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94 Inspirational Quotes By Gertrude Stein, The Author Of Fernhurst

Famous As: American Novelist, Poet and Playwright
Born On: February 3, 1874
Died On: July 27, 1946
Born In: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Died At Age: 72

Gertrude Stein was a novelist, playwright, a collector of art and poet from America, who lived in Paris for most of her life and is regarded as an integral member of the avant-garde literary movement in the city in first decades of the 20th century. She was born in a wealthy family and after graduating from the prestigious Radcliffe College, she attended the John Hopkins School of Medicine. However, she dropped out and instead moved to Paris in 1903 in order to pursue a career in literature. One of her first works, ‘Q.E.D’ was an autobiographical book on the love between two women. Her other notable works include ‘Three Lives’, ‘Tender Buttons’, ‘The Making of Americans’, ‘Fernhurst’ and ‘Word Portraits’ among others. Stein was a leading intellectual in Paris and was instrumental in bringing together some of the leading lights of the era  in her salon. Some of the individuals who visited her salon include Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Ezra Pound and Ernest Hemmingway among others. Her book ‘Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas’ was an account of her time in the city. Stein was without doubt a person who was far ahead of her time. Here are some of her most well-known quotes.

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One must dare to be happy.

One must dare to be happy.

Gertrude Stein
We are always the same age inside.

We are always the same age inside.

Gertrude Stein
It takes a lot of time to be a genius. You have to sit around so much, doing nothing, really doing nothing.

It takes a lot of time to be a genius. You have to sit around so much, doing nothing, really doing nothing.

Gertrude Stein
Everybody knows if you are too careful you are so occupied in being careful that you are sure to stumble over something.

Everybody knows if you are too careful you are so occupied in being careful that you are sure to stumble over something.

Gertrude Stein
You look ridiculous if you dance
You look ridiculous if you don't dance
So you might as well
dance.

You look ridiculous if you dance You look ridiculous if you don't dance So you might as well dance.

Gertrude Stein
If you can't say anything nice about anyone else, come sit next to me.

If you can't say anything nice about anyone else, come sit next to me.

Gertrude Stein
Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.

Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.

Gertrude Stein
There ain't no answer.
There ain't gonna be any answer.
There never has been an answer.
There's your answer.

There ain't no answer. There ain't gonna be any answer. There never has been an answer. There's your answer.

Gertrude Stein
Writing and reading is to me synonymous with existing.

Writing and reading is to me synonymous with existing.

Gertrude Stein
It is nice that nobody writes as they talk and that the printed language is different from the spoken otherwise you could not lose yourself in books and of course you do you completely do.

It is nice that nobody writes as they talk and that the printed language is different from the spoken otherwise you could not lose yourself in books and of course you do you completely do.

Gertrude Stein
Let me listen to me and not to them.

Let me listen to me and not to them.

Gertrude Stein
In the morning there is meaning, in the evening there is feeling.

In the morning there is meaning, in the evening there is feeling.

Gertrude Stein
A very important thing is not to make up your mind that you are any one thing.

A very important thing is not to make up your mind that you are any one thing.

Gertrude Stein
I do want to get rich but I never want to do what there is to get rich.

I do want to get rich but I never want to do what there is to get rich.

Gertrude Stein
Why should a sequence of words be anything but a pleasure?

Why should a sequence of words be anything but a pleasure?

Gertrude Stein
You attract what you need like a lover

You attract what you need like a lover

Gertrude Stein
For a very long time everybody refuses and then almost without a pause almost everybody accepts.

For a very long time everybody refuses and then almost without a pause almost everybody accepts.

Gertrude Stein
If you are too careful, you are so occupied in being careful that you are sure to stumble over something.

If you are too careful, you are so occupied in being careful that you are sure to stumble over something.

Gertrude Stein
You have to know what you want to get it.

You have to know what you want to get it.

Gertrude Stein
There is no such thing as repetition. Only insistance.

There is no such thing as repetition. Only insistance.

