Find the perfect quote to float your boat. Shmoop breaks down key quotations from The House of Mirth.
Society and Class Quotes
She was smaller and thinner than Lily Bart, with a restless pliability of pose, as if she could have been crumpled up and run through a ring, like the sinuous draperies she affected. Her small pale...
Wealth Quotes
If Selden had come at Mrs. Dorset's call, it was at her own that he would stay. (1.5.8)
Marriage Quotes
She smiled up at him frankly. "But I don't think you dislike me – and you can't possibly think I want to marry you." "No – I absolve you of that," he agreed. "Well, then – –...
Appearances Quotes
Selden paused in surprise. In the afternoon rush of the Grand Central Station his eyes had been refreshed by the sight of Miss Lily Bart. (1.1.1)
Freedom and Confinement Quotes
She began to cut the pages of a novel, tranquilly studying her prey through downcast lashes while she organized a method of attack. Something in his attitude of conscious absorption told her that h...
Respect and Reputation Quotes
"The fact that you don't want to marry me. Perhaps I don't regard it as such a strong inducement to go and see you." He felt a slight shiver down his spine as he ventured this, but her laugh reassu...
Morality Quotes
But we're so different, you know: she likes being good, and I like being happy. (1.1.48)
Women and Femininity Quotes
"What's become of Dillworth?" he asked. "Oh, his mother was frightened – she was afraid I should have all the family jewels reset. And she wanted me to promise that I wouldn't do over the dra...