“Life is a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end.”

— Virginia Woolf, "Modern Fiction", The Common Reader (1925)

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About Virginia Woolf

1882 – 1941

English author and essayist considered one of the foremost modernists of the twentieth century. Known for stream-of-consciousness writing and pioneering essays on women and literature.

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More from Virginia Woolf

“Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.”

— Virginia Woolf

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Arrange whatever pieces come your way.”

— Virginia Woolf

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”

— Virginia Woolf

“Some people are able to accept living with a severe disability. I am not one of them, and that is why I have a keen interest in research and am deeply disturbed by unreasonable…”

— Christopher Reeve

“Fiction is to the grown man what play is to the child; it is there that he changes the atmosphere and tenor of his life.”

— Robert Louis Stevenson

“We have achieved political freedom but our revolution is not yet complete and is still in progress, for political freedom without the assurance of the right to live and to pursue…”

— Jawaharlal Nehru

“The invigorating air did them both good, and much exercise worked wholesome changes in minds as well as bodies. They seemed to get clearer views of life and duty up there among…”

— Louisa May Alcott