The best The House of Mirth quotes

She was so evidently the victim of the civilization which had produced her, that the links of her bracelet seemed like manacles chaining her to her fate.

Why do we call all our generous ideas illusions, and the mean ones truths?

Don't you ever mind," she asked suddenly, "not being rich enough to buy all the books you want?

She had no tolerance for scenes which were not of her own making.

I was just a screw or cog in the great machine I called life, and when I dropped out of it I found I was of no use anywhere else.

Since she had been brought up to be ornamental, she could hardly blame herself for failing to serve any practical purpose; but the discovery put an end to her consoling sense of universal efficiency.

What is truth? Where a woman is concerned, it's the story that's easiest to believe.

There is someone I must say goodbye to. Oh, not you—we are sure to see each other again—but the Lily Bart you knew. I have kept her with me all this time, but now we are going to part.