121 Best Daisy Buchanan Quotes from The Great Gatsby

1. “all the time something within her was crying for a decision. She wanted her life shaped now, immediately — and the decision must be made by some force — of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality — that was close at hand”

2. “Her voice is full of money,” he said suddenly.

3. “He hadn’t once ceased looking at Daisy and I think he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes. Sometimes, too, he stared around at his possessions in a dazed way as though in her actual and astounding presence none of it was any longer real. Once he nearly toppled down a flight of stairs.”

4. “You dream, you. You absolute little dream. ”

5. ...as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors' eyes—a fresh, green breast of the new world. Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby's house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.

6. “The officer looked at Daisy while she was speaking, in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at sometime, and because it seemed romantic to me I have remembered the incident ever since.”

7. “That force took shape in the middle of spring with the arrival of Tom Buchanan. There was a wholesome bulkiness about his person and his position, and Daisy was flattered. (Chapter 8)

8. “Daisy was popular in Chicago, as you know. They moved with a fast crowd, all of them young and rich and wild, but she came out with an absolutely perfect reputation. Perhaps because she doesn’t drink.” (Chapter 4)

9. “She only married you [Tom] because I was poor”

10. “You see I think everything’s terrible anyhow, she went on . . . Everybody thinks so—the most advanced people. And I know. I’ve been everywhere and seen everything and done everything . . . Sophisticated—God, I’m sophisticated!”

11. “He knew that Daisy was extraordinary, but he didn’t realize just how extraordinary a ‘nice’ girl could be.”

12. “Daisy was young and her artificial world was redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery and orchestras which set the rhythm of the year, summing up the sadness and suggestiveness of life in new tunes.”

13. “She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept. ‘All right,’ I said, ‘I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”

14. “It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down, as if each speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again.”

15. “It’s a great advantage not to drink among hard-drinking people.”

16. “There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams—not through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion… No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.”

17. “I’ve made a small investigation of this fellow,” he continued.“I could have gone deeper if I’d known ——”

18. “Ah,” she cried, “you look so cool. ”

19. “I wish we could just run away.”

20. “We can’t lose each other. And let all this glorious love end in nothing. Come home. I’ll be here waiting and hoping for every long dream of you to come true.”

21. “I tried to think about Gatsby then for a moment, but he was already too far away, and I could only remember, without resentment, that Daisy hadn’t sent a message or a flower. ”

22. “You make me feel uncivilized, Daisy.”

23. “You did it, Tom… I know you didn’t mean to, but you did it. That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great, big, hulking physical specimen.”

24. “No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.” (Chapter 5)

25. “Her artificial world was redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery”

26. “Don’t look at me… I have been trying to get you to New York all afternoon.”

27. “You ought to see the baby. She’s asleep, she’s two years old. Haven’t you ever seen her?”

28. “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made… .”

29. ...a figure had emerged from the shadow of my neighbor's mansion and was standing with his hands in his pockets regarding the silver pepper of the stars. Something in his leisurely movements and the secure position of his feet upon the lawn suggested that it was Mr. Gatsby himself, come out to determine what share was his of our local heavens.

30. “Have it your own way,” she said. “Come on, Jordan. ”

31. “… low and thrilling voice. It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down, as if each speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again.” (Chapter 1)

32. “You resemble the advertisement of the man,” she went oninnocently. “You know the advertisement of the man ——”

33. “You see I think everything’s terrible anyhow,” she went on in a very convinced way. “Everybody thinks so- the most advanced people. And I know. I’ve been everywhere and seen everything and done everything.” Her eyes flashed around her in a defiant way, rather like Tom’s, and she laughed with thrilling scorn. “Sophisticated! God, I’m sophisticated!”

34. “All my life. I wish it could always be like this.”

35. “She wanted her life shaped now, immediately — and the decision must be made by some force — of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality…”

36. “He’s so dumb he doesn’t know he’s alive.”

37. “I don’t care!” cried Daisy

38. “There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars”

39. “He took out a pile of shorts and began throwing them, one by one before us, shorts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel which lost their fold as they fell and covered the table in many-colored disarray. While we admired he brought more and the soft rich heap mounted higher -- shirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange with monograms of Indian blue” (Fitzgerald 92). Gatsby is flaunting of his wealth and luxurious materialistic items believing that is the only way to gain Daisy back and make it how it was five years ago. Gatsby starts as a poor farmer boy, but throughout the years he desires to be more and have more. To him, Daisy is someone he loves, but this love is based on materialistic objects and status, causing Gtabsy to focus and base his actions on money and wealth.

40. “I think everything’s terrible anyhow… I’ve been everywhere and seen everything and done everything.”

41. “She never loved you, do you hear? She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me.”

42. “She doesn’t look like her father,” explained Daisy. “She looks like me. ”

43. “I hope she'll be a fool – that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” (Chapter 1)

44. “He reads deep books with long words in them. What was that word we ——

45. “His heart beat faster and faster as Daisy’s white face came up to his own. 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. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips’ touch she blossomed like a flower and the incarnation was complete.”

