F. Scott Fitzgerald

American writer (1896–1940)

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Lived 1896–1940, aged 44United States

United States WritersWriter / Author

Wikipedia
85 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1896–1940
Aged 44
Known for
The Great Gatsby
2013

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

He named an era he couldn't survive. Fitzgerald wrote the glitter of the Jazz Age while living its wreckage — fortune at twenty-three, obscurity by forty, dead broke in Hollywood at forty-four.

Biography

About

Born in Saint Paul in 1896, Fitzgerald dropped out of Princeton to join the Army in 1917, where he met Zelda Sayre, a Montgomery debutante who refused him until This Side of Paradise became a sensation in 1920. The Beautiful and Damned followed in 1922, and he spent the decade in Europe among the Lost Generation, grinding out magazine stories to fund the lifestyle. The Great Gatsby arrived in 1925 to faint praise and fewer than 23,000 sales. Zelda's schizophrenia and institutionalization shadowed Tender Is the Night in 1934; the Depression killed his market, and he limped to Hollywood for scre…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald

said1926

Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.

— "The Rich Boy" (1926), paragraph 3.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

said1920

The idea that to make a man work you've got to hold gold in front of his eyes is a growth, not an axiom. We’ve done that for so long that we've forgotten there’s any other way.

— "Amory Blaine" in This Side of Paradise (1920) Bk. 2, Ch. 5

F. Scott Fitzgerald

said1920

Faint winds, and far away a fading laughter... And the rain and over the fields a voice calling...

— This Side of Paradise (1920)

F. Scott Fitzgerald

said1920

I simply state that I'm a product of a versatile mind in a restless generation — with every reason to throw my mind and pen in with the radicals.

— This Side of Paradise (1920)

F. Scott Fitzgerald

said1920

He doesn't believe that public swimming-pools and a kind word in time will right the wrongs of the world; moreover, he takes a drink whenever he feels like it.

— This Side of Paradise (1920)

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

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