Elizabeth Bowen Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old Elizabeth Bowen quotes, Elizabeth Bowen sayings, and Elizabeth Bowen proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.'

Ireland is a great country to die or be married in. Elizabeth Bowen
It is not helpful to help a friend by putting coins in his pockets when he has got holes in his pockets. Elizabeth Bowen
One can live in the shadow of an idea without grasping it. Elizabeth Bowen
Fantasy is toxic: the private cruelty and the world war both have their start in the heated brain. Elizabeth Bowen
Disappointment tears the bearable film of life. Elizabeth Bowen
If a theme or idea is too near the surface, the novel becomes simply a tract illustrating an idea. Elizabeth Bowen
Style is the thing that's always a bit phony, and at the same time you cannot write without style. Elizabeth Bowen
Jealousy is no more than feeling alone against smiling enemies. Elizabeth Bowen
The heart may think it knows better, the senses know that absence blots people out. We really have no absent friends. Elizabeth Bowen
The friend becomes a traitor by breaking, however unwillingly or sadly, out of our own zone. A hard judgement is passed on him, for all the pleas of the heart. Elizabeth Bowen
When you love someone all your saved up wishes start coming out. Elizabeth Bowen
But I should never write what had happened down. One's nature is to forget, and one ought to go by that. Memory is quite unbearable enough, but even so it leaves out quite a lot. Elizabeth Bowen
The heart may think it knows better; the senses know that absence blots people out. Elizabeth Bowen
Fate is not an eagle, it creeps like a rat. Elizabeth Bowen
It is about five o'clock in an evening that the first hour of spring strikes-autumn arrives in the early morning, but spring at the close of a winter day. Elizabeth Bowen
It is about five o'clock in an evening that the first hour of spring strikes—autumn arrives in the early morning, but spring at the close of a winter day. Elizabeth Bowen
The heart may think it knows better; the senses know that absence blots people out. Elizabeth Bowen
It is queer to be in a place when someone has gone. It is not two other places, the place that they were there in, and the place that was there before they came. I can't get used to this third place or to staying behind. Elizabeth Bowen
Often when I write I am trying to make words do the work of line and color. I have the painter's sensitivity to light. Much of my writing is verbal painting. Elizabeth Bowen
The innocent are so few that two of them seldom meet— when they do, their victims lie strewn around. Elizabeth Bowen