F. Scott Fitzgerald - Quodid

About

Picture of F. Scott Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940), widely known as F. Scott Fitzgerald or simply Scott Fitzgerald, was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is most notable for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age, a term that he popularized in his short story collection Tales of the Jazz Age. He published four novels, four story collections, and 164 short stories. He achieved transient success and fortune in the 1920s, but did not receive critical acclaim until after his death. He is now widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.

Quotes from F. Scott Fitzgerald

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter — tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning —
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

—F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby

future effort desire striving yearning want

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.
"Whenever you feel like criticizing any one," he told me, "just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had."

—F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby

empathy privilege advantage advice

The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.

—F. Scott Fitzgerald

intelligence ideas

For a transitory enchanted moment, man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.

—F. Scott Fitzgerald

wonder history discovery desire

At 18 our convictions are hills from which we look; At 45 they are caves in which we hide.

—F. Scott Fitzgerald

perception speech convictions

Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.

—F. Scott Fitzgerald

life vitality persistence starting over

The rich are different from us.

—F. Scott Fitzgerald

identity wealth different

Great art is the contempt of a great man for small art.

—F. Scott Fitzgerald

In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning, day after day.

—F. Scott Fitzgerald

soul darkness dark night of the soul

It is in the thirties that we want friends. In the forties we know they won't save us any more than love did.

—F. Scott Fitzgerald

And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.

—F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby

Nothing is as obnoxious as other people's luck.

—F. Scott Fitzgerald

others perception luck

Sometimes it is harder to deprive oneself of a pain than of a pleasure.

—F. Scott Fitzgerald

First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.

—F. Scott Fitzgerald

power alcohol control alcoholism addiction

Family quarrels are bitter things. They don't go according to any rules. They're not like aches or wounds; they're more like splits in the skin that won't heal because there's not enough material.

—F. Scott Fitzgerald

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Books

F. Scott Fitzgerald has the following books quoted on Quodid: