Amy Levy

Amy Judith Levy (10 November 1861 – 9 September 1889) was an English essayist, poet, and novelist.

For, you and I, we did eschew
The egoistic "I" and "you."

Quotes

The Romance of a Shop (1888)

Death, like love, is ever old and ever new.

• For good or evil, these waifs on the great stream of London life had drifted together; how long the current should continue thus to bear them side by side—how long, indeed, they should float on the surface of the stream at all, was a question with which, for the time being, they did not very much trouble themselves.
  • Ch. 7: "A New Customer"

• A curious, dreamlike sensation stole over Gertrude at finding herself once again in a roomful of people; and as an old war-horse is said to become excited at the sound of battle, so she felt the social instincts rise strongly within her as the familiar, forgotten pageant of nods and becks and wreathed smiles burst anew upon her.
  • Ch. 9: "Show Sunday"

• That she had been brought face to face with the sterner side of life, had lost some illusions, suffered some pain, she did not regret. It seemed to her that she had not paid too great a price for the increased reality of her present existence.
  • Ch. 10: "Summing Up"

• "How can I bear my life? How can I bear it?"
  Gertrude was very pale.
  "We all have to bear things, Conny; often this kind of thing, we women."
  "I don't think I can."
  "Yes, you will. You have no end of pluck. One day you are going to be very happy."
  "Never, Gerty. We rich girls always end up with sneaks—no decent person comes near us."
  "There are other things which make happiness besides—pleasant things happening to one."
  "What sort of things?"
  Gertrude paused a minute, then said bravely: "Our own self-respect, and the integrity of the people we care for."
  "That sounds very nice," replied Conny, without enthusiasm, "but I should like a little of the more obvious sorts of happiness as well."
  Gertrude gave a laugh, which was also a sob.
  "So should I, Conny, so should I."
  • Ch. 11: "A Confidence"

• Death, as a general statement, is so easy of utterance, of belief; it is only when we come face to face with it that we find the great mystery so cruelly hard to realise; for death, like love, is ever old and ever new.
  • Ch. 17: "A Special Edition"

A London Plane-tree, and Other Verse (1889)

• Yet fair are days in summer; and more fair
  The growths of human goodness here and there.
  • "To Clementina Black", st. 4

• The east wind blows in the street to-day.
     The sky is blue, yet the town looks grey,
  'Tis the wind of ice, the wind of fire.
  Of cold despair and of hot desire.
  Which chills the flesh to aches and pains.
  And sends a fever through all the veins.
  • "A March Day in London", st. 1

• Oh, who can sound the human breast?
  And this strange truth must be confessed;
  That city do I love the best
  Wherein my heart was heaviest!
  • "Alma Mater", st. 3

• Some men sicken, with wine and food;
  I starved on dreams, and found them good.
  • "The Last Judgment", st. 6

• To hold the pure delights of brain
  Above light loves and sweet champagne.
  For, you and I, we did eschew
  The egoistic "I" and "you."
  • "Philosophy", st. 6

• Scarce friends, not lovers (each avers),
  But sexless, safe Philosophers.
  • "Philosophy", st. 7

• Dead love or dead ambition, say,
  Which mourn we most?
  Not much we weigh
                   Platonic friends.
  • "To E.", st. 9

A Minor Poet, and Other Verse (1891)

• This is the end of him, here he lies:
  The dust in his throat, the worm in his eyes,
  The mould in his mouth, the turf on his breast;
  This is the end of him, this is best.
  • "Epitaph (On a commonplace person who died in bed)"

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Amy Levy on Wikipedia