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Gertrude Stein

American author (1874-1946) · United States · Writers · Died at 72

Gertrude Stein is read about 1,661 times a day, in 62 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 15 October 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 390 days, one point a day.

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She wrote "a rose is a rose is a rose" and hosted the room where Hemingway, Picasso, and Fitzgerald sharpened their edges. Then a memoir written as her lover made her famous to people who'd never read her.

WritersWriter / AuthorLiteraturePoetryStand UpTheatreUnited StatesAmericas

A life in dates

1946Died27 July 19461931“Before the flowers of friendship faded friendship faded.”In their wordsThis phrase was used as the title of a work published in 1931, but was originally used in Ch. LXII of A Novel of Thank You, written in

1927“No sense in no sense innocence of what of not and what of delight.”In their words28 May 1927"Are There Arithmetics" (28 May 1927) [written in 1923]

1925“One does not get better but different and older and that is always a pleasure.”In their words22 May 1925Letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald (22 May 1925), published in Fitzgerald's The Crack-Up (1945)

1923“Let me recite what history teaches. History teaches.”In their wordsIf I Told Him: A Completed Portrait of Picasso (1923). First published in Vanity Fair.

1903“The whole duty of man consists in being reasonable and just...”In their wordsManuscript (1903), published in Q.E.D. Book 1, from Q.E.D., and Other Early Writings (1971)

1874Born3 February 1874

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Gertrude Stein 1934 (facecrop)Gertrude Stein 1934 (facecrop)Gertrude Stein age 3Gertrude Stein age 3Félix Valloton, Portrait of Gertrude Stein 1907Félix Valloton, Portrait of Gertrude Stein 1907Félix Valloton, Portrait of Gertrude Stein, 1907Félix Valloton, Portrait of Gertrude Stein, 1907Alfred Clark’s personal copy, later owned and inscribed by Alice B. Toklas. Presumably the dedication of Shakespeare’s verses to Constance Lloyd’s motherAlfred Clark’s personal copy, later owned and inscribed by Alice B. Toklas. Presumably the dedication of Shakespeare’s verses to Constance Lloyd’s motherAlfred Clark’s personal copy, later owned and inscribed by Alice B. ToklasAlfred Clark’s personal copy, later owned and inscribed by Alice B. ToklasAlfred Clark’s personal copy, later owned inscribed by Alice B. ToklasAlfred Clark’s personal copy, later owned inscribed by Alice B. ToklasAlice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein, 1922, Man RayAlice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein, 1922, Man Ray

In their own words 10

,
Gertrude Stein
,
10 statements, newest first

  1. Before the flowers of friendship faded friendship faded.

    1931, This phrase was used as the title of a work published in 1931, but was originally used in Ch. LXII of A Novel of Thank You, written in, Own words

  2. No sense in no sense innocence of what of not and what of delight.

    May 28, 1927, "Are There Arithmetics" (28 May 1927) [written in 1923], Own words

  3. One does not get better but different and older and that is always a pleasure.

    May 22, 1925, Letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald (22 May 1925), published in Fitzgerald's The Crack-Up (1945), Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

In their orbit 2

About this person

Gertrude Stein left Oakland for Paris in 1903 and turned her salon into modernism's living room - Picasso, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Matisse all passed through. She published experimental work nobody bought: Q.E.D., Three Lives, The Making of Americans, Tender Buttons. In 1933 she wrote The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas in her partner's voice, and the book became a bestseller that pulled her out of cult obscurity into mainstream attention. During World War II, as a Jew in Nazi-occupied France, she may have survived only through the protection of Vichy official Bernard Faÿ, a Nazi collaborator; after the war she praised Vichy leader Marshal Pétain. She died in 1946, leaving behind the line "there is no there there" - usually assumed to mean Oakland.

Country
United States
Category
Writers
Type
Writer / Author
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1874 to 1946 · aged 72

Writers from the United States 6

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