48 Zelda Fitzgerald Quotes To Get You Roaring About The 20s

Georgia Stone
Dec 12, 2023 By Georgia Stone
Originally Published on Jan 21, 2021
Photos of Zelda Fitzgerald show that she was an impeccable fashionista.
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Age: 0-99
Read time: 10.3 Min

Zelda Sayre, more popularly known as Zelda Fitzgerald, was an incredibly popular '20s flapper, writer and celebrity.

Zelda was the creative muse of her husband F. Scott Fitzgerald, who was the writer of ‘The Great Gatsby’. An icon of the Jazz Age ('20s - '30s), the free-spirited artist lived a lavish life with her husband.

She came from a powerful political family and the Fitzgeralds are also known for their public romance that was filled with multiple relationship issues. She has been the inspiration behind multiple books and songs.

The fashionista challenged societal norms about the lifestyle women were supposed to have, for example Zelda publicly called out her husband for plagiarism. Zelda Fitzgerald's fashion was as infamous as her troubled marriage.

The iconic Zelda Fitzgerald dress is still quite popular and she helped to make the flapper bob and short skirts a new trend in the Jazz Age. Zelda was born in 1900 and sadly dies in 1948 in a fire at a hospital where she was a patient.

We formerly shared our amazing collections for [Jazz quotes] and Jay Gatsby quotes. This time, we have lots of Zelda Fitzgerald quotes, including Zelda love quotes such as the iconic line "she quietly expected great things to happen". Read on for quotes about flappers, quotes about Zelda Fitzgerald, Zelda Fitzgerald ballet quotes, Zelda Fitzgerald flapper quotes, and more.

Zelda Fitzgerald Quotes About Love

Zelda Fitzgerald love quotes are some of her most known musings. Zelda and her husband F. Scott Fitzgerald have written some incredibly romantic love letters to each other.

F. Scott Fitzgerald quotes about Zelda have shown that he was deeply in love with her and these F. Scott Fitzgerald Zelda quotes are now some of his most popular literary works. These are few Zelda Fitzgerald quotes that talk about love.

You are sure to love these Fitzgerald quotes. If you love beautiful quotes like Zelda Fitzgerald's declaration that, “nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold.”, this list is for you.

1. “I don't want to live - I want to love first, and live incidentally.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters Of F. Scott And Zelda Fitzgerald’.

2. “Won’t we be quite the pair? You with your bad heart, me with my bad head. Together, though, we might have something worthwhile.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘Z: A Novel Of Zelda Fitzgerald’.

3. “Looking for love is like asking for a new point of departure ... another chance in life.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘Save Me The Waltz: A Novel’.

4. “I love you, even if there isn’t any me, or any love, or even any life. I love you.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters Of F. Scott And Zelda Fitzgerald’.

5. “Since we first met I have loved you with whatever I had to love you with.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald.

6. “Thanks again for saving me. Someday, I’ll save you too.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters Of F. Scott And Zelda Fitzgerald’.

7. “I don’t see how you can carry around as much love as I have given you.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘Zelda: A Worksheet’.

8. “Love is bitter and all there is, and that the rest is for the emotional beggars of the earth.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald.

9. “Why is there happiness and comfort and excitement where you are and no where else in the world?”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters Of F. Scott And Zelda Fitzgerald’.

10. “I am really only myself when I'm somebody else whom I have endowed with these wonderful qualities from my imagination.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘Save Me The Waltz: A Novel’.

Zelda Fitzgerald Quotes That Will Inspire You

Zelda and Fitzgerald were romantic souls despite a tragic marriage.

Pictures of Zelda Fitzgerald will show you her amazing sense of fashion. In his quotes about Zelda Fitzgerald, her husband describes her as the original flapper.

Zelda Fitzgerald’s ballet talent was also so deep that it became an obsession. She became a symbol who inspired numerous women in the Jazz age.

These Zelda Fitzgerald quotes will encourage you to be yourself too, so do go ahead and share these Fitzgerald quotes with your friends as well. For powerful quotes, like Zelda's claim that, “I don't want to live - I want to love first, and live incidentally”, this list is perfect.

11. “Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘The Collected Writings Of Zelda Fitzgerald’.

12. “Why should all life be work, when we all can borrow? Let's think only of today, and not worry about tomorrow.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘The Collected Writings Of Zelda Fitzgerald’.

13. “It’s just sort of a thankful feeling – that I’m alive and that people are glad I am . There’s nothing to say – you know everything about me, and that’s mostly what I think about – I seem always curiously interested in myself, and it’s so much fun to stand off and look at me.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘Zelda: A Biography’.

14. “She quietly expected great things to happen to her, and no doubt that’s one of the reasons why they did.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘The Collected Writings Of Zelda Fitzgerald’.

15. “All I want to be is very young always and very irresponsible and to feel that my life is my own-to live and be happy and die in my own way to please myself.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘The Collected Writings Of Zelda Fitzgerald’.

16. “I’m much too proud to care - pride keeps me from feeling half the things I ought to feel.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘Save Me The Waltz: A Novel’.

17. “Experience teaches you how to do things you never want to do again.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald.

18. “Maybe other people's ideas of us are truer than our own.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald.

19. “There's nothing on earth to do here but look at the view and eat. You can imagine the result since I do not like to look at views.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald.

20. “Youth doesn't need friends - it only needs crowds.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald.

