The Great Gatsby Chapter 1 Quotes

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.

Reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope.

Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone…just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.

I’m inclined to reserve all judgments.

It was a matter of chance that I should have rented a house in one of the strangest communities in North America.

I lived at West Egg, the—well, the less fashionable of the two.

Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water.

The white palaces seemed to float toward us through the amorphous trees.

My own house was an eyesore, but it was a small eyesore, and it had been overlooked.

I had a view of the water, a partial view of my neighbor’s lawn, and the consoling proximity of millionaires.

There was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the caught wind died out about the room.

The fact that he had one was insisted upon wherever he was known.

His family were enormously wealthy—even in college his freedom with money was a matter for reproach.

Now he was a sturdy, straw haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner.

When he saw us a damp gleam of hope sprang into his light blue eyes.

Tom Buchanan in riding clothes was standing with his legs apart on the front porch.

The Great Gatsby Chapter 1 Quotes part 2

We shook hands with him gravely and went up stairs together.

Mrs. Wilson hurried forward to the vestibule, gripping my elbow with a little laugh.

Then Tom’s voice, incredulous and insulting: ‘You must be crazy!’

Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn.

He had changed since his New Haven years.

His family were enormously wealthy—even in college his freedom with money was a matter for reproach.

Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward.

And, after boasting this way of my tolerance, I come to the admission that it has a limit.

I had no sight into Daisy’s heart but I felt that Tom would drift on forever seeking, a little wistfully, for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game.