“ Well, let's argue this out, Mr Blank. You, who represent Society, have the right to pay me four hundred francs a month. That's my market value, for I am an inefficient member of Society, slow in the u… Jean Rhys
“ The maid came in to light up and soon it would be time to go upstairs and change for dinner. I thought this woman one of the most fascinating I had ever seen. She had a long thin face, dead white, or… Jean Rhys
“ You want to know what I'm afraid of? All right, I'll tell you. I'm afraid of men - yes, I'm very much afraid of men. And I'm even more afraid of women. And I'm very much afraid of the whole bloody hum… Jean Rhys
“ I've had enough of these streets that sweat a cold, yellow slime, of hostile people, of crying myself to sleep every night. I've had enough of thinking, enough of remembering. Jean Rhys
“ Well, that was the end of me, the real end. Two pound ten every Tuesday and a room of the Gray's Inn Road. Saved, rescued and with my place to hide in - what more did I want? I crept in and hid. The l… Jean Rhys
“ These people all fling themselves at me. Because I am uneasy and sad they all fling themselves at me larger than life. But I can put my arm up to avoid the impact and they slide gently to the ground.… Jean Rhys
“ I try, but they always see through me. The passages will never lead anywhere, the doors will always be shut. Jean Rhys
“ And there I lie in these damned bandages for a week. And there he lies, swathed up too, like a little mummy. And never crying.But now I like raking him in my arms and looking at him. A lovely forehead… Jean Rhys
“ May you tear each other to bits, you damned hyenas, and the quicker the better. Let it be destroyed. Let it happen. Let it end, this cold insanity. Jean Rhys
“ I had had the job for three weeks. It was dreary. You couldn't read; they didn't like it. I would feel as if I were drugged, sitting there, watching those damned dolls, thinking what a success they wo… Jean Rhys
“ No past to make us sentimental, no future to embarrass us...a difficult moment when you are out of practice - a moment that makes you go cold, cold and wary. Jean Rhys
“ When I complain about the bandages she says: 'I promise you that when you take them off you'll be just as you were before.' And it is true. When she takes them off there is not one line, not one wrink… Jean Rhys
“ Stephan was secretive and a liar, but he was a very gentle and expert lover. She was the petted, cherished child, the desired mistress, the worshipped, perfumed goddess. She was all these things to St… Jean Rhys
“ Better not I tell you. You want to know what I do? I say , if you have trouble you are right to come to me. And I kiss her. It's when I kiss her she cry - not before. Jean Rhys
“ My father old Cosway, with his white marble tablet in the English church at Spanish Town for all to see. It have a crest on it and a motto in Latin and words in big black letters. I never know such li… Jean Rhys
“ Even the one moment that you thought was your eternity fades out and is forgotten and dies. Jean Rhys
