Stein, Gertrude Quotes

A writer must always try to have a philosophy and he should also have a psychology and a philology and many other things. Without a philosophy and a psychology and all these various other things he is not really worthy of being called a writer. I agree with Kant and Schopenhauer and Plato and Spinoza and that is quite enough to be called a philosophy. But then of course a philosophy is not the same thing as a style.

Generally speaking, everyone is more interresting doing nothing than doing anything.

Communists are people who fancied that they had an unhappy childhood.

The contemporary thing in art and literature is the thing which doesn't make enough difference to the people of that generation so that they can accept it or reject it.

What is the answer? [Silence] In that case, what is the question?

Let me listen to myself and not to them.

Counting is the religion of this generation it is its hope and its salvation.

I do want to get rich but I never want to do what there is to do to get rich.

It takes a lot of time to be a genius. You have to sit around so much doing nothing, really doing nothing.

Nature is commonplace. Imitation is more interesting.