Ch. XXXVIII
“

She gave an envious thought to the happier lot of men, who are always free to plunge into the healing waters of action.

— Henry James

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "She gave an envious thought to the happier lot of men, who are always free to plunge into the healing waters of action." in the context of "Ch. XXXVIII" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Henry James" (Quotes, The Portrait of a Lady (1881)) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Henry James

About Henry James

Henry James, OM (15 April 1843 – 28 February 1916) was an American author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the son of Henry James Sr. and the brother of renowned philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James.