Life Lessons From an Iconic Novel
Ready or not, Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby hits theaters Friday. There has been much debate on whether or not Luhrmann’s version will do the original novel justice. F. Scott Fitzgerald flawlessly captured the Roaring Twenties in The Great Gatsby and in exposing some of the emptiness of the era’s unfettered materialism, created a literary classic. The novel introduced us to the tragic hero Jay Gatsby, his long-lost love Daisy Buchanan and other compelling characters; Fitzgerald tied them all together with a captivating plot. Still, arguably the most defining aspect of Fitzgerald’s novel is the dialogue.
Some of the novel’s lines have proven so timeless you can still find them making their way around various Tumblr blogs and Pinterests boards. And though the book doesn’t present many characters you’d want to model your life after, we think everyone can still learn a little something from Fitzgerald.
Here are our 10 favorite quotes from The Great Gatsby:
1. “I hope she’ll be a fool. That’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” —Daisy Buchanan
2. “There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.” —Nick Carraway
3. “Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead.” —Meyer Wolfshiem
4. “Reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope.” —Nick Carraway
5. “It’s a great advantage not to drink among hard-drinking people. —Jordan Baker
6. “No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.” —Nick Carraway
7. “The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.” —Nick Carraway
8. “Dishonesty in a woman is a thing you never blame deeply.” —Nick Carraway
9. “Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” —Nick Carraway (quoting his father)
10. “It occurred to me that there was no difference between men, in intelligence or race, so profound as the difference between the sick and the well.” —Nick Carraway