Quotes and Images From the Works of John Galsworthy. Galsworthy John

creatures (you or I). Hereditarily disposed to myopia, he recognises only the persons of his own species, amongst which he passes an existence of competitive tranquillity."

      "My people," replied young Jolyon, "are not very extreme, and they have their own private peculiarities, like every other family, but they possess in a remarkable degree those two qualities which are the real tests of a

      Forsyte – the power of never being able to give yourself up to anything soul and body, and the 'sense of property'."

      An unhappy marriage! No ill-treatment – only that indefinable malaise, that terrible blight which killed all sweetness under Heaven; and so from day to day, from night to night, from week to week, from year to year, till death should end it.

      The more I see of people the more I am convinced that they are never good or bad – merely comic, or pathetic. You probably don't agree with me!'

      "Don't touch me!" she cried. He caught her wrist; she wrenched it away. "And where may you have been?" he asked.

      "In heaven – out of this house!" With those words she fled upstairs.

      It seemed to young Jolyon that he could hear her saying:

      "But, darling, it would ruin you!" For he himself had experienced to the full the gnawing fear at the bottom of each woman's heart that she is a drag on the man she loves.

      She had come back like an animal wounded to death, not knowing where to turn, not knowing what she was doing.

      "What do you mean by God?" he said; "there are two irreconcilable ideas of God. There's the Unknowable

      Creative Principle – one believes in That. And there's the Sum of altruism in man naturally one believes in That."

      She was such a decided mortal; knew her own mind so terribly well; wanted things so inexorably until she got them – and then, indeed, often dropped them like a hot potato. Her mother had been like that, whence had come all those tears. Not that his incompatibility with his daughter was anything like what it had been with the first

      Mrs. Young Jolyon. One could be amused where a daughter was concerned; in a wife's case one could not be amused.

      "Thank you for that good lie."

      Love has no age, no limit; and no death.

      Did Nature permit a Forsyte not to make a slave of what he adored? Could beauty be confided to him? Or should she not be just a visitor, coming when she would, possessed for moments which passed, to return only at her own choosing?

      'We are a breed of spoilers!' thought Jolyon, 'close and greedy; the bloom of life is not safe with us. Let her come to me as she will, when she will, not at all if she will not. Let me be just her stand-by, her perching-place;

      never-never her cage!'

      …causing the animal to wake and attack his fleas; for though he was supposed to have none, nothing could persuade him of the fact.

      "It's always worth while before you do anything to consider whether it's going to hurt another person more than is absolutely necessary."

EXCERPTS FROM THE FORSYTE SAGA

      A thing slipped between him and all previous knowledge

      Afraid of being afraid

      Afraid to show emotion before his son

      Always wanted more than he could have

      Aromatic spirituality

      As she will, when she will, not at all if she will not

      Attack his fleas; for though he was supposed to have none

      Avoided expression of all unfashionable emotion

      Back of beauty was harmony

      Back of harmony was – union

      Beauty is the devil, when you're sensitive to it!

      Blessed capacity of living again in the young

      But it tired him and he was glad to sit down

      But the thistledown was still as death

      By the cigars they smoke, and the composers they love

      Change – for there never was any – always upset her very much

      Charm; and the quieter it was, the more he liked it

      Compassion was checked by the tone of that close voice

      Conceived for that law a bitter distaste

      Conscious beauty

      Detached and brotherly attitude towards his own son

      Did not mean to try and get out of it by vulgar explanation

      Did not want to be told of an infirmity

      Dislike of humbug

      Dogs: with rudiments of altruism and a sense of God

      Don't care whether we're right or wrong

      Don't hurt others more than is absolutely necessary

      Early morning does not mince words

      Era which had canonised hypocrisy

      Evening not conspicuous for open-heartedness

      Everything in life he wanted – except a little more breath

      Fatigued by the insensitive, he avoided fatiguing others

      Felt nearly young

      Forgiven me; but she could never forget

      Forsytes always bat

      Free will was the strength of any tie, and not its weakness

      Get something out of everything you do

      Greater expense can be incurred for less result than anywhere

      Hard-mouthed women who laid down the law

      He could not plead with her; even an old man has his dignity

      He saw himself reflected: An old-looking chap

      Health – He did not want it at such cost

      Horses were very uncertain

      I have come to an end; if you want me, here I am

      I never stop anyone from doing anything

      I shan't marry a good man, Auntie, they're so dull!

      If not her lover in deed he was in desire

      Importance of mundane matters became increasingly grave

      Intolerable to be squeezed out slowly, without a say yourself

      Ironical, which is fatal to expansiveness

      Ironically mistrustful

      Is anything more pathetic than the faith of the young?

      It was their great distraction: To wait!

      Know how not to grasp and destroy!

      Law takes a low view of human nature

      Let her come to me as she will, when she will

      Little notion of how to butter her bread

      Living on his capital

      Longing to escape in generalities beset him

      Love has no age, no limit; and no death

      Man had money, he was free in law and fact

      Ministered to his daughter's love of domination

      More spiritual enjoyment of his coffee and cigar

      Never give himself away

      Never seemed to have occasion for verbal confidences

      Never since had any real regard for conventional morality

      Never to see yourself as others see you

      No money! What fate could compare with that?

      None of them quite knew what she meant

      None of us – none of us can hold on for ever!

      Not going to run with the hare and hunt