Elizabeth Bowen

Novelist

1899-06-07 – 1973-02-22

Elizabeth Bowen was an Anglo-Irish novelist and short-story writer known for psychologically rich prose and wartime fiction. Her notable works include The Death of the Heart and The Heat of the Day.

Quotes by Elizabeth Bowen

Livvy noted there seemed some communal feeling between the married: any wife could be faintly rude to anyone else's husband.
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If they should only be ill,' she said, 'there would be so many little things we could do for them. It does seem in a kind of a way an opportunity. I often think it is only when a man is ill that he understands what a woman means in his life.
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A romantic man often feels more uplifted with two women than with one: his love seems to hit the ideal mark somewhere between two different faces.
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Livvy noted there seemed some communal feeling between the married: any wife could be faintly rude to anyone else's husband.
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If they should only be ill,' she said, 'there would be so many little things we could do for them. It does seem in a kind of a way an opportunity. I often think it is only when a man is ill that he understands what a woman means in his life.
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A romantic man often feels more uplifted with two women than with one: his love seems to hit the ideal mark somewhere between two different faces.
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Never to lie is to have no lock on your door, you are never wholly alone.
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Jealousy is no more than feeling alone against smiling enemies.
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Autumn arrives in early morning, but spring at the close of a winter day.
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Language is a mixture of statement and evocation.
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Art is one thing that can go on mattering once it has stopped hurting.
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All your youth you want to have your greatness taken for granted; when you find it taken for granted, you are unnerved.
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Fantasy is toxic: the private cruelty and the world war both have their start in the heated brain.
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The wish to lead out one's lover must be a tribal feeling; the wish to be seen as loved is part of one's self-respect.
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When you love someone all your saved up wishes start coming out.
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The heart may think it knows better: the senses know that absence blots people out. We have really no absent friends.
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Art is the only thing that can go mattering once as it has stopped hurting.
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If you look at life one way, there is always cause for alarm.
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There is no end to the violations committed by children on children, quietly talking along.
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Childish fantasy, like the sheath over the bud, not only protects but curbs the terrible budding spirit, protects not only innocence from the world, but the world from the power of innocence.
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