Ethan Frome Quotes

Even then he was the most striking figure in Starkfield, though he was but the ruin of a man. (Prologue.36)

"He's looked that way ever since he had his smash-up; and that's twenty-four years ago come next February […]" (Prologue.3)

Yet I had come in the degenerate day of trolley, bicycle and rural delivery, when communication was easy between the scattered mountain villages, and the bigger towns in the valleys, such as Bettsb...

It pleased Ethan to have surprised a pair of lovers on the spot where he and Mattie had stood with such a thirst for each other in their hearts; but he felt a pang at the thought that these two nee...

"There are things in that book that I didn't know the first word about," he said. (Prologue.35)

His wife had never shown any jealousy of Mattie, but of late she had grumbled increasingly over the house-work and found oblique ways of attracting attention to the girl's inefficiency. (1.13)

"You'd have found me right off if you hadn't gone back to have that last reel with Denis," he brought out awkwardly. (2.38)

"Most of the smart ones get away." But if that were the case, how could any combination of obstacles have hindered the flight of a man like Ethan Frome? (Prologue. 18)