21. “Memories should be sharp when one has nothing else to live for.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘Save Me The Waltz: A Novel’.

22. “Isn't it funny how danger makes people passionate?”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘Save Me The Waltz: A Novel’.

23. “I wish I could write a beautiful book to break those hearts that are soon to cease to exist: a book of faith and small neat worlds and of people who live by the philosophies of popular songs.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald.

24. “Oh, we are going to be so happy away from all the things that almost got us but couldn't quite because we were too smart for them!”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘Save Me The Waltz: A Novel’.

25. “She refused to be bored chiefly because she wasn't boring.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘The Collected Writings Of Zelda Fitzgerald’.

26. “Pronunciation has made many an innocent word sound like a doctor's orders for a stomach pump.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald.

27. “Look closer and you'll see something extraordinary, mystifying, something real and true. We have never been what we seemed.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald.

28. “They hadn't much faith in travel, nor a great belief in a change of scene as a panacea for spiritual ills; they were simply glad to be going.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald.

Zelda Fitzgerald Poems And Quotes

Zelda Fitzgerald poetry and words of wisdom have proved that she was a deep thinker though her public image was that of a social celebrity. She was somehow both straight forward and eccentric.

She was known for her great sense of humor which can be seen in some of her writings. These quotes will outline that she was not only creative but also incredibly smart.

29. “We get something to do and as soon as we've got it, it gets us.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘Save Me The Waltz: A Novel’.

30. “Nothing annoys me more than having the most trivial action analyzed and explained.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald.

31. “Nobody has ever been able to experience what they have thoroughly understood - or understand what they have experienced until they have achieved a detachment that renders them incapable of repeating the experience.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald.

32. “People are like almanacs, Bonnie - you never can find the information you're looking for, but the casual reading is well worth the trouble.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘Save Me The Waltz: A Novel’.

33. “It's terrible to allow conventional habits to gain a hold on a whole household; to eat, sleep and live by clock ticks.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald.

34. “Life has puffed and blown itself into a summer day, and clouds and spring billow over the heavens as if calendars were a listing of mathematical errors.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters Of F. Scott And Zelda Fitzgerald’.

35. “And only weaklings...who lack courage and the power to feel they're right when the whole world says they're wrong, ever lose.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘The Collected Writings Of Zelda Fitzgerald’.

36. “Other people's ideas of us are dependent largely on what they've hoped for.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald.

37. “The purpose of life on earth is that the soul should grow - so grow by doing what is right.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald.

Insightful Quotes By Zelda Fitzgerald

Zelda Fitzgerald\u2019s Flapper image inspired various creative and literary works.

Zelda was an old soul filled with melancholy, partly as a result of her life experiences. She made sure to never give up on her love for words and continued writing. These quotes about the flapper Zelda Fitzgerald are immensely thought-provoking and interesting. These quotes by and about Zelda Fitzgerald are certainly insightful.

38. “Something may be a sort of fulfillment of yourself, and it may not be great to other people, but it is just as essential to yourself as if it is a great masterpiece.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘Save Me The Waltz: A Novel’.

39. “I felt as if I were in an exiled and floating world, isolated from all necessities of life except the one of buying things.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘Bits Of Paradise’.

40. “Those men think I’m purely decorative, and they’re fools for not knowing better.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘Zelda Fitzgerald: Her Voice In Paradise’.

41. “In reality, there is no materialist like the artist, asking back from life the double and the wastage and the cost on what he puts out in emotional usury.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘Save Me The Waltz: A Novel’.

42. “Excuse me for being so intellectual. I know you would prefer something nice and feminine and affectionate.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald, ‘Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters Of F. Scott And Zelda Fitzgerald’.

43. “Emptying the ashtrays was very expressive of myself. I just lump everything in a great heap which I have labeled ‘the past,’ and having thus emptied this deep reservoir that was once myself, I am ready to continue.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald.

44. “We grew up founding our dreams on the infinite promise of American advertising. I still believe that one can learn to play the piano by mail and that mud will give you a perfect complexion.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald.

45. “I take a sun bath and listen to the hours, formulating, and disintegrating under the pines, and smell the resiny hardihood of the high noon hours. The world is lost in a blue haze of distances, and the immediate sleeps in a thin and finite sun.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald.

46. “Oh, the secret life of man and woman – dreaming how much better we would be than we are if we were somebody else or even ourselves, and feeling that our estate has been unexploited to its fullest.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald.

47. “I wish I had been what I thought I was; and so debonnaire; and so debonnaire.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald.

48. “I have often told you that I am that little fish who swims about under a shark and, I believe, lives indelicately on its offal.”

- Zelda Fitzgerald.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for you to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Zelda Fitzgerald quotes, then please have a look at our Zadie Smith quotes and [quotes about poetry] for more.

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Written by Georgia Stone

Bachelor of Arts specializing in French with Film Studies, Bachelor of Arts (Year Abroad) specializing in Literature, History, Language, Media, and Art

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Georgia StoneBachelor of Arts specializing in French with Film Studies, Bachelor of Arts (Year Abroad) specializing in Literature, History, Language, Media, and Art

Georgia is an experienced Content Manager with a degree in French and Film Studies from King's College London and Bachelors degree from Université Paris-Sorbonne. Her passion for exploring the world and experiencing different cultures was sparked during her childhood in Switzerland and her year abroad in Paris. In her spare time, Georgia enjoys using London's excellent travel connections to explore further afield.

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