Virginia Woolf Quotes

55 quotes in this collection
Virginia Woolf
Author Spotlight

Virginia Woolf

January 25 , 1882 – March 28 , 1941

Virginia Woolf was an English writer. Their most powerful quotes on life, success and human nature are collected here for daily inspiration and reflection.

55 quotes in this collection

"To write is to be a ghost."

-- Virginia Woolf

"I like to have space to spread my mind out in."

-- Virginia Woolf

"Life is a dream; 'tis the waking that kills us."

-- Virginia Woolf

"One cannot look at the sea without wishing for the presence of someone, and then it is better to be alone."

-- Virginia Woolf

"To believe that your impressions hold good for others is to be released from the confines of your own personality."

-- Virginia Woolf

"A sight, an emotion, creates this wave in the mind, long before it makes words to fit it."

-- Virginia Woolf

"It is in our idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth sometimes comes to the top."

-- Virginia Woolf

"Across the broad continent of a woman’s life, her biography is almost entirely a blank."

-- Virginia Woolf

"To enjoy freedom we have to control ourselves."

-- Virginia Woolf

"Heavens, how I like to be alone!"

-- Virginia Woolf

"As long as she thinks of a man, nobody objects to a woman thinking."

-- Virginia Woolf

"A farm, a house, a garden, a small income, and the work that one chooses and loves—that is the good life."

-- Virginia Woolf

"Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself."

-- Virginia Woolf

"Was it not possible that the world itself was a brain?"

-- Virginia Woolf

"If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people."

-- Virginia Woolf

"The human figure even at its best is a very poor piece of work compared with the flowers and the trees."

-- Virginia Woolf

"Money dignifies what is frivolous if unpaid for."

-- Virginia Woolf

"What is the meaning of life? That was all — a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years."

-- Virginia Woolf

"The truth is, I often like women. I like their unconventionality. I like their completeness. I like their anonymity."

-- Virginia Woolf

"I am made and remade continually. Different people draw different words from me."

-- Virginia Woolf

"A masterpiece is something said once and for all, stated, finished, so that it's there complete in the mind of the reader."

-- Virginia Woolf

"Life is a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end."

-- Virginia Woolf

"The history of men's opposition to women's emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of emancipation itself."

-- Virginia Woolf

"Nothing thicker than a knife's blade separates happiness from melancholy."

-- Virginia Woolf

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Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently asked

Virginia Woolf was an English writer. Their most powerful quotes on life, success and human nature are collected here for daily inspiration and reflection.

One of Virginia Woolf's most widely shared quotes is: "I am rooted, but I flow.".

On wisdom, Virginia Woolf said: "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.".

On mindset, Virginia Woolf said: "No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself.".

Virginia Woolf's quotes endure because they turn ideas about Wisdom, Mindset, Philosophy, Self-Growth into clear, memorable language that is easy to relate to and share.

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