Amory had rather a Puritan conscience. Not that he yielded to it--later in life he almost completely slew it--but at fifteen it made him consider himself a great deal worse than other boys.. unscrupulousness.. the desire to influence people in almost every way, even for evil.. a certain coldness and lack of affection, amounting sometimes to cruelty.. a shifting sense of honor.. an unholy selfishness.. a puzzled, furtive interest in everything concerning sex. There was, also, a curious strain of weakness running crosswise through his make-up.. a harsh phrase from the lips of an older boy (older boys usually detested him) was liable to sweep him off his poise into surly sensitiveness, or timid stupidity.. he was a slave to his own moods and he felt that though he was capable of recklessness and audacity, he possessed neither courage, perseverance, nor self-respect. Vanity, tempered with self-suspicion if not self-knowledge, a sense of people as automatons to his will, a desire to "pass" as many boys as possible and get to a vague top of the world.. with this background did Amory drift into adolescence. . F. Scott Fitzgerald
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  1. I fell in love with her courage, her sincerity, and her flaming self respect. And it's these things I'd believe in, even if the whole world indulged in wild suspicions that she wasn't all she should be. I love her and it is the beginning...
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  5. Actually that’s my secret – I can’t even talk about you to anybody because I don’t want any more people to know how wonderful you are.
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