Welcome to our collection of sentimentality quotes! Sentimentality, often characterized by a profound emotional connection to memories, objects, or experiences, is a sentiment deeply embedded within the human experience. It’s the tug at our heartstrings when we stumble upon an old photograph, the flood of nostalgia triggered by a familiar scent, or the warmth that envelops us when we recall cherished moments with loved ones. In literature, art, and everyday life, sentimentality plays a significant role, reminding us of the beauty and fragility of our shared humanity.
Within these pages, you’ll find a curated selection of quotes that capture the essence of sentimentality in its various forms. From renowned authors and poets to philosophers and thinkers, these quotes encapsulate the complex emotions that arise when we reflect on the past, celebrate the present, and contemplate the future. Whether you’re seeking inspiration for personal reflection, artistic endeavors, or simply a moment of resonance, we invite you to explore these words that speak to the heart. Below, you’ll discover a treasure trove of sentiments waiting to be savored, shared, and perhaps even immortalized through your own creative expressions.
With adoption, there is a whole range of experiences, and a lot of it goes under the radar. There is too much icky stuff about it – all this stuff about people reunited, a sickly sentimentality about blood lines. For me, at least, life is much more ambiguous than that. Lesley Sharp
I know very well that to admit to loving Bright Eyes is to admit to having an overgrown brain region devoted to self-pity, sentimentality, regret, and a handful of other not very appealing emotional states. Ben Dolnick
I like emotions, but I really don’t like sentimentality, and I don’t like when things break their spell. Tony Gilroy
It is only in his music, which Americans are able to admire because a protective sentimentality limits their understanding of it, that the Negro in America has been able to tell his story. James Baldwin
And if I have a strong point, it’s that I like to believe it’s not cheap or schmaltzy sentimentality. Toots Thielemans
I haven’t changed my mind about modernism from the first day I ever did it… It means integrity; it means honesty; it means the absence of sentimentality and the absence of nostalgia; it means simplicity; it means clarity. That’s what modernism means to me. Paul Rand
British culture is very cynical sometimes of overt displays of sentimentality, and I think that becomes almost a suspicion of emotion, or a suspicion of someone making a grand statement. It is always easier to be ironic, or ‘meta’, or coolly postmodern. But I think there is such a thing as authentic sentimentality. Matt Haig
Economics is not a science; it is a quasi-religion: part superstition, part mystique, part sentimentality. Bankers dream like other men, the only difference being that when their dreams turn to nightmares, we all lose sleep. There can be no trusting the muttering of any prelate when it comes to money. Howard Jacobson
In deep sadness there is no place for sentimentality. William S. Burroughs
Sentimentality is a false sense of self. Pete Hamill
I think cynicism lasts. Sentimentality ages, dates quickly. Alexander Payne
I think sometimes good sentimentality is fun when it’s balanced. Cameron Crowe
A certain check to the sentimentality and commercialism of Christmas is the cluster of bereavements that often arrives towards the end of the year. Richard Coles
In dread fear of sentimentality, another thing true is not said-that for its staff the paper is a source of pride and, I do believe, an object of affection and-yes, love. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger
There’s a classic element that all good Disney movies have. It really comes down to the storytelling, I think. It manages to push all of these buttons inside of us; there’s a sentimentality. Mandy Moore
When I talked to my medical friends about the strange silence on this subject in American medical magazines and textbooks, I gained the impression that here was a subject tainted with Socialism or with feminine sentimentality for the poor. Alice Hamilton
Sentimentality is the only sentiment that rubs you the wrong way. W. Somerset Maugham
There is nothing I hate more than sentimentality. Max Beckmann
One of the things that happens when you write characters – and maybe this is my own sentimentality – is that I always find I have an instinct to protect them. Greta Gerwig
Sentimentality is the emotional promiscuity of those who have no sentiment. Norman Mailer
I always make a distinction between nostalgia and sentimentality. Nostalgia is genuine – you mourn things that actually happened. Pete Hamill
I’m mostly known for writing electro and aggressive bangery house music. But before I started making electro, and while I was making electro, this sort of gushy, make-the-ravers-cry sort of sentimentality is so important to me. Porter Robinson
The sentimentality of baseball is very deeply rooted in the American baseball fan. It is the one sport that is transmitted from fathers to sons. Michael Lewis
Sentimentality is intolerable because it is false feeling. Doris Lessing
Earnestness can ferment into sentimentality. Marc Webb
