D. H. Lawrence

David Herbert Lawrence (11 September, 1885 – 2 March, 1930) was one of the most important, prolific and controversial English writers of the 20th century, whose output spans novels, short stories, poems, plays, essays, travel books, paintings, translations, literary criticism and personal letters. These works, taken together, represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation. In them Lawrence confronts issues relating to emotional health and vitality, spontaneity, sexuality, and instinctive behaviour, making him iconic in an age influenced by Freud and Nietzsche.

Quotations

• "Be a good animal, true to your instincts." -- The White Peacock
• "Mrs Morel always said the after-life would hold nothing in store for her husband: he rose from the lower world into purgatory, when he came home from pit, and passed into heaven in the Palmerston Arms." -- Sons and Lovers. Edited out of the 1913 edition restored in 1992
• "I think I am much too valuable a creature to offer myself to a German bullet gratis and for fun." -- Letter to Harriet Monroe, 1st October 1914
• "Don't you find it a beautiful clean thought, a world empty of people, just uninterrupted grass, and a hare sitting up." -- Women In Love
• "Never trust the artist. Trust the tale." -- Studies in Classic American Literature
• Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. -- Lady Chatterley's Lover