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Henry James

31 free books by Henry James. 31 you can read right here.

Born 1843 in New York City · Died 1916 in Chelsea

writer, novelist, playwright, screenwriter · United States, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland · associated with literary realism

Notable works: The American, The Turn of the Screw, The Portrait of a Lady, What Maisie Knew, The Wings of the Dove

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Facts from Wikidata (Q170509), retrieved 2026-09-26.

Also by Henry James: read here

Short stories and shorter works by Henry James

Quotes from Henry James’s books

Verified word for word in the text: each quote is copied exactly from the book’s text in this site’s reader (the Project Gutenberg e-text named under each book) and links to its passage; when this page was built, every quote was checked word for word against that text. How RedLectern is built.

Daisy Miller

From Project Gutenberg e-text #208 (public domain in the USA).

“I have never allowed a gentleman to dictate to me, or to interfere with anything I do.”

— Spoken by a character · Part II

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As he stood there he began to murmur Byron’s famous lines, out of “Manfred,” but before he had finished his quotation he remembered that if nocturnal meditations in the Colosseum are recommended by the poets, they are deprecated by the doctors.

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The Portrait of a Lady — Volume 1

From Project Gutenberg e-text #2833 (public domain in the USA).

Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.

Chapter IRead in context →

“I’m very fond of my liberty.”

— Spoken by a character · Chapter II

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All 11 quotes from The Portrait of a Lady — Volume 1 →

The Beast in the Jungle

From Project Gutenberg e-text #1093 (public domain in the USA).

It was the truth, vivid and monstrous, that all the while he had waited the wait was itself his portion.

Chapter VIRead in context →

He saw the Jungle of his life and saw the lurking Beast; then, while he looked, perceived it, as by a stir of the air, rise, huge and hideous, for the leap that was to settle him.

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The Turn of the Screw

From Project Gutenberg e-text #209 (public domain in the USA).

“No, no—there are depths, depths! The more I go over it, the more I see in it, and the more I see in it, the more I fear. I don’t know what I don’t see—what I don’t fear!”

— Spoken by a character · VII

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He was there or was not there: not there if I didn’t see him.

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The American

From Project Gutenberg e-text #177 (public domain in the USA).

Between him and Newman, his whole manner seemed to declare there could be no interchange of opinion; he was holding his breath so as not to inhale the odor of democracy.

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People are proud only when they have something to lose, and humble when they have something to gain.

— Spoken by a character · Chapter VII

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