William Dean Howells Quotes

American - Author | March 1, 1837 - May 11, 1920

What the American public wants in the theater is a tragedy with a happy ending.

William Dean Howells

HappyEndingAmericanTragedyPublic

A man never sees all that his mother has been to him until it's too late to let her know that he sees it.

William Dean Howells

MotherManLateKnowNeverToo Late

You'll find as you grow older that you weren't born such a great while ago after all. The time shortens up.

William Dean Howells

GreatTimeGrowYouFindBorn

If we like a man's dream, we call him a reformer; if we don't like his dream, we call him a crank.

William Dean Howells

ManDreamHimCallLikeHis

The book which you read from a sense of duty, or because for any reason you must, does not commonly make friends with you.

William Dean Howells

BookFriendsYouDutyReasonSense

In Europe life is histrionic and dramatized, and in America, except when it is trying to be European, it is direct and sincere.

William Dean Howells

LifeAmericaTryingEuropeSincere

The mortality of all inanimate things is terrible to me, but that of books most of all.

William Dean Howells

MeThingsTerribleBooksMortality

Is it worth while to observe that there are no Venetian blinds in Venice?

William Dean Howells

WorthVeniceObserveBlindsWhile

Tomorrow I shall be sixty-nine, but I do not seem to care. I did not start the affair, and I have not been consulted about it at any step.

William Dean Howells

StepTomorrowStartCareSeemBeen

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