“But will they make themselves agreeable to me? That's what I like people to do. I don't hesitate to say so, because I always appreciate it.”
Work
When Isabel Archer, a beautiful, spirited American, is brought to Europe by her wealthy aunt Touchett, it is expected that she will soon marry. But Isabel, resolved to enjoy the freedom that her fortune has opened up and to determine her own fate, does not hesitate to turn down two eligible suitors. Then she finds herself irresistibly drawn to Gilbert Osmond. Charming and cultivated, Osmond sees Isabel as a rich prize waiting to be taken. Beneath his veneer of civilised behaviour, Isabel discovers cruelty and stifling darkness. In this portrait of a 'young woman affronting her destiny', Henry James created one of his most magnificent heroines, and a story of intense poignancy.<br> This edition includes an introduction and full explanatory notes, with a new chronology, further reading by Richard Maxwell, and Henry James's own illuminating preface.
Quotes
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Henry James
Canonical work source
“But will they make themselves agreeable to me? That's what I like people to do. I don't hesitate to say so, because I always appreciate it.”
“It seemed to her at last that she would do well to take a book; formerly, when heavy-hearted, she had been able, with the help of some well-chosen volume, to transfer the seat of consciousne...”
“I'm yours for ever--for ever and ever. Here I stand; I'm as firm as a rock. If you'll only trust me, how little you'll be disappointed. Be mine as I am yours.”
“It was more romantic to say nothing, and, drinking deep, in secret, of romance, she was as little disposed to ask . . . advice as she would have been to close that rare volume forever.”
“There's no romance here but what you may have brought with you.”
“Heaven deliver me from my friends!”
“Her reputation for reading a great deal hung about her like the cloudy envelope of a goddess in an epic.”
“It has made me better loving you... it has made me wiser, and easier, and brighter. I used to want a great many things before, and to be angry that I did not have them. Theoretically, I was...”