Best Katherine Mansfield Quotes Ever

Looking for Katherine Mansfield quotes? Here are 10 of the best Katherine Mansfield quotes ever. Hope you enjoy them as these are my all time favourite quotes by Katherine Mansfield, New Zealand's best loved short story writer.

Katherine Mansfield Quotes About Acceptance

Could we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently, but life itself would come to be different.
Katherine Mansfield 1888-1923

Quoted in A. R. Orage, "Talks with Katherine Mansfield at Fontainbleu," The Century Magazine (November 1924)

Katherine Mansfield Quotes About Friendship

I always felt that the great high privilege, relief and comfort of friendship was that one had to explain nothing.
Katherine Mansfield 1888-1923

I am treating you as my friend, asking you to share my present minuses in the hope I can ask you to share my future pluses.
Katherine Mansfield 1888-1923
Quoted in Katherine Mansfield: The Memories of L.M.

Katherine Mansfield Quotes About Failure

When we begin to take our failures non-seriously, it means we are ceasing to be afraid of them. It is of immense importance to learn to laugh at ourselves.
Katherine Mansfield 1888-1923
Journal Entry (October 1922)

Katherine Mansfield Quotes About Courage, Risk, Independence

Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinions of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth.
Katherine Mansfield 1888-1923
Journal Entry (14 October 1922)

Katherine Mansfield Quotes About Love

This is not a letter but my arms around you for a brief moment.
Katherine Mansfield 1888-1923
Letter to Murry
The Collected Letters of Katherine Mansfield (1984-1996), vol. I

If only one could tell true love from false love as one can tell mushrooms from toadstools.
Katherine Mansfield 1888-1923
Journal Entry (1917)

Katherine Mansfield Quotes About Writing

Would you not like to try all sorts of lives - one is so very small - but that is the satisfaction of writing - one can impersonate so many people.
Katherine Mansfield 1888-1923
Letter to Sylvia Payne
The Collected Letters of Katherine Mansfield (1984-1996), vol. I

Katherine Mansfield Quotes About Regret

I have made it a rule of my life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of energy, you can't build on it it's only good for wallowing in.
Katherine Mansfield 1888-1923
"Je ne parle pas français," from Bliss and Other Stories (1920)

Katherine Mansfield Quotes About Self Actualization, Self Awareness

I want, by understanding myself, to understand others. I want to be all that I am capable of becoming ...
Katherine Mansfield 1888-1923
Journal Entry (10 October 1922)

WHERE TO FIND MORE KATHERINE MANSFIELD QUOTES
Brainy Quote - Katherine Mansfield Quotes
ThinkExist.com - Katherine Mansfield Quotes

Anniversary of Katherine Mansfield's Death

Katherine Mansfield [1988-1923] died on this day 9 January 1923 at Fontainebleau, France. During the First World War she contracted tuberculosis which led to her early death at the age of 34.

Katherine Mansfield spent much of her last years seeking a cure for TB. She underwent many unorthodox treatments such as having her spleen bombarded with X-Rays by Russian physician Ivan Manoukhin. This led Katherine Mansfield to become more unwell and she suffered painful side effects including heat flashes and numbness in her legs.

Seeking spiritual enlightenment and relief from her suffering Katherine Mansfield became resident at Georges Gurdjieff's Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in Fontainebleau, France in October 1922.

Excited by John Middleton Murry's visit on 9 January 1923 and her increased feelings of well being Katherine Mansfield ran up a flight of stairs causing a fatal lung haemorrhage. She died in the arms of her doctor 30 minutes later.

Ida Baker, Katherine Mansfield's long time friend, who was working on a farm nearby took over the funeral arrangements from the stunned Murry. She tried to ensure that Katherine Mansfield's wishes were carried out and her belongings disposed of according to KM's instructions.

Katherine Mansfield was buried in a cemetery in the Fontainebleau District in the town of Avon. [Cimetière d'Avon, Seine et Marne, France]

Murry and Ida Baker returned to England. Murry vowed that he ‘would not let her die’ even though he proceeded to have affairs with Katherine Mansfield's friends Dorothy Brett and Frieda Lawrence before becoming engaged to Violet le Maistre (a Katherine Mansfield look-alike) a few months after Katherine Mansfield's death.

Murry who often showed himself to be impractical forgot to pay for Katherine Mansfield’s funeral expenses resulting in her being moved into a pauper’s grave. It was left to Ida Baker to take care of the situation.

Katherine Mansfield's writing in the last few months of her life clearly shows that she found life in the community exhilarating. Read an interview with Orage published after in 1924 entitled Talks with Katherine Mansfield at Fontainebleau.

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Happy Birthday Katherine Mansfield

Today, Wednesday, 14 October 2009 marks the anniversary of Katherine Mansfield's birthday. Katherine Mansfield Beauchamp was born on 14 October 1888 at 11 Tinakori Road, Thorndon Wellington, New Zealand to Sir Harold Beauchamp and Lady Beauchamp. Her birthplace, now 25 Tinakori Road receives thousands of visitors a year and is a museum to her legacy.

Growing up in Wellington at the turn of the 20th Century was hugely influential on Katherine Mansfield's development as a writer. Many of her childhood experiences and memories are recreated in some of her most famous short stories including The Aloe, Prelude, A Birthday, The Doll’s House, and The Wind Blows.

Katherine Mansfield's life was sadly brief (died at 34) but her contribution to the development of the short story was monumental. Virginia Woolf wrote following her death "she was the only writer of whom I was jealous."



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Katherine Mansfield Short Story Competition

On 5 October 2009 the annual BNZ Katherine Mansfield Awards were held in Wellington, New Zealand with prizes awarded in the Premier, Novice and Youth categories for the best short story. 2009 marked the 50th anniversary of this event and saw a record number of entries received from writers from around New Zealand.

The 2009 winner of the premier prize of $10,000 went to the youngest-ever winner, Wellington writer, Alice Miller for her short story entitled "The Windmill". Premier judge, Dame Fiona Kidman said of this contempory love story, “If the heart does play a role in the choice of a winner, this is the story that tripped mine.”

Notable past winners of this Katherine Mansfield short story competition include some very prominent New Zealand authors including Keri Hulme (author of "The Bone People" which won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction). Other prominent winners have been Maurice Shadbolt (1963, 1967 and 1995), C K Stead (1961), Frank Sargeson (1965), Vincent O’Sullivan (1979), Daphne de Jong (1981), and Kate de Goldi (1991).

Given that Katherine Mansfield’s father, Sir Harold Beauchamp, was a director of Bank of New Zealand for more than 30 years it seems a fitting tribute that BNZ should continue its sponsorship of this prestigous event.

For more on the winners and to download a copy of the winning stories BNZ Katherine Mansfield Awards 2009

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History of the BNZ Katherine Mansfield Awards
NZ Arts Council Report - 2009 Winner Alice Miller
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NZ Herald Article - 2007 Winner Carl Nixon
Book Council of New Zealand Awards and Grants

About Katherine Mansfield Blogspot

This blog is dedicated to New Zealand short story writer Katherine Mansfield. A life less ordinary!