Quotes from Jacob's Room

“Melancholy were the sounds on a winter's night.”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“Blame it or praise it, there is no denying the wild horse in us.”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“It is no use trying to sum people up.”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“I enjoy the spring more than the autumn now. One does, I think, as one gets older.”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“Indeed there has never been any explanation of the ebb and flow in our veins--of happiness and unhappiness.”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“It seems that a profound, impartial, and absolutely just opinion of our fellow-creatures is utterly unknown. Either we are men, or we are women. Either we are cold, or we are sentimental. Either we are young, or growing old. In any case life is but a procession of shadows, and God knows why it is that we embrace them so eagerly, and see them depart with such anguish, being shadows. And why, if this -- and much more than this is true -- why are we yet surprised in the window corner by a sudden vision that the young man in the chair is of all things in the world the most real, the most solid, the best known to us--why indeed? For the moment after we know nothing about him.

Such is the manner of our seeing. Such the conditions of our love.”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“Every face, every shop, bedroom window, public-house, and dark square is a picture feverishly turned--in search of what? It is the same with books. What do we seek through millions of pages?”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“anyone who’s worth anything reads just what he likes, as the mood takes him, and with extravagant enthusiasm.”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“I like books whose virtue is all drawn together in a page or two. I like sentences that don't budge though armies cross them. ”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“In any case life is but a procession of shadows, and God knows why it is that we embrace them so eagerly, and see them depart with such anguish, being shadows.”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“Fatigue is the safest sleeping draught.”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“Venerable are letters, infinitely brave, forlorn, and lost.”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“It was the intimacy, a sort of spiritual suppleness, when mind prints upon mind indelibly.”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“The strange thing about life is that though the nature of it must have been apparent to every one for hundreds of years, no one has left any adequate account of it. The streets of London have their map; but our passions are uncharted. What are you going to meet if you turn this corner?”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“Nobody sees any one as he is, let alone an elderly lady sitting opposite a strange young man in a railway carriage. They see a whole--they see all sorts of things--they see themselves...”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“Blame it or praise it, there is no denying the wild horse in us. To gallop intemperately; fall on the sand tired out; to feel the earth spin; to have - positively - a rush of friendship for stones and grasses, as if humanity were over, and as for men and women, let them go hang - there is no getting over the fact that this desire seizes up pretty often.”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“Anyhow, whether undergraduate or shop boy, man or woman, it must come as a shock about the age of twenty—the world of the elderly—thrown up in such black outline upon what we are; upon the reality; the moors and Byron; the sea and the lighthouse; the sheep’s jaw with the yellow teeth in it; upon the obstinate irrepressible conviction which makes youth so intolerably disagreeable—“I am what I am, and intend to be it,” for which there will be no form in the world unless Jacob makes one for himself. The Plumers will try to prevent him from making it. Wells and Shaw and the serious sixpenny weeklies will sit on its head.”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“The voice had an extraordinary sadness. Pure from all body, pure from all passion, going out into the world, solitary, unanswered, breaking against rocks—so it sounded.”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“Kind old ladies assure us that cats are often the best judges of character. A cat will always go to a good man, they say[.]”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“Let us consider letters - how they come at breakfast, and at night, with their yellow stamps and their green stamps, immortalized by the postmark - for to see one's own envelope on another's table is to realize how soon deeds sever and become alien. Then at last the power of the mind to quit the body is manifest, and perhaps we fear or hate or wish annihilated this phantom of ourselves, lying on the table. Still, there are letters that merely say how dinner's at seven; others ordering coal; making appointments. The hand in them is scarcely perceptible, let alone the voice or the scowl. Ah, but when the post knocks and the letter comes always the miracle seems repeated - speech attempted. Venerable are letters, infinitely brave, forlorn, and lost.”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“I am what I am, and intend to be it,' for which there will be no form in the world unless Jacob makes one for himself.”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“Venerable are letters, infinitely brave, forlorn, and lost.

