Thomas Wolfe Quotes

A collection of quotes by Thomas Wolfe.

Thomas Wolfe was an American novelist and short story writer, famous for his epic novels which uniquely captured the essence of American life during the early 20th century. He was born on October 3, 1900, in Asheville, North Carolina. Wolfe was an ambitious and talented writer from a young age, and his immense passion for literature led him to study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and later at Harvard University.

Wolfe's writing style was marked by its rich imagery, lyrical prose, and intense portrayal of complex characters. His debut novel, "Look Homeward, Angel," published in 1929, drew heavily from his own experiences growing up in a small town in North Carolina. This autobiographical tone became a hallmark of Wolfe's work, as he skillfully explored themes of identity, family, and the search for meaning in his subsequent novels.

His other notable works include "Of Time and the River" (1935) and "The Web and the Rock" (1939). Wolfe's novels were deeply evocative of the American landscape, both physical and cultural, and he was often compared to fellow American writers like William Faulkner and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Tragically, Thomas Wolfe's career was cut short by his premature death at the age of 37 on September 15, 1938. Nevertheless, his literary legacy continues to resonate, and his works remain highly regarded as masterpieces of American literature.

Is this not the true romantic feeling; not to desire to esca

Is this not the true romantic feeling; not to desire to escape life, but to prevent life from escaping you.

You have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you beco

You have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you become uninterested in money, compliments, or publicity.

The whole conviction of my life now rests upon the belief th

The whole conviction of my life now rests upon the belief that loneliness, far from being a rare and curious phenomenon, peculiar to myself and to a few other solitary men, is the central and inevitable fact of human existence

Life Belief Principles Loneliness

You can't go home again

You can't go home again

Home Loss Inspirational Leaving Return

Love is the ultimate expression of the will to live.

Love is the ultimate expression of the will to live.

Le Corbusier was the sort of relentlessly rational intellect

Le Corbusier was the sort of relentlessly rational intellectual that only France loves wholeheartedly, the logician who flies higher and higher in ever-decreasing circles until, with one last, utterly inevitable induction, he disappears up his own fundamental aperture and emerges in the fourth dimension as a needle-thin umber bird.

One belongs to New York instantly. One belongs to it as much

One belongs to New York instantly. One belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years.

The reason a writer writes a book is to forget a book and th

The reason a writer writes a book is to forget a book and the reason a reader reads one is to remember it.

Not even the most powerful organs of the press, including Ti

Not even the most powerful organs of the press, including Time, Newsweek, and The New York Times, can discover a new artist or certify his work and make it stick. They can only bring you the scores.

A liberal is a conservative who has been arrested.

A liberal is a conservative who has been arrested.

The surest cure for vanity is loneliness.

The surest cure for vanity is loneliness.

If a man has talent and cannot use it, he has failed. If he

If a man has talent and cannot use it, he has failed. If he has talent and uses only half of it, he has half failed. If he has a talent and learns somehow to use the whole of it, he has gloriously succeeded, and won a satisfaction and a triumph few men ever know.

Success & Failure

We are always acting on what has just finished happening. It

We are always acting on what has just finished happening. It happened at least 1/30th of a second ago. We think we're in the present, but we aren't. The present we know is only a movie of the past.

There is no spectacle on earth more appealing than that of a

There is no spectacle on earth more appealing than that of a beautiful woman in the act of cooking dinner for someone she loves.

Making the world safe for hypocrisy.

Making the world safe for hypocrisy.

There are some people who have the quality of richness and j

There are some people who have the quality of richness and joy in them and they communicate it to everything they touch. It is first of all a physical quality; then it is a quality of the spirit.

Death the last voyage, the longest, and the best.

Death the last voyage, the longest, and the best.

Loneliness is and always has been the central and inevitable

Loneliness is and always has been the central and inevitable experience of every man.

Is this not the true romantic feeling not to desire to escap

Is this not the true romantic feeling not to desire to escape life, but to prevent life from escaping you.

In Sleep we lie all naked and alone, in Sleep we are united

In Sleep we lie all naked and alone, in Sleep we are united at the heart of night and darkness, and we are strange and beautiful asleep for we are dying the darkness and we know no death.