“One does not get better but different and older and that is always a pleasure.”

— Gertrude Stein, Letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald (22 May 1925), published in Fitzgerald's The Crack-Up (1945)

About Gertrude Stein

1874 – 1946

American writer and art collector who lived in Paris, author of 'The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas' and 'Paris France'.

“The family is always the family but during vacations it is an extended family and that is exhausting.”

“It is always a mistake to be plain-spoken.”

“It is awfully important to know what is and what is not your business.”

“For God made all mankind to be happy, to be serene.”

“Love the little trade which thou hast learned, and be content therewith.”

“Why does this magnificent applied science which saves work and makes life easier bring us so little happiness?”

“A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell too much on the future.”

“What is happiness? The feeling that power increases—that a resistance is overcome.”

“Only it takes time to be happy. A lot of time. Happiness, too, is a long patience.”