46. “Tom’s getting very profound. He reads deep books with long words in them.”

47. “I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”

48. “‘You make me feel uncivilized, Daisy,’ I confessed on my second glass of corky but rather impressive claret. ‘Can’t you talk about crops or something?’”

49. “She’s got an indiscreet voice,” I remarked. “It’s full of-” I hesitated. (Chapter 7)

50. “… Daisy began to move again with the season; suddenly she was again keeping half a dozen dates a day with half a dozen men.”

51. “‘Bles-sed pre-cious,’ she crooned, holding out her arms. ‘Come to your own mother that loves you.’

52. “Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth, but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered ‘Listen,’ a promise that she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour.”

53. “‘Here, deares.’ She groped around in a waste-basket she had with her on the bed and pulled out the string of pearls. ‘Take ’em downstairs and give ’em back to whoever they belong to. Tell ’em all Daisy’s change’ her mine. Say ‘Daisy’s change’ her mine!.'”

54. “There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams -- not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way. No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.”

55. “Can’t repeat the past?…Why of course you can!” (Chapter 6)

56. “They’re such beautiful shirts,” she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. “It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such—such beautiful shirts before.”

57. “The exhilarating ripple of her voice was a wild tonic in the rain.”

58. “He looked at her the way all women want to be looked at by a man.”

59. “The bles-sed pre-cious! Did mother get powder on your old yellowy hair?

60. “Oh, you want too much!”

61. “Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one.”

62. “‘They’re such beautiful shirts,’ she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. ‘It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such—such beautiful shirts before.'”

63. “But it’s so hot,” insisted Daisy, on the verge of tears, “and everything’s so confused. Let’s all go to town!”

64. “He couldn’t possibly leave Daisy until he knew what she was going to do. He was clutching at some last hope and I couldn’t bear to shake him free.”

65. “I’m p-paralyzed with happiness.”

66. “Oh, you want too much!” she cried to Gatsby. “I love you now—isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past.” She began to sob helplessly. “I did love him once—but I loved you too.”

67. “He took out the pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel… Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily”

68. “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

69. “Not only does green symbolize new money and greed, but it is also prominent as the green light at the end of the Buchannan dock” (Brozak). The most obvious and also the most important use of color symbolism is the green light at the end of the Buchannan’s dock. Gatsby reaches out for the light in hopes that he can have a life with Daisy and that he too can become a part of the old money. “I glanced seaward and distinguished nothing except a single green light” (Fitzgerald 22). The green light that Gatsby strives for eludes him in the novel as Gatsby is unable to steal Daisy from Tom and he is unable to separate himself from the rest of the new money people and become old money and his life ends tragically after trying to protect Daisy. Nick describes Gatsby as the most hopeful person he had ever met, Gatsby sees the green light as his hope that he can be with his love. Gatsby himself talks of the light “You always have a green light at the end of your dock” (Fitzgerald 90). Gatsby desires to be with daisy and all of his hopes and desires are represented by the light at the end of the Buchannan’s dock that Gatsby looks at longingly each and every night. As Nick Carraway summed up at the end of the novel “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future at the end of Daisy’s dock” (Fitzgerald 171). The green light signifies Gatsby’s never failing hope for the…

70. “She had asserted her membership in a rather distinguished secret society to which she and Tom belonged”

71. “I woke up out of the ether with an utterly abandoned feeling and asked the nurse right away if it was a boy or a girl. She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept, all right. I’m glad it was a girl and I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”

72. “Daisy was young and her artificial world was redolent of orchids, cheerful snobbery and orchestras which set the rhythm of the year, summing up the sadness and suggestiveness of life in new tunes.” (Chapter 8)

73. “I don’t see the idea of going to town,” broke out Tom savagely. “Women get these notions in their heads ——”

74. “Rich girls don’t marry poor boys.”

75. “Are we just going to go?” she objected. “Like this? Aren’t wegoing to let any one smoke a cigarette first?”

76. “That was it. I’d never understood before. It was full of money— that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of it… . high in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden girl… .”

77. “Do they miss me?”

78. “Gatsby? …What Gatsby?”

79. “A stirring warmth flowed from her.” This quote from Jay Gatsby perfectly captures Daisy’s beauty and charm and the intensity of his love for her. Daisy is portrayed as a tragically beautiful character who captivates and mesmerizes everyone she meets. Her innocence and naivety about the world’s harsh realities also bring a sense of hope and optimism to the novel.

80. “You ought to see the baby. She’s asleep, she’s three years old. Haven’t you ever seen her?”

81. “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” (Chapter 9)

82. “‘Her voice is full of money,’ he said suddenly.”

83. “I’ve heard of making a garage out of a stable,” Tom was say￾ing to Gatsby, “but I’m the first man who ever made a stable out of a garage.”

