My Deck

Quotability 5 quotes — toggle each quote to include or skip in your study deck.

• No—Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the…

  Chapter 1·Narrator

  The American DreamCarelessness and Moral Decay

  In deckIn deck
• If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to…

  Chapter 1·Narrator

  Appearance vs RealityThe American Dream

  In deckIn deck
• Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth, but there…

  Chapter 1·Narrator

  Love and DesireAppearance vs RealityThe American Dream

  In deckIn deck
• “I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in…

  Chapter 1·Daisy Buchanan

  Class and Social StatusAppearance vs RealityCarelessness and Moral Decay

  In deckIn deck
• —he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him,…

  Chapter 1·Narrator

  Love and DesireThe American Dream

  In deckIn deck
• “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had…

  Chapter 1·Nick's Father

  Identity and Self-InventionClass and Social StatusCarelessness and Moral Decay

  In deckIn deck
• Involuntarily I glanced seaward—and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the…

  Chapter 1·Narrator

  Love and DesireThe American Dream

  In deckIn deck
• It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across…

  Chapter 3·Narrator

  Identity and Self-InventionAppearance vs RealityThe American Dream

  In deckIn deck
• In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the…

  Chapter 3·Narrator

  Appearance vs RealityThe American Dream

  In deckIn deck
• Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the…

  Chapter 3·Narrator

  Identity and Self-InventionAppearance vs RealityCarelessness and Moral Decay

  In deckIn deck
• "Anything can happen now that we've slid over this bridge," I thought; "anything at all …" Even Gatsby could happen,…

  Chapter 4·Narrator

  Identity and Self-InventionThe American Dream

  In deckIn deck
• "If it wasn't for the mist we could see your home across the bay," said Gatsby. "You always have a…

  Chapter 5·Jay Gatsby

  Love and DesireThe American Dream

  In deckIn deck
• Almost five years! There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams—not through her…

  Chapter 5·Narrator

  Love and DesireAppearance vs RealityThe American DreamThe Past and Memory

  In deckIn deck
• Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever. Compared to the…

  Chapter 5·Narrator

  Love and DesireThe American DreamThe Past and Memory

  In deckIn deck
• "They're such beautiful shirts," she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. "It makes me sad because I've never…

  Chapter 5·Daisy Buchanan

  Love and DesireThe American DreamThe Past and Memory

  In deckIn deck
• The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was…

  Chapter 6·Narrator

  Identity and Self-InventionThe American Dream

  In deckIn deck
• He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind…

  Chapter 6·Narrator

  Love and DesireThe American DreamThe Past and Memory

  In deckIn deck
• "Can't repeat the past?" he cried incredulously. "Why of course you can!"

  Chapter 6·Jay Gatsby

  The American DreamThe Past and Memory

  In deckIn deck
• "Oh, you want too much!" she cried to Gatsby. "I love you now—isn't that enough? I can't help what's past."…

  Chapter 7·Daisy Buchanan

  Love and DesireThe Past and Memory

  In deckIn deck
• But with every word she was drawing further and further into herself, so he gave that up, and only the…

  Chapter 7·Narrator

  Love and DesireThe American DreamThe Past and Memory

  In deckIn deck
• "Her voice is full of money," he said suddenly.

  Chapter 7·Jay Gatsby

  Class and Social StatusLove and DesireThe American Dream

  In deckIn deck
• He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque…

  Chapter 8·Narrator

  Appearance vs RealityThe American DreamThe Past and MemoryCarelessness and Moral Decay

  In deckIn deck
• "They're a rotten crowd," I shouted across the lawn. "You're worth the whole damn bunch put together."

  Chapter 8·Narrator

  Class and Social StatusLove and DesireCarelessness and Moral Decay

  In deckIn deck
• Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then,…

  Chapter 9·Narrator

  The American DreamThe Past and Memory

  In deckIn deck
• And as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the…

  Chapter 9·Narrator

  Class and Social StatusThe American DreamThe Past and Memory

  In deckIn deck
• They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or…

  Chapter 9·Narrator

  Class and Social StatusThe American DreamCarelessness and Moral Decay

  In deckIn deck
• And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked…

  Chapter 9·Narrator

  Love and DesireThe American DreamThe Past and Memory

  In deckIn deck
• So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

  Chapter 9·Narrator

  The American DreamThe Past and Memory

  In deckIn deck