Life would split asunder without them. "Come to tea, come to dinner, what's the truth of the story? have you heard the news? life in the capital is gay; the Russian dancers...." These are our stays and props. These lace our days together and make of life a perfect globe. And yet, and yet... when we go to dinner, when pressing finger-tips we hope to meet somewhere soon, a doubt insinuates itself; is this the way to spend our days? the rare, limited, so soon dealt out to us - drinking tea? dining out? And the notes accumulate. And the telephones ring. And everywhere we go wires and tubes surround us to carry the voices that try to penetrate before the last card is dealt. "Try to penetrate" for as we lift the cup, shake the hand, express the hope, something whispers, Is this all? Can I never know, share, be certain? Am I doomed all my days to write letters, send voices, which fall upon the tea-table, fade upon the passage, making appointments, while life dwindles, to come and dine? Yet letters are venerable; and the telephone valiant, for the journey is a lonely one, and if bound together by notes and telephones we went in company, perhaps- who know? - we might talk by the way.”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“For centuries the writing-desk has contained sheets fit precisely for the communication of friends. Masters of language, poets of long ages, have turned from the sheet that endures to the sheet that perishes, pushing aside the tea-tray, drawing close to the fire (for letters are written when the dark presses around a bright red cave), and addressed themselves the task of reaching, touching, penetrating the individual heart.”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“Why, from the very windows, even in the dusk, you see a swelling run through the street, an aspiration, as with arms outstretched, eyes desiring, mouths agape. And then we peaceably subside. For if the exaltation lasted we should be blown like foam into the air. The stars would shine through us. We should go down the gale in salt drops- as sometimes happens. For the impetuous spirits will have none of this cradling. Never any swaying or aimlessly lolling for them. Never any making believe, or lying cosily, or genially supposing that one is much like another, fire warm, wine pleasant, extravagance a sin.”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

“What's the use trying to read Shakespeare, especially in one of those little paper editions whose pages get ruffled, or stuck together with sea-water?”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Jacob's Room

About the author

Popular quotes

“What she would need to do in the days before she left and on the morning of her departure was smile, so that they would remember her smiling. *”
― Colm Tóibín, quote from Brooklyn

“My God,” she says. “I feel like I’ve gone through a car wash.”

I laugh, or force myself to, because it’s not something I’d normally laugh at.

“What about you?” she says to Scottie. “How did you make out?”

“I’m a boy,” Scottie says. “Look at me.”

Sand has gotten into the bottom of her suit, creating a huge bulge. She scratches at the bulge. “I’m going to go to work now,” she says. I think she’s impersonating me and that Mrs. Speer is getting an unrealistic, humiliating glimpse.

“Scottie,” I say. “Take that out.”

“It must be fun to have girls,” Mrs. Speer says.

She looks at the ocean, and I see that she’s looking at Alex sunbathing on the floating raft. Sid leans over Alex and puts his mouth to hers. She raises a hand to his head, and for a moment I forget it’s my daughter out there and think of how long it has been since I’ve been kissed or kissed like that.

“Or maybe you have your hands full,” Mrs. Speer says.

“No, no,” I say. “It’s great,” and it is, I suppose, though I feel like I’ve just acquired them and don’t know yet. “They’ve been together for ages.” I gesture to Alex and Sid. I don’t understand if they’re a couple or if this is how all kids in high school act these days.

Mrs. Speer looks at me curiously, as if she’s about to say something, but she doesn’t.

“And boys.” I gesture to her little dorks. “They must keep you busy.”

“They’re a handful. But they’re at such a fun age. It’s such a joy.”

She gazes out at her boys. Her expression does little to convince me that they’re such a joy. I wonder how many times parents have these dull conversations with one another and how much they must hide. They’re so goddamn hyper, I’d do anything to inject them with a horse tranquilizer. They keep insisting that I watch what they can do, but I truly don’t give a fuck. How hard is it to jump off a diving board?

My girls are messed up, I want to say. One talks dirty to her own reflection. Did you do that when you were growing up?

“Your girls seem great, too,” she says. “How old are they?”

“Ten and eighteen. And yours?”

“Ten and twelve.”

“Oh,” I say. “Great.”

“Your younger one sure is funny,” she says. “I mean, not funny. I meant entertaining.”

“Oh, yeah. That’s Scottie. She’s a riot.”
― Kaui Hart Hemmings, quote from The Descendants

“Great artists, as history reveals, have been harshly persecuted time and again by the frightened and ill-educated,”
― Philip Roth, quote from The Ghost Writer

“But, I get this feeling that if I stay close to you, I'll find what I'm looking for”
― Jamie Magee, quote from Insight

“It turned out that my curiosity did not outweigh my courage after all. Sometimes love means not being able to bear seeing the one you love the way they are, when they're not what you hoped for.”
― Jodi Lynn Anderson, quote from Tiger Lily

Interesting books

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.