Gertrude Stein
America is my country, and Paris is my home town.

America is my country, and Paris is my home town.

Gertrude Stein
You are so afraid of losing your moral sense that you are not willing to take it through anything more dangerous than a mud-puddle.

You are so afraid of losing your moral sense that you are not willing to take it through anything more dangerous than a mud-puddle.

Gertrude Stein
You are all a lost generation.

You are all a lost generation.

Gertrude Stein
You are extraordinary within your limits, but your limits are extraordinary!

You are extraordinary within your limits, but your limits are extraordinary!

Gertrude Stein
Nothing is really so very frightening when everything is so very dangerous

Nothing is really so very frightening when everything is so very dangerous

Gertrude Stein
It takes a heap of loafing to write a book.

It takes a heap of loafing to write a book.

Gertrude Stein
I certainly do care for you Jeff Campbell less than you are always thinking and much more than you are ever knowing

I certainly do care for you Jeff Campbell less than you are always thinking and much more than you are ever knowing

Gertrude Stein
When I go around and speak on campuses, 
I still don't get young men standing up and saying, 
How can I combine career and family?

When I go around and speak on campuses, I still don't get young men standing up and saying, How can I combine career and family?

Gertrude Stein
Whenever you get there, there is no there there.

Whenever you get there, there is no there there.

Gertrude Stein
There is no there there.

There is no there there.

Gertrude Stein
She always says she dislikes the abnormal, it is so obvious. She says the normal is so much more simply complicated and interesting.

She always says she dislikes the abnormal, it is so obvious. She says the normal is so much more simply complicated and interesting.

Gertrude Stein
A writer should write with his eyes and a painter paint with his ears.

A writer should write with his eyes and a painter paint with his ears.

Gertrude Stein
If you can do it then why do it?

If you can do it then why do it?

Gertrude Stein
Anything one does every day is important and imposing and anywhere one lives is interesting and beautiful.

Anything one does every day is important and imposing and anywhere one lives is interesting and beautiful.

Gertrude Stein
If the communication is perfect, the words have life, and that is all there is to good writing, putting down on the paper words which dance and weep and make love and fight and kiss and perform miracles.

If the communication is perfect, the words have life, and that is all there is to good writing, putting down on the paper words which dance and weep and make love and fight and kiss and perform miracles.

Gertrude Stein
If you knew it all it would not be creation but dictation.

If you knew it all it would not be creation but dictation.

Gertrude Stein
A FEATHER.

A feather is trimmed, it is trimmed by the light and the bug and the post, it is trimmed by little leaning and by all sorts of mounted reserves and loud volumes. It is surely cohesive.

A FEATHER. A feather is trimmed, it is trimmed by the light and the bug and the post, it is trimmed by little leaning and by all sorts of mounted reserves and loud volumes. It is surely cohesive.

Gertrude Stein
A rose is a rose is a rose.

A rose is a rose is a rose.

Gertrude Stein
A little artist has all the tragic unhappiness and the sorrows of a great artist and he is not a great artist.

A little artist has all the tragic unhappiness and the sorrows of a great artist and he is not a great artist.

Gertrude Stein
What is the answer?

What is the answer?" [ I [Alice B Toklas] was silent ] In that case, what is the question?

Gertrude Stein
It is very easy to love alone.

It is very easy to love alone.

Gertrude Stein
This is the place of places and and it is here.

This is the place of places and and it is here.

Gertrude Stein
If everyone were not so indolent they would realise that beauty is beauty even when it is irritating and stimulating not only when it is accepted and classic.

If everyone were not so indolent they would realise that beauty is beauty even when it is irritating and stimulating not only when it is accepted and classic.

Gertrude Stein
The artist works by locating the world in himself

The artist works by locating the world in himself

Gertrude Stein
You'll be old and you never lived, and you kind of feel silly to lie down and die and to never have lived, to have been a job chaser and never have lived.

