The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald that follows the lives of Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby. It is often considered a classic piece of American literature as it captures the spirit of the Roaring Twenties, with all the excesses and extravagances that are to be expected. It is the third most-read book among high school students in the US and is on the list of America’s best-loved novels. However, it was not an instant success when it came out because of its detached narrative which was quite different from what Americans were used to reading at that time. Note: you can buy a copy of The Great Gatsby here.
The Great Gatsby is a stylish example of post-World War I literature, capturing the high society and culture of 1920s America during Prohibition. Jay Gatsby starts out as an ambitious young man from the Midwest who quickly becomes wealthy through his involvement in bootlegging and his work with various criminals.
The novel focuses on the main character’s humble background and subsequent rise to power and fame through his association with wealthy businessman Jay Gatsby and his “pursuit” of Daisy Buchanan, who eventually rejects him at the end. Later on, he makes a name for himself by throwing elaborate parties that no one can forget about. He uses these parties to impress Daisy Buchanan who has moved up from being a young girl on the bayou to being one of the more popular girls in town and an heir to a cotton empire.
There are many great quotes from the book and I pulled out the best ones to share with you.
Great Gatsby Quotes
1. “I was struck by the number of young English gurus dotted about; their looks, being well dressed, all hungry, and all talking in the best earnest voices to prosperous and solid Americans. I was so sure that they were working or selling something; automobiles or insurance or even bonds. If you could look at them they were agonized and so aware of how the system was going to benefit them with easy money in the whole vicinity and also convinced that it was okay for them to enjoy that in words in the left key.” F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
2 ‘So we fight and beat on, canoes against the contemporary, born back ceaselessly into our past.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
3 ‘I enjoy and like parties they are so intimate and romantic, at small and sizable parties there is not much privacy you enjoy the moment and have fun.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
4 ‘She has an amazing and indiscreet voice I can confirm that it is full of all I need and if it is to you then make your steps and also keep it in that her voice is full of your treasures.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
5 ‘My dear friend most of the guys will cheat you every day. All they think is cash and I had a woman up here with me last week to look at me and when she gave me the day’s bill you would have thought that she had may appendix at the stake.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
6 ‘There must be moments even in that day when my Daisy tumbled short of dreams not through her fault, because of their colossal vitality of some illusion. It has gone an extra mile beyond everything. Most of us threw ourselves into passion and creativity adding to it as a full-time decking out every bright side of our minds and drafted the way. In life no extra amount of fuel to create your comfort fire just find a fresh challenge and stop up your time and passion on it.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
7 ‘I am still afraid of missing something that I forgot about, as my guardian father snobbishly instructed, and I snobbishly agreed and repeated a sense of human fundamental decencies customized work in a parceled manner to yield me.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
8 ‘She always wanted her personal life shopped immediately and the choices we must make are in terms of unquestionable, love and money practically to a better life.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
9 ‘I bought a dozen of items on credit and banking and bond securities and they all stood on my shelf in gold and red like new withdrawals from a royal mint, all promising to give and unfold their hidden secrets that only Morgan, Maecenas, and Midas knew.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
10 ‘In blue gardens girls and men came and went like butterflies and paper moths among the stars and the champagne and the whisperings. All I could see was me and that’s how I started trusting me and the same should be duplicated to your system it is only through this you will achieve something and by saying something I mean your dreams.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
11 ‘Americans, while sporadically willing to be villains, have always been stubborn about being peasantry.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
12 ‘At the enthralled metropolitan sundown I felt the worse and haunting loneliness and this happens all the time and the poor clerks who always walk in Infront of windows waiting until it is time for a random solitary dinner we are all young clerks in the sunset all wasting the most important and poignant moments of life and the most important the night.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
13 ‘There is the only one who spends their precious time persuading but the truth is, the persuaders are always busy and in the end they get tired.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
14 ‘If you ask me I will tell you they were so careless they smashed up creatures and things and then retreated back into to their old ways money and carelessness or whatever it was binding them as one and let other people cleaned up their mess.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
