The 10 best phrases by Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf’s phrases reveal a soul tormented that apparently never had peace. In them a great talent is clearly expressed, but also an enormous skepticism. It is no wonder, if you take into account that he witnessed the horrors of the First and Second World Wars. These events deeply impacted the sensibility of the artists of the time.

Virginia Woolf was born in London (England) in 1882. He was one of the most important figures of modernism in literature and an unwavering feminist. He lost her mother at age 13 and, not long after, her sister and his father. Some of her biographers suggest that she was a victim of sexual abuse by her half-siblings.

Despite everything, this great writer always kept her production constant. literary. The Virginia Woolf phrases that we have selected reveal her inner restlessness, but also her impressive talent. She is a novelist to read and reread, yesterday and today.

Love, a common theme in Virginia Woolf’s phrases

Virginia Woolf’s phrases about love have an existentialist tone. The truth is that she did not look at this feeling with naivety or romanticism. Here, for example, she shows forceful realism: “Love is an illusion, a story that one builds in one’s mind, aware all the time that it is not true, and that is why one is careful not to destroy the illusion”.

Despite having suffered successive nervous breakdowns and her traumatic experiences as a teenager, it can be said that this writer was lucky in love. She married at the age of 30 and 25 years later she still declared herself happy with her husband in her autobiography. It wasn’t her only love. She had other controversial partners. She said about it: “There is nothing so strange when you are in love as total indifference of others”.

Be yourself

Several of Virginia Woolf’s phrases refer to authenticity. In this she says: “Be sincere, and the result will surely be incredibly interesting”. It is a very profound statement. It draws attention to the fact that the most unique thing that each person has is also the most striking.

However, for this writer it was clear that the task of being genuine is not easy. She lets it be seen in this phrase: “Because beyond the difficulty of communicating oneself, there is the supreme difficulty of being oneself.”. To establish that connection with ourselves, through communication, we first have to really be who we are and that is not an easy task.

This idea is reinforced in another of Virginia Woolf’s phrases, which says: “There is no need to rush. There is no need to shine. You don’t have to be anyone but yourself.”. Authenticity, then, has enormous value for her. In fact, it is a supreme value, from their point of view. But not only that: also a titanic task.

Culture

Very much in agreement with the idea of ​​the genuine, Virginia Woolf also calls for rethinking the origin of our ideas. This phrase alludes to it: “Let’s not stop thinking: What is this ‘civilization’ we find ourselves in? What are these ceremonies and why should we participate in them? What are these professions and why should we make money with them?”

It is a call to rethink what may seem obvious to us. A way to return to the original whys, since there may be the clue that leads us to our being. more authentic. It invites us to reflect on how we live everyday life, sometimes mechanically.

Regarding culture, Virginia Woolf also has a phrase that is very sharp. She says: “Humor is the first of the gifts to perish in a foreign language”. By this he means that language is much more than syntax or grammar: it is also and, above all, culture. It is culture that gives meaning to any statement. And the most vulnerable sense to this is humor.

Prisons and the sign of youth

In this beautiful phrase, Virgina Woolf describes in a very poetic way the contrast between appearance and what is really inside. She says like this: “Each one had his past locked within himself, like the pages of a book learned by them by heart; and his friends could only read the title”.

This other phrase refers to the conditioning imposed by others and compares it to a prison. He points out: “The eyes of others our prisons; your thoughts our cages”. We are trapped in the gaze and opinion of others. We are not free until we escape its influence.

Finally, this phrase is very interesting. In it, Woolf describes one of the most touching traits of youth: brotherhood. She says it this way: “One of the signs of youth happening is the birth of a sense of companionship with other human beings as we take our place among them”.

This English writer has her own place in literature. Over time, In addition to conquering more and more readers, it has also become one of the most recognized voices within feminism.. His mark persists and, surely, will do so, like his work, for several more centuries.

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