You'll be old and you never lived, and you kind of feel silly to lie down and die and to never have lived, to have been a job chaser and never have lived.

Gertrude Stein
War is never fatal but always lost. Always lost.

War is never fatal but always lost. Always lost.

Gertrude Stein
I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences.

I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences.

Gertrude Stein
Affectations can be dangerous.

Affectations can be dangerous.

Gertrude Stein
I am I because my little dog knows me.

I am I because my little dog knows me.

Gertrude Stein
Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense. They listen so much that they forget to be natural. This is a nice story.

Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense. They listen so much that they forget to be natural. This is a nice story.

Gertrude Stein
Hope in gates, hope in spoons, hope in doors, hope in tables, no hope in daintiness and determination. Hope in dates.

Hope in gates, hope in spoons, hope in doors, hope in tables, no hope in daintiness and determination. Hope in dates.

Gertrude Stein
Literature - creative literature - unconcerned with sex, is inconceivable.

Literature - creative literature - unconcerned with sex, is inconceivable.

Gertrude Stein
There is no reason why a king should be rich or a rich man should be a king, no reason at all.

There is no reason why a king should be rich or a rich man should be a king, no reason at all.

Gertrude Stein
I love my love with a b because she is peculiar.

I love my love with a b because she is peculiar.

Gertrude Stein
Once upon a time Baltimore was necessary.

Once upon a time Baltimore was necessary.

Gertrude Stein
Love is the skillful audacity required to share an inner life

Love is the skillful audacity required to share an inner life

Gertrude Stein
Romance is everything.

Romance is everything.

Gertrude Stein
Argument is to me the air I breathe. Given any proposition, I cannot help believing the other side and defending it.

Argument is to me the air I breathe. Given any proposition, I cannot help believing the other side and defending it.

Gertrude Stein
Asparagus in a lean in a lean is to hot. This makes it art and it is wet weather wet weather wet

Asparagus in a lean in a lean is to hot. This makes it art and it is wet weather wet weather wet

Gertrude Stein
After a while I murmured to Picasso that I liked his portrait of Gertrude Stein. Yes, he said, everybody says that she does not look like it but that does not make any difference, she will, he said.

After a while I murmured to Picasso that I liked his portrait of Gertrude Stein. Yes, he said, everybody says that she does not look like it but that does not make any difference, she will, he said.

Gertrude Stein
Wake a question. Eat an instant, answer

Wake a question. Eat an instant, answer

Gertrude Stein
How prettily we swim. Not in water, not on land, but in love.

How prettily we swim. Not in water, not on land, but in love.

Gertrude Stein
A light white, a disgras, an ink spot, a rosy charm.

A light white, a disgras, an ink spot, a rosy charm.

Gertrude Stein
Remarks are not literature.

Remarks are not literature.

Gertrude Stein
It is the human habit to think in centuries from a grandparent to a grandchild because it just does take about a hundred years for things to cease to have the same meaning as they did before,

It is the human habit to think in centuries from a grandparent to a grandchild because it just does take about a hundred years for things to cease to have the same meaning as they did before,

Gertrude Stein
What good are roots if you can't take them with you

What good are roots if you can't take them with you

Gertrude Stein
A creator is not in advance of his generation but he is the first of his contemporaries to be conscious of what is happening to his generation.

A creator is not in advance of his generation but he is the first of his contemporaries to be conscious of what is happening to his generation.

Gertrude Stein
...they do quote me, that means that my words and my sentences get under their skins although they do no know it.

...they do quote me, that means that my words and my sentences get under their skins although they do no know it.

Gertrude Stein
I like a view but I like to sit with my back turned to it.

I like a view but I like to sit with my back turned to it.

Gertrude Stein
So many words to use. Oh do not say that words have a use.

So many words to use. Oh do not say that words have a use.

Gertrude Stein
There never will be anything more interesting than that American Civil War.

There never will be anything more interesting than that American Civil War.

Gertrude Stein
The seam in between is fenceless.

