own soul?”
― Theodore Dreiser, quote from An American Tragedy


“She turned; she bruised under her heel the scaly head of this dark suspicion-as terrifying to her as his guilt was to him. 'O Absalom, my Absalom! Come, come, we will not entertain such a thought. God himself would not urge it upon a mother.”
― Theodore Dreiser, quote from An American Tragedy


“She merely beamed a fatty beam. She was almost ponderous, and pink, with a tendency to a double chin.”
― Theodore Dreiser, quote from An American Tragedy


“As they sang, this nondescript and indifferent street audience gazed, held by the peculiarity of such an unimportant-looking family publicly raising its collective voice against the vast skepticism and apathy of life.”
― Theodore Dreiser, quote from An American Tragedy


“I was in Chicago before I came here, but I didn’t do so very much dancing. I had to work.” He was thinking how such girls as she had everything, as contrasted with girls like Roberta, who had nothing. And yet, as he now felt in this instance, he liked Roberta better. She was sweeter and warmer and kinder—not so cold.”
― Theodore Dreiser, quote from An American Tragedy



“Нет греха слишком большого для милосердия Божьего.”
― Theodore Dreiser, quote from An American Tragedy


“And they were always testifying as to how God or Christ or Divine Grace had rescued them from this or that predicament—never how they had rescued any one else. And”
― Theodore Dreiser, quote from An American Tragedy


“Who were these people with money, and what had they done that they should enjoy so much luxury, where others as good seemingly as themselves had nothing? And wherein did these latter differ so greatly from the successful?”
― Theodore Dreiser, quote from An American Tragedy


“...the past was so painful at any point. It seared and burned.”
― Theodore Dreiser, quote from An American Tragedy


“course. For in some blind, dualistic way both she and Asa insisted, as do all religionists, in disassociating God from harm and error and misery, while granting Him nevertheless supreme control. They would seek for something else—some malign, treacherous, deceiving power which, in the face of God’s omniscience and omnipotence, still beguiles and betrays—and find it eventually in the error and perverseness of the human heart, which God has made, yet which He does not control, because He does not want to control it.”
― Theodore Dreiser, quote from An American Tragedy



About the author

Theodore Dreiser
Born place: in Terre Haute, Indiana, The United States
Born date August 27, 1871
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“When you die, the only things you leave behind are memories in the minds of those who loved you. That was how you lived on.”
― Robyn Peterman, quote from Fashionably Dead


“There is so much to say. It is like shoving all the sand of the world into an hourglass. Or trying to get it out.”
― Gayle Forman, quote from Just One Night


“There are two competing trends in the world today: one is to create a planetary civilization that is tolerant, scientific, and prosperous, but the other glorifies anarchy and ignorance that could rip the fabric of our society.”
― Michio Kaku, quote from Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100


“Oberon:"She's a very clever girl, the kind you dont' take home to Ogma.”
― Kevin Hearne, quote from Trapped


“The Wasted Words You will forgive me, I hope you don't mind me saying, I just wanted to add, if you've got time and I've said it before and I'll say it again, because you should know, before we go any further, we should put everything on the table because the reality is and the truth is and the fact of the matter is, I shouldn't interrupt but I was wondering and if you know, please tell me, how we manage to say so much, without saying anything at all.”
― pleasefindthis, quote from I Wrote This For You: Just the Words


Interesting books

Fire & Flood
(9.2K)
Fire & Flood
by Victoria Scott
The Bear and the Nightingale
(38.3K)
The Bear and the Nig...
by Katherine Arden
The Tommyknockers
(101.2K)
The Tommyknockers
by Stephen King
The Sum of All Fears
(48.8K)
The Sum of All Fears
by Tom Clancy
And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic
(18.8K)
And the Band Played...
by Randy Shilts
Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives
(11.1K)
Sum: Forty Tales fro...
by David Eagleman

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.