15 ‘In my youth I was lucky that my father was present in may vulnerable era, he gave me some advice that I have been tunning over my system ever since. I still hear him say, whenever you feel pissed at criticizing people in this world just remember that all the people around you did not get the chances you had.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
16 ‘I can’t lie I was so into love, but I felt some tender curiosity to try other things in life, and in the process, I had the chances.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
17 ‘I hope that she will be a fool, that is the best and sweetest thing a girl can be in this era, being a fool and beautiful.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
18 ‘Half in love and full angry with her and sometimes so tremendously sorry for my actions and still you could find me turned away.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
19 ‘For a second in my life I felt I loved her so much. But on some occasions, my interior operations worked on the brakes on my personal desire. It is normal to experience two forces all acting opposite a no physics star or guru but opposite forces are equal and opposite that’s why they oppose each other.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
18 ‘I was always without and within simultaneously repelled and enchanted by the inexhaustible options of life. Feel free to try failing is part of the whole program and making it work involves trials and error.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
19 ‘And so with the morning breeze and the great burst of sunshine leaves growing on the nice trees just as things grow so nice and fast in TV shows I had that same conviction that life, in the beginning, will be always like summer I even forgot of the other seasons basing all my cards on better days.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
20 ‘Let us learn to love and show some true friendship to someone when he/she is alive not after she/he is dead or no more. Always have that time for others it’s all that matters because in the darker hours no one will receive or even recognize the whole thing. F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
21 ‘Most of the time I found myself with strangers because I drift there and here trying to do away with the sad moments that have been hunting me.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
22 ‘Reserving normal judgments is a matter of personal and infinite hopes so build it in you it will grow with time.’, The Great Gatsby
23 ‘And so we drove on towards the death through the cold and cooling twilight.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
24 ‘Do not lie to yourself telling your inner self that you can repeat the past, who do you think has that power to master you more than you do it on your own. Your system has its own way you can only have it when you choose or forget about it, so you can repeat your past.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
25 ‘I could not forgive him or think of liking him at all, after all, I saw what he did was to him and this was justified from his confusion and careless mindset.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
26 ‘Life starts all over again with a new page when it gets crisp in the edge fall.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Related: As a Man Thinketh Quotes
27 ‘The reason as to why I think of terrible things anyhow, is because she went on a convincing way and the worst part is everybody thinks she is right but the brighter side of the advanced people and I know I have been everywhere and seen all it takes and done all in my power it’s just a matter of time.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
28 ‘Trust me you can’t live forever F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
29 ‘It takes two parties to make an accident’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
30 ‘Everybody suspects herself/himself at least one of the prime virtues and this is mine too and am one of the few people who know that and you should.’F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Related: Quotes from Hillbilly Elegy
Great Gatsby – Crash Course
If you have read this far and want a quick, fun and illustrated overview of the Great Gatsby this video is worth a watch. In this video, John Green ntroduces you to Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, Daisy and Tom Buchanan, and the other characters in the novel. He takes you beneath the surface story and gets into the core underlying themes of the book, against a conflicted backdrop of prohibition and excess.
The Great Gatsby takes a close look at the American Dream as it existed in Fitzgerald’s time, which had a large focus on money and status. John covers the rich symbolism of the novel, from the distant green light to the pale gold of wealth and decay. Also, Paris Hilton drops by too!
The Final Word
As I was writing this article, I re-read the Great Gatsby – it’s such a fun and quick read. You can buy a copy here.
Jay Gatsby is an everyman for the 1920’s. He is so obsessed with a married woman, Daisy Buchanan that he will do anything to have her. He becomes rich and famous just so he can impress her and ultimately be able to win her heart. Gatsby realizes that Daisy loves him as well but she is still of the belief that she should stay with Tom Buchanan because it is what people expect of her in society.
That got me thinking about how we sometimes feel we need to live up to certain expectations but it doesn’t necessarily make us happy or fulfilled in life.
But if you want to read quotes about how to get rich, be sure to see our collection of Grant Cardone’s Best Quotes.
I’m Alice Judy and AnQuotes is a fun hobby for me. We know that everyone loves a great quote and our mission here is simple – to be the best and most interesting quote site in the world! If you have quotes you would like us to cover, please contact us.