The seam in between is fenceless.

Gertrude Stein
A cool red rose and a pink cut pink, a collapse and a sold hole, a little less hot. - Red roses.

A cool red rose and a pink cut pink, a collapse and a sold hole, a little less hot. - Red roses.

Gertrude Stein
I have lived half of my life in Paris, not the half the made me but the half in which I made what I made.

I have lived half of my life in Paris, not the half the made me but the half in which I made what I made.

Gertrude Stein
When is there some discharge when. There never is.

When is there some discharge when. There never is.

Gertrude Stein
Let me repeat what history teaches. History teaches.

Let me repeat what history teaches. History teaches.

Gertrude Stein
Twenty-five years run around so quickly but thirty one years is a long time.

Twenty-five years run around so quickly but thirty one years is a long time.

Gertrude Stein
The more you see how the country is the more you do not wonder why they shut the door. The women do in a way and yet if they did not it would be best.

The more you see how the country is the more you do not wonder why they shut the door. The women do in a way and yet if they did not it would be best.

Gertrude Stein
There ain't no answer. There ain't going to be any answer. There never has been an answer. That's the answer.

There ain't no answer. There ain't going to be any answer. There never has been an answer. That's the answer.

Gertrude Stein
Cloudiness what is cloudiness, is it a lining, is it a roll, is it melting.

Cloudiness what is cloudiness, is it a lining, is it a roll, is it melting.

Gertrude Stein
If you can do it, why do it.

If you can do it, why do it." ~ Gertrude Stein

Gertrude Stein
She answered him, there is nothing within you that fights itself and hitherto you have had the instinct to produce antagonism in others which stimulated you to attack.

She answered him, there is nothing within you that fights itself and hitherto you have had the instinct to produce antagonism in others which stimulated you to attack.

Gertrude Stein
What is the use of a violent kind of delightfulness if there is no pleasure in not getting tired of it. - A substance in a cushion

What is the use of a violent kind of delightfulness if there is no pleasure in not getting tired of it. - A substance in a cushion

Gertrude Stein
A village explainer. Excellent if you were a village, but if you were not, not.

A village explainer. Excellent if you were a village, but if you were not, not." (on Ezra Pound)

Gertrude Stein
I wish to remain to remember that stanzas go on

I wish to remain to remember that stanzas go on

Gertrude Stein
A piece of crystal. A change, in a change that is remarkable there is no reason to say that there was a time.

A piece of crystal. A change, in a change that is remarkable there is no reason to say that there was a time.

Gertrude Stein
I write for myself and strangers.

I write for myself and strangers.

Gertrude Stein
Some one who was living was almost always listening. Some one who was loving was almost always listening.

Some one who was living was almost always listening. Some one who was loving was almost always listening.

Gertrude Stein
There ain't no answer. There ain't going to be any answer. There never has been an answer. That's the answer. (Gertrude Stein: In Words and Pictures)

There ain't no answer. There ain't going to be any answer. There never has been an answer. That's the answer. (Gertrude Stein: In Words and Pictures)

Gertrude Stein
Sugar is not a vegetable.

Sugar is not a vegetable.

Gertrude Stein
If red is in everything it is not necessary. Is that not an argument for any use of it and even so is there any place that is better, is there any place that has so much stretched out.

If red is in everything it is not necessary. Is that not an argument for any use of it and even so is there any place that is better, is there any place that has so much stretched out.

Gertrude Stein
The composition of each epoch depends upon the way the frequented roads are frequented.

The composition of each epoch depends upon the way the frequented roads are frequented.

Gertrude Stein
Sarah Harrell

Sarah Harrell "There is no use there is no use at all in smell, in taste, in teeth, in toast, in anything, there is no use at all and the respect is mutual.

Gertrude Stein
That is what you are. That's what you all are ... all of you young people who served in the war. You are a lost generation.

That is what you are. That's what you all are ... all of you young people who served in the war. You are a lost generation.

Gertrude Stein