The Age of Innocence Dreams, Hopes, and Plans Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #1

Dreams, Hopes, and Plans

For a long moment she was silent; and in that moment Archer imagined her, stealing up behind him to throw her light arms about his neck. While he waited, soul and body throbbing with the miracle to come, his eyes mechanically received the image of a heavily-coated man with his fur collar turned up who was advancing along the path to the house. The man was Julius Beaufort. (15.43)

Archer has a habit of fantasizing about romantic moments, only to have those fantasies destroyed by some painful reality, like Julius Beaufort.

Quote #2

He took it up, and found himself plunged in an atmosphere unlike any he had ever breathed in books; so warm, so rich, and yet so ineffably tender, that it gave a new and haunting beauty to the most elementary of human passions. (15.58)

Archer reads a lot of books, which tend to feed his romantic imagination. Also, we're guessing, it's not good for his eyes. Lighting in the 1870s was pretty shabby.

Quote #3

"Medora is incorrigibly romantic. It has made up to her for so many things!" (18.17)

Characters use the word "romantic" as an insult in the novel. It has the connotation of being foolishly optimistic and having an overactive and unconventional imagination.