J

Jessamyn West

9 quotes

We may not know everything about Jessamyn West, but we know they had a way with words. Jessamyn West's observations on Imagination are as sharp as their thoughts on Success, revealing genuine breadth of mind. Browse 12 quotes by Jessamyn West that cover ground from Imagination, Success, Society, Learning, and Humor. Perhaps their most recognizable line: "The past is really almost as much a work of the imagination as the future."

“A taste for irony has kept more hearts from breaking than a sense of humor, for it takes irony to appreciate the joke which is on oneself.”

— Jessamyn West

Humor

All Quotes by Jessamyn West

“There are two barriers that often prevent communication between the young and their elders. The first is middle-aged forgetfulness of the fact that they themselves are no longer young. The second is youthful ignorance of the fact that the middle aged are still alive.”

— Jessamyn West

Communication

“The past is really almost as much a work of the imagination as the future.”

— Jessamyn West

Future

“Fiction reveals truths that reality obscures.”

— Jessamyn West

Imagination

“Faithfulness to the past can be a kind of death above ground. Writing of the past is a resurrection the past then lives in your words and you are free.”

— Jessamyn West

Death

“It is very east to forgive others their mistakes it takes more grit and gumption to forgive them for having witnessed your own.”

— Jessamyn West

Forgiveness

“A taste for irony has kept more hearts from breaking than a sense of humor, for it takes irony to appreciate the joke which is on oneself.”

— Jessamyn West

Humor

“Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends, and society are the natural enemies of the writer. He must be alone, uninterrupted, and slightly savage if he is to sustain and complete an undertaking.”

— Jessamyn West

Alone

“In my time and neighborhood (and in my soul) there was only one standard by which a woman measured success: did some man want her?”

— Jessamyn West

Success

“Teaching is the royal road to learning.”

— Jessamyn West

Learning