Kate Chopin Quotes

Even as a child she had lived her own small life all within herself. At a very early period she had apprehended instinctively the dual life—that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions. ~ The Awakening by Kate Chopin There were days when she was unhappy, she did not know why,—when it did not seem worth while to be glad or sorry, to be alive or dead; when life appeared to her like a grotesque pandemonium and humanity like worms struggling blindly toward inevitable annihilation. She could not work on such a day, nor weave fancies to stir her pulses and warm her blood. ~ The Awakening by Kate Chopin There were days when she was very happy without knowing why. She was happy to be alive and breathing, when her whole being seemed to be one with the sunlight, the color, the odors, the luxuriant warmth of some perfect Southern day. She liked then to wander alone into strange and unfamiliar places. She discovered many a sunny, sleepy corner, fashioned to dream in. And she found it good to dream and to be alone and unmolested. ~ The Awakening by Kate Chopin She was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world. ~ The Awakening by Kate Chopin The moon was coming up, and its mystic shimmer was casting a million lights across the distant, restless water. ~ The Awakening by Kate Chopin She had resolved never again to belong to another than herself. ~ The Awakening by Kate Chopin Nature takes no account of moral consequences. ~ The Awakening by Kate Chopin The bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings. ~ The Awakening by Kate Chopin "The years that are gone seem like dreams--if one might go on sleeping and dreaming--but to wake up and find--oh! well! perhaps it is better to wake up after all, even to suffer, rather than to remain a dupe to illusions all one's life." ~ The Awakening by Kate Chopin The past was nothing to her; offered no lesson which she was willing to heed. The future was a mystery which she never attempted to penetrate. The present alone was significant. ~ The Awakening by Kate Chopin