The Great Gatsby Quotes

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Source: The Great Gatsby

Speaker: F. Scott Fitzgerald

"You can't live forever; you can't live forever."

It was on the two little seats facing each other that are always the last ones left on the train. I was going up to New York to see my sister and spend the night. He had on a dress suit and patent leather shoes, and I couldn't keep my eyes off him, but every time he looked at me I had to pretend to be looking at the advertisement over his head. When we came into the station he was next to me, and his white shirt-front pressed against my arm, and so I told him I'd have to call a policeman, but he knew I lied. I was so excited that when I got into a taxi with him I didn't hardly know I wasn't getting into a subway train. All I kept thinking about, over and over, was 'You can't live forever; you can't live forever.'

Context


Here, Myrtle Wilson is describing to Nick the first time she met Tom Buchanan. Just to clarify, Myrtle is married to George, not Tom. And Tom is married to Daisy. So...yeah.

Where you've heard it

One word: YOLO.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

YOLO-ing is never that pretentious. Dangerous, sometimes? Yes. But not pretentious.