Edith Wharton and Cynthia Griffin Wolff, Ethan Frome

Aphorism 86: “Cold is the absence of passion!” Cynthia Griffin Wolff’s Signet Classic Edition introduction.

Full Quote: “There is cold, the absence of passion. There is starvation, the desperate need for affection.”

Aphorism 85: “The hypnotizing effect of routine!”

Full Quote: “I chafed at first, and then, under the hypnotizing effect of routine, gradually began to find a grim satisfaction in the life.” Wharton, Prologue

Aphorism 84: “There is nothing unfriendly in silence!”

Full Quote: “..there was warm and sentient in him fast bound below the surface; but there was nothing unfriendly in his silence.” Wharton, Prologue

Aphorism 83: “Why don’t you say something? Because I am listening.”

Full Quote: “Sometimes, in the long winter evenings, when in desperation her son asked her why she didn’t ‘say something,’ she would lift and finger and answer: ‘Because I’m listening.’” Wharton Chapter 4