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The invitation to Miss Myra St. Claire’s bobbing
party
spent the morning in his coat pocket,
where it had an intense physical
affair
with a dusty piece of peanut brittle.
.
‘Twas
this day, sir, you returned
A
theme of mine, from which I learned
(From various comments on the side
Which you had scrawled) that I defied
The highest rules of criticism
For cheap and careless
witticism.
.
“Isabelle!” he cried, half involuntarily, and
held out his arms.
As in the story books,
she ran into them,
and on that
half-minute,
as their lips first touched,
rested the high point of vanity,
the
crest of his young egotism.
.
All great happiness is a little sad.
Beauty means the scent of roses
and
then the death of roses.
Beauty means the agony of sacrifice
and the end of
agony.
.
It may be an insane love affair but it’s not
inane.
.
"I never think about money."
"You never keep it long enough
to think about it."
.
Her capacity for love affairs was limited
only
by the susceptible within
telephone distance.
.
Amory usually liked men individually,
yet feared
them in crowds
unless the crowd was around him.
He wondered how much each one
had contributed to the party, for there was
somewhat of a spiritual tax levied.
.
Beware
of losing yourself in the personality
of another being, man or woman.
.
[Letter to Amory Blaine from Monsignor Darcy]
If we could only learn to look at evil as evil,
whether it is clothed in filth or monotony
or magnificence…I need to write you if only
to shriek the colossal stupidity of people.
.
I have enough sins on my soul without putting
dangerous,
shallow epigrams into people’s heads.
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Footnotes
In addition to adjustable font on this page,
some of the prose was adjusted to verse.
All of the quotes, including the strike-through, are from
Scott Fitzgerald's first novel, THIS SIDE OF PARADISE.
Eight days after its' publication in 1920,
Scott Fitzgerald married Zelda Sayre
in the vestibule of St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Including the bride & groom, eight people
attended the wedding ceremony.
Within eight days of their marriage,
the phrase SCOTT & ZELDA was born.
And then there is the last line of the novel:
I know myself. But that is all.
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