Virginia Woolf

Modernist novelist

Modern influential 111 sayings

Sayings by Virginia Woolf

We are no longer quite ourselves.

1925 — Mrs Dalloway
Humorous Unverifiable

She had a profound and reverent passion for the truth.

1925 — Mrs Dalloway
Humorous Unverifiable

I thought how unpleasant it is to be a woman. I am so glad I am not a woman.

1929 — A Room of One's Own
Humorous Unverifiable

Human nature is not a machine to be built after a model, and set to do exactly the work prescribed for it, but a tree, which requires to grow and develop itself on all sides, according to the tendency of the inward forces which make it a living thing.

1929 — A Room of One's Own (quoting John Stuart Mill)
Humorous Unverifiable

Anonymity is a great comfort.

1929 — A Room of One's Own
Humorous Unverifiable

The eyes of others our prisons; their thoughts our cages.

1929 — A Room of One's Own
Humorous Unverifiable

The great revelation of my life was that I am not a man.

1927 — Letter to Vita Sackville-West
Humorous Unverifiable

I enjoy almost everything. I am happy sometimes for a whole day.

1920 — A Writer's Diary
Humorous Unverifiable

Really, I don't like human beings at all, except as a general proposition.

1927 — Letter to Vita Sackville-West
Humorous Unverifiable

How much better is silence; the coffee cup, the table. How much better to sit by myself like the solitary sea-bird that opens its wings on the edge of the cliff.

1931 — The Waves
Humorous Unverifiable

It is not the arriving at a place, but the journey itself, that is the most important part.

Unknown — Possibly a misattribution or paraphrase, less direct source
Humorous Unverifiable

The world is a work of art, and I am its creator.

1919 — A Writer's Diary
Humorous Unverifiable

I am in the mood to be a rebel and to be rude.

1927 — Letter to Vita Sackville-West
Humorous Unverifiable

I am not an optimist. I am not a pessimist. I am a realist.

Unknown — Often attributed, but direct source difficult to pinpoint in her published works/letters as a direct…
Humorous Unverifiable

The mind is an enchanting thing.

Unknown — Often attributed, but direct source difficult to pinpoint in her published works/letters as a direct…
Humorous Unverifiable

Why do we always think of the past as so much more beautiful than the present?

1925 — Mrs Dalloway
Humorous Unverifiable

I want to be a writer. I want to be a great writer.

1915 — A Writer's Diary
Humorous Unverifiable

The truth is, I am not a very good person.

1927 — Letter to Vita Sackville-West
Humorous Unverifiable

I am sick of this world. I want to go to another.

1927 — Letter to Vita Sackville-West
Humorous Unverifiable

It is a curious fact that the more we know, the more we are aware of our ignorance.

Unknown — Often attributed, but direct source difficult to pinpoint in her published works/letters as a direct…
Humorous Unverifiable