84. “How gorgeous! Let’s go back Tom. Tomorrow!”

85. “I looked outdoors for a minute, and it’s very romantic outdoors. There’s a bird on the lawn that I think must be a nightingale come over on the Cunard or White Star Line. He is singing away… It’s romantic, isn’t it Tom?”

86. “It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced – or seemed to face – the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.” (Chapter 3)

87. “What’ll we do with ourselves this afternoon?” cried Daisy, “and the day after that, and the next thirty years?”

88. ‘The bles-sed pre-cious! Did mother get powder on your old yellowy hair? Stand up now, and say - How-de-do.’”

89. “In two weeks it’ll be the longest day in the year….Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it.”

90. “Shall we take anything to drink?”

91. “Make us a cold drink,” cried Daisy

92. “[H]e’s read a Chicago paper for years just on the chance of catching a glimpse of Daisy’s name.”

93. “She was feeling the pressure of the world outside and she wanted to see him and feel his presence beside her and be reassured that she was doing the right thing after all.”

94. “In two weeks, it will be the longest day in the year. Do you always plan for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it.”

95. “You think I’m pretty dumb, don’t you?”

96. ...he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward—and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock. When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the unquiet darkness. (1.151-152)

97. “All the bright precious things fade so fast… and they don’t come back.”

98. “He wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was.”

99. “‘What’ll we do with ourselves this afternoon,’ cried Daisy, ‘and the day after that, and the next thirty years?'”

100. “She’s got an indiscreet voice,” I remarked. “It’s full of—” I hesitated.

101. “What will we plan? What do people plan?”

102. “You make me feel uncivilized, Daisy”

103. “We can’t move,” they said together. ”

104. “Suddenly with a strained sound Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily. ‘They’re such beautiful shirts,’ she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. ‘It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such- such beautiful shirts before” (98). Often, critics have simply inferred from this quote that Daisy is incredibly materialistic, and have left their analysis of her character barely brushing the surface. Daisy cries because the man who once looked at her like she was a person and indispensable is now trying to buy her, objectifying her once more in a way she never expected him to. Daisy loves the beauty of the shirts but hates what they mean for her. She has exhausted her ability to rebel against a world that expects her to be demeaned in this way, and cannot articulate her feelings. She justifies her tears with the values of materialism that have been forced upon her, seeing how she is treated as an object herself. The objectification of Daisy is complete when Gatsby tells Nick, “Her voice is full of money,” (127) towards the end of the novel. Daisy’s voice is one of the most mystical parts about her, it represents her- enchanting and beautiful. However, Gatsby and Nick don’t know how to value Daisy outside of the money values that govern their lives, and continue to simplify her to…show more content…

105. “Her voice is full of money,” he said suddenly.”

106. “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and . . . then retreated back into their money . . . and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

107. “That’s because your mother wanted to show you off. ”

108. “They moved with a fast crowd, all of them young and rich and wild, but [Daisy] came out with an absolutely perfect reputation. Perhaps because she doesn’t drink. It’s a great advantage not to drink among hard-drinking people. You can hold your tongue, and, moreover, you can time any little irregularity of your own so that everybody else is so blind that they don’t see or care.”

109. “I love you now — isn’t that enough?”

110. “‘You see I think everything’s terrible anyhow,’ she went on in a convinced way. ‘Everybody thinks so—the most advanced people. And I know. I’ve been everywhere and seen everything and done everything.’ Her eyes flashed around her in a defiant way, rather like Tom’s, and she laughed with thrilling scorn. ‘Sophisticated—God, I’m sophisticated!'”

111. “You’re crazy!” he exploded. “I can’t speak about what happened five years ago, because I didn’t know Daisy then — and I’ll be damned if I see how you got within a mile of her unless you brought the groceries to the back door. But all the rest of that’s a…lie. Daisy loved me when she married me and she loves me now.”

112. “Her voice is full of money,”

113. “He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you.’ After she had obliterated four years with that sentence they could decide upon the more practical measures to be taken. One of them was that, 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.”

114. “Oh, let’s have fun,” she begged him. “It’s too hot to fuss. ”

115. “I waited, and sure enough, in a moment she looked at me with an absolute smirk on her lovely face as if she had asserted her membership in a rather distinguished secret society to which she and Tom belonged.”

116. “I did love him once—but I loved you too.”

117. “Her voice is full of money,” [Gatsby] said suddenly.

118. “I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool. ”

119. “‘Oh, you want too much!’ she cried to Gatsby. ‘I love you now—isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past.'”

120. “Here, dearis.” She groped around in a waste-basket she had with her on the bed and pulled out the string of pearls. “Take ’em down-stairs and give ’em back to whoever they belong to. Tell ’em all ‘Daisy’s change her mine.’ Say ‘Daisy’s change her mine!'”

121. “That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great, big, hulking physical specimen of a——”

122. “Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth…” (Chapter 1)