‘James Gatz - that was really, or at least legally, his name. […] ….’
“I suppose he’d had the name ready for a long time, even then..’
‘His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people…’
‘his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all’
‘But his heart was in a constant, turbulent riot..’
‘The most grotesque and fantastic conceits haunted him in his bed at night.”
‘a promise that the rock of the world…’
‘was founded securely on a fairy’s wing.”
“He stayed there two weeks, dismayed at its ferocious indifference to the drums of his destiny, to destiny itself…’
‘and despising the janitor’s work with which he was to pay his way through.”
“To the young Gatz, resting on his oars and looking up at the railed deck..’
‘the yacht represented all the beauty and glamor in the world.”
“And it was from Cody that he inherited money–a legacy of twenty-five thousand dollars. He didn’t get it…’
‘He never understood the legal device that was used against him but what remained of the millions went intact to Ella Kaye.”
“I haven’t got a horse,” said Gatsby. “I used to ride in the army..’
‘army but I’ve never bought a horse. I’ll have to follow you in my car.’
“Tom and I shook hands, the rest of us exchanged a cool nod and they trotted quickly down the drive, disappearing under the August foliage..’
‘just as Gatsby with hat and light overcoat in hand came out the front door.”
“But the rest offended her […]..’
‘She saw something awful in the very simplicity she failed to understand.”
‘He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: “I never loved you.” […]..’
‘after she was free, they were to go back to Louisville and be married from her house - just as if it were five years ago.’
’ […] “Can’t repeat the past?” he cried incredulously. “Why of course you can!”
‘He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath..’
‘his mind would never romp again like the mind of God’
‘Then he kissed her. At his lips’ touch she blossomed for him…’
‘him like a flower and the incarnation was complete’