In the art world, sentimentality and intimacy and the emotive side of lives are considered very uncool. There’s nervousness around intimacy. Genesis P-Orridge
The greatest compliment I get about my writing is when people say, ‘How did you know so much about me?’ And of course, the answer is very simple: ‘I just observed myself without sentimentality.’ Alain de Botton
In film, it’s very important to not allow yourself to get sentimental, which, being British, I try to avoid. People sometimes regard sentimentality as emotion. It is not. Sentimentality is unearned emotion. Ridley Scott
India is desperately romantic, utterly unashamed of its sentimentality, its generosity, its fierce pride and massive heart. Simon Beaufoy
The poet must decide not to impose his feelings in order to write without sentimentality. John Barton
My Chinese side comes out in my dancing. There’s a certain in-the-moment sentimentality, an appreciation for the smallest details. Yuan Yuan Tan
Most shows find themselves descending into sentimentality or earnestness at some point but, with ‘Community,’ the joke is always on. Miranda Raison
I’m not concerned that my stuff isn’t extreme. I don’t want to be heavy. I can’t think of another attitude to have toward an audience than a hopeful and a positive one. And if that includes such unfashionable things as sentimentality, well, I can afford it. Robert Palmer
Only a struggle twists sentimentality and lust together into love. E. M. Forster
The comics I read as a kid were much more influenced by TV and movies. Encountering superheroes as an adult without that kind of childhood sentimentality, it just doesn’t allow you, or in my case at least, it wouldn’t let me take the characters seriously. Garth Ennis
You can’t forgive without loving. And I don’t mean sentimentality. I don’t mean mush. I mean having enough courage to stand up and say, ‘I forgive. I’m finished with it.’ Maya Angelou
I didn’t want to be on the losing side. I was fed up with Jewish weakness, timidity and fear. I didn’t want any more Jewish sentimentality and Jewish suffering. I was sickened by our sad songs. Lionel Blue
Critics have a problem with sentimentality. Readers do not. I write for readers. Mitch Albom
I believe that the reason why I love painting so much is that it forces one to be objective. There is nothing I hate more than sentimentality. Max Beckmann
Sentimentality is a form of fatigue. Leonora Carrington
I have come to this conclusion: if ‘sentimentality’ is lazy emotion, then the term itself is lazy criticism. Andrew Sean Greer
I always say that I don’t want to be sentimental, that the photographs shouldn’t be sentimental, and yet, I am conscious of my sentimentality. Robert Frank
I like the sentimentality of ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ and all those movies, and there actually is a tradition of Christmas comedies, too. Matthew Broderick
Successful prime-time television of any genre produces some kind of emotional reaction in the viewers. There are a lot of different emotions to tap into. The emotion of the reward of discovery, the feeling of righteous anger, the feelings of pathos and sadness, or sentimentality of being moved by something. Chris Hayes
I think I avoid stepping into sentimentality by trying to be as truthful as possible with performances. Lasse Hallstrom
Love scenes are extremely difficult. You’re always within a millimeter of sentimentality and ‘yuck.’ Hugh Grant
The Conservatives have never been a party burdened by needless sentimentality; some MPs only keep their children’s photos in their wallet to make sure that at the end of term they don’t bring the wrong one home. Frankie Boyle
From Romare Bearden I learned that the fullness and richness of everyday life can be rendered without compromise or sentimentality. August Wilson
We all have different thresholds for sentimentality. For me, it’s a hard won happy ending. Paul Bettany
Sentimentality – that’s what we call the sentiment we don’t share. Graham Greene
The sentimentality that people see and hear in my commentary and sometimes ridicule, parody or just don’t like – that’s okay. We’re all wired differently. I think about that a lot. I can’t explain it. That’s just what runs through my blood. It’s just the way I look at the world. Jim Nantz
The Rolling Stones have been the best of all possible worlds: they have the lack of pretension and sentimentality associated with the blues, the rawness and toughness of hard rock, and the depth which always makes you feel that they are in the midst of saying something. They have never impressed me as being kitsch. Jon Landau
From time to time there is a move to do a little less in the way of period dramas, but people rebel. Audiences say we want them. There is a big hunger for them. I don’t think it’s sentimentality or nostalgia, it’s often that they are simply the best stories. Andrew Davies
I distinguish sentiment from sentimentality. Sentimentality makes your skin crawl. It’s like too much sugar. But, sentiment is a great feeling. Josh Radnor
Sentimentality about nature denatures everything it touches. Jane Jacobs
Sentimentality works by our seeing only what we want to see. Howard Jacobson
Capitalism doesn’t care about sentimentality. W. Kamau Bell