AtomicQuote

Nella Larsen Quotes

She was herself unconscious of that faint hint of offishness which hung about her and repelled advances, an arrogance that stirred in people a peculiar irritation. They noticed her, admired her clothe...

Nella Larsen

She was herself unconscious of that faint hint of offishness which hung about her and repelled advances, an arrogance that stirred in people a peculiar irritation. They noticed her, admired her clothe...

Tags: irritation, personality, self sufficiency, sensitivity, sociability, standoffishness

It was only that she wanted him to be happy, resenting, however, his inability to be so with things as they were, and never acknowledging that though she did want him to be happy, it was only in her o...

Nella Larsen

It was only that she wanted him to be happy, resenting, however, his inability to be so with things as they were, and never acknowledging that though she did want him to be happy, it was only in her o...

Tags: emptiness, euphoria, happiness, love, selfishness

About Author
Nellallitea "Nella" Larsen (born Nellie Walker; April 13, 1891 – March 30, 1964) was an American novelist. Working as a nurse and a librarian, she published two novels, Quicksand (1928) and Passing (1929), and a few short stories. Though her literary output was scant, she earned recognition by her contemporaries.
A revival of interest in her writing has occurred since the late 20th century, when issues of racial and sexual identity have been studied. Her works have been the subjects of numerous academic studies, and she is now widely lauded as "not only the premier novelist of the Harlem Renaissance, but also an important figure in American modernism."

Later, when she examined her feeling of annoyance, Irene admitted, a shade reluctantly, that it arose from a feeling of being outnumbered, a sense of aloneness, in her adherence to her own class and k...

Nella Larsen

Later, when she examined her feeling of annoyance, Irene admitted, a shade reluctantly, that it arose from a feeling of being outnumbered, a sense of aloneness, in her adherence to her own class and k...

I feel like the oldest person in the world with the longest stretch of life before me.

Nella Larsen

I feel like the oldest person in the world with the longest stretch of life before me.

Children aren't everything. There are other things in the world, thought I admit some people don't seem to suspect it.

Nella Larsen

Children aren't everything. There are other things in the world, thought I admit some people don't seem to suspect it.

Incited. That was it, the guidingprinciple of her life in Copenhagen. She was incited to make an impression, a voluptous impression. She was incited to inflame attention and admiration. She was dresse...

Nella Larsen

Incited. That was it, the guidingprinciple of her life in Copenhagen. She was incited to make an impression, a voluptous impression. She was incited to inflame attention and admiration. She was dresse...

If it hadn’t been for that, I’d have gone on to the end, never seeing any of you. But that did something to me, and I’ve been so lonely since! You can’t know. Not close to a single soul. Never anyone...

Nella Larsen

If it hadn’t been for that, I’d have gone on to the end, never seeing any of you. But that did something to me, and I’ve been so lonely since! You can’t know. Not close to a single soul. Never anyone...

What are friends for, if not to help bear our sins?

Nella Larsen

What are friends for, if not to help bear our sins?

I think being a mother is the cruelest thing in the world.

Nella Larsen

I think being a mother is the cruelest thing in the world.

Tags: mothers

Faith was really quite easy. One had only to yield. To ask no questions. The more weary, the more weak, she became, the easier it was. Her religion was to her a kind of protective coloring, shielding...

Nella Larsen

Faith was really quite easy. One had only to yield. To ask no questions. The more weary, the more weak, she became, the easier it was. Her religion was to her a kind of protective coloring, shielding...

Everything can't be explained by some general biological phrase.

Nella Larsen

Everything can't be explained by some general biological phrase.

Tags: science

But there was, she knew, something else. Happiness, she supposed. Whatever that might be. What, exactly, she wondered, was happiness. Very positively she wanted it.

Nella Larsen

But there was, she knew, something else. Happiness, she supposed. Whatever that might be. What, exactly, she wondered, was happiness. Very positively she wanted it.

Tags: nella larsen, quicksand

It wasn’t now, as it had been once, that she was afraid that he would throw everything aside and rush off to that remote place of his heart’s desire. He wouldn’t, she knew. He was fond of her, loved h...

Nella Larsen

It wasn’t now, as it had been once, that she was afraid that he would throw everything aside and rush off to that remote place of his heart’s desire. He wouldn’t, she knew. He was fond of her, loved h...

Helga Crane was silent, feeling a mystifying yearning which sang and throbbed in her.

Nella Larsen

Helga Crane was silent, feeling a mystifying yearning which sang and throbbed in her.

It’s funny about ‘passing.’ We disapprove of it and at the same time condone it. It excites our contempt and yet we rather admire it. We shy away from it with an odd kind of revulsion, but we protect...

Nella Larsen

It’s funny about ‘passing.’ We disapprove of it and at the same time condone it. It excites our contempt and yet we rather admire it. We shy away from it with an odd kind of revulsion, but we protect...

As if aware of her desire and her hesitation, Clare remarked thoughtfully: You know, ‘Rene, I’ve often wondered why more colored girls, girls like you and Margaret Hammer and Esther Dawson and—oh, lot...

Nella Larsen

As if aware of her desire and her hesitation, Clare remarked thoughtfully: You know, ‘Rene, I’ve often wondered why more colored girls, girls like you and Margaret Hammer and Esther Dawson and—oh, lot...

And yet she hadn't the air of a woman whose life had been touched by uncertainty or suffering. Pain, fear, and grief were things that left their mark on people. Even love, that exquisite torturing emo...

Nella Larsen

And yet she hadn't the air of a woman whose life had been touched by uncertainty or suffering. Pain, fear, and grief were things that left their mark on people. Even love, that exquisite torturing emo...

Negro society, she had learned, was as complicated and as rigid in its ramifications as the highest strata of white society. If you couldn’t prove your ancestry and connections, you were tolerated, bu...

Nella Larsen

Negro society, she had learned, was as complicated and as rigid in its ramifications as the highest strata of white society. If you couldn’t prove your ancestry and connections, you were tolerated, bu...

She laughed and the ringing bells in her laugh had a hard metallic sound.

Nella Larsen

She laughed and the ringing bells in her laugh had a hard metallic sound.

It’s only deserters like me who have to be afraid of freaks of nature.

Nella Larsen

It’s only deserters like me who have to be afraid of freaks of nature.