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67 Inspirational F. Scott Fitzgerald Quotes & Sayings

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (24 September 1896 – 21 December 1940) was an American short-story writer, essayist, screenwriter and novelist famous for his depictions of the Jazz Age (the 1920s), his most brilliant novel being The Great Gatsby (1925). During his lifetime, Fitzgerald published four novels, four collections of short stories, and 164 short stories. He is regarded as one of the greatest twentieth century writers.

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
Show me a hero, and I’ll write you a tragedy.
Show me a hero, and I’ll write you a tragedy.
I hope she'll be a fool—that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.
I hope she'll be a fool—that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.
There are all kinds of love in this world but never the same love twice.
There are all kinds of love in this world but never the same love twice.
The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.
The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.
I don’t want to repeat my innocence. I want the pleasure of losing it again.
I don’t want to repeat my innocence. I want the pleasure of losing it again.
That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you're not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.
That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you're not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
Angry, and half in love with her, and tremendously sorry, I turned away.
Angry, and half in love with her, and tremendously sorry, I turned away.
I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.
I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.

I fell in love with her courage, her sincerity, and her flaming self respect. And it's these things I'd believe in, even if the whole world indulged in wild suspicions that she wasn't all she should be. I love her and it is the beginning of everything.

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.
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.
And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy.
And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy.
Whenever you feel like criticizing any one… just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.
Whenever you feel like criticizing any one… just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.

He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced—or seemed to face—the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.

F. Scott Fitzgerald
I'm not sentimental—I'm as romantic as you are. The idea, you know, is that the sentimental person thinks things will last—the romantic person has a desperate confidence that they won't.
I'm not sentimental—I'm as romantic as you are. The idea, you know, is that the sentimental person thinks things will last—the romantic person has a desperate confidence that they won't.
I wasn't actually in love, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity.
I wasn't actually in love, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity.
You see I usually find myself among strangers because I drift here and there trying to forget the sad things that happened to me.
You see I usually find myself among strangers because I drift here and there trying to forget the sad things that happened to me.
Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead.
Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead.
I don’t want just words. If that’s all you have for me, you’d better go.
I don’t want just words. If that’s all you have for me, you’d better go.
There is no confusion like the confusion of a simple mind…
There is no confusion like the confusion of a simple mind…
Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.
Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.
Reserving judgements is a matter of infinite hope.
Reserving judgements is a matter of infinite hope.
It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living.
It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living.
They slipped briskly into an intimacy from which they never recovered.
They slipped briskly into an intimacy from which they never recovered.
You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.
You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.
I like people and I like them to like me, but I wear my heart where God put it, on the inside.
I like people and I like them to like me, but I wear my heart where God put it, on the inside.
First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.
First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.
Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.
Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.
Here's to alcohol, the rose colored glasses of life.
Here's to alcohol, the rose colored glasses of life.
I want to know you moved and breathed in the same world with me.
I want to know you moved and breathed in the same world with me.
Things are sweeter when they're lost. I know—because once I wanted something and got it. It was the only thing I ever wanted badly, Dot, and when I got it it turned to dust in my hand.
Things are sweeter when they're lost. I know—because once I wanted something and got it. It was the only thing I ever wanted badly, Dot, and when I got it it turned to dust in my hand.
They’re a rotten crowd’, I shouted across the lawn. ‘You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.
They’re a rotten crowd’, I shouted across the lawn. ‘You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.
No, she wasn’t beautiful for something as temporary as her looks. She was beautiful, deep down to her soul.
No, she wasn’t beautiful for something as temporary as her looks. She was beautiful, deep down to her soul.
I’m a slave to my emotions, to my likes, to my hatred of boredom, to most of my desires.
I’m a slave to my emotions, to my likes, to my hatred of boredom, to most of my desires.
Personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures.
Personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures.
No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.
No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.
Genius is the ability to put into effect what is on your mind.
Genius is the ability to put into effect what is on your mind.
In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.
In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.

I couldn’t forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams—not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way. No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

She was beautiful, but not like those girls in the magazines. She was beautiful, for the way she thought. She was beautiful, for the sparkle in her eyes when she talked about something she loved. She was beautiful, for her ability to make other people smile, even if she was sad. No, she wasn't beautiful for something as temporary as her looks. She was beautiful, deep down to her soul. She is beautiful.

F. Scott Fitzgerald
You'll find another.' God! Banish the thought. Why don't you tell me that 'if the girl had been worth having she'd have waited for you'? No, sir, the girl really worth having won't wait for anybody.
You'll find another.' God! Banish the thought. Why don't you tell me that 'if the girl had been worth having she'd have waited for you'? No, sir, the girl really worth having won't wait for anybody.
Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.
Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.
All I kept thinking about, over and over, was 'You can't live forever; you can't live forever.
All I kept thinking about, over and over, was 'You can't live forever; you can't live forever.
It’s a great advantage not to drink among hard drinking people.
It’s a great advantage not to drink among hard drinking people.
So we drove on toward death through the cooling twilight.
So we drove on toward death through the cooling twilight.
His was a great sin who first invented consciousness. Let us lose it for a few hours.
His was a great sin who first invented consciousness. Let us lose it for a few hours.
Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.
Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.
I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes, and felt it in others—young clerks in the dusk, wasting the most poignant moments of night and life.
I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes, and felt it in others—young clerks in the dusk, wasting the most poignant moments of night and life.
For what it's worth, it's never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you're proud of and if you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start over.
For what it's worth, it's never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you're proud of and if you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start over.
The world only exists in your eyes. You can make it as big or as small as you want.
The world only exists in your eyes. You can make it as big or as small as you want.
When people are taken out of their depths they lose their heads, no matter how charming a bluff they may put up.
When people are taken out of their depths they lose their heads, no matter how charming a bluff they may put up.
Switzerland is a country where very few things begin, but many things end.
Switzerland is a country where very few things begin, but many things end.
A great social success is a pretty girl who plays her cards as carefully as if she were plain.
A great social success is a pretty girl who plays her cards as carefully as if she were plain.
He looked at her the way all women want to be looked at by a man.
He looked at her the way all women want to be looked at by a man.
I love her, and that's the beginning and end of everything.
I love her, and that's the beginning and end of everything.
Men get to be a mixture of the charming mannerisms of the women they have known.
Men get to be a mixture of the charming mannerisms of the women they have known.
Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.
Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.
It took him a moment to respond to the unguarded sweetness of her smile, her body calculated to a millimeter to suggest a bud yet guarantee a flower.
It took him a moment to respond to the unguarded sweetness of her smile, her body calculated to a millimeter to suggest a bud yet guarantee a flower.
Writers aren’t people exactly. Or, if they’re any good, they’re a whole lot of people trying so hard to be one person.
Writers aren’t people exactly. Or, if they’re any good, they’re a whole lot of people trying so hard to be one person.
There is a moment—Oh, just before the first kiss, a whispered word—something that makes it worth while.
There is a moment—Oh, just before the first kiss, a whispered word—something that makes it worth while.
A woman should be able to kiss a man beautifully and romantically without any desire to be either his wife or his mistress.
A woman should be able to kiss a man beautifully and romantically without any desire to be either his wife or his mistress.
New friends can often have a better time together than old friends.
New friends can often have a better time together than old friends.
I'm a cynical idealist.
I'm a cynical idealist.
Do you ever wait for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always wait for the longest day of the year and then miss it!
Do you ever wait for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always wait for the longest day of the year and then miss it!
Tired, tired with nothing, tired with everything, tired with the world’s weight he had never chosen to bear.
Tired, tired with nothing, tired with everything, tired with the world’s weight he had never chosen to bear.
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