Every arrival foretells a leave-taking, every birth a death. Yet each death and departure comes to us as a surprise, a sorrow never anticipated. Life is a long series of farewells; only the circumstances should surprise us.
—Jessamyn West
The past is really almost as much a work of the imagination as the future.
—Jessamyn West
Sex and religion are bordering states. They use the same vocabulary, share like ecstasies, and often serve as a substitute for one another.
—Jessamyn West
You make what seems a simple choice: choose a man or a job or a neighborhood—and what you have chosen is not a man or a job or a neighborhood, but a life.
—Jessamyn West
There are two barriers that often prevent communication between the young and their elders. The first is middle-aged forgetfulness of the fact that they themselves are no longer young. The second is youthful ignorance of the fact that the middle aged are still alive.
—Jessamyn West