The Hours

by

Michael Cunningham

Leonard Character Analysis

Leonard is the husband of Virginia Woolf. He is also a writer and a publisher, and he is very particular about when and how he works. Although he seems to care for Virginia, he can be very controlling, often in subtle ways, like when he forces her to stay in the suburb of Richmond instead of living in London, all supposedly for her health. The novel draws a connection between Leonard and the character Richard (Mrs. Dalloway’s husband) in Virginia’s novel, Mrs. Dalloway—though not cruel, Richard nevertheless limits his wife Clarissa in many ways.

Leonard Quotes in The Hours

The The Hours quotes below are all either spoken by Leonard or refer to Leonard. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Passage of Time Theme Icon
).
Prologue Quotes

She hurries from the house, wearing a coat too heavy for the weather. It is 1941. Another war has begun. She has left a note for Leonard, and another for Vanessa.

Related Characters: Virginia Woolf, Leonard, Vanessa
Page Number: 3
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2: Mrs. Woolf Quotes

Writing in that state is the most profound satisfaction she knows, but her access to it comes and goes without warning. She may pick up her pen and follow it with her hand as it moves across the paper; she may pick up her pen and find that she’s merely herself, a woman in a housecoat holding a pen, afraid and uncertain, only mildly competent, with no idea about where to begin or what to write.

Related Characters: Virginia Woolf, Leonard
Page Number: 35
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5: Mrs. Woolf Quotes

She decides, with misgivings, that she is finished for today. Always, there are these doubts. Should she try another hour? Is she being judicious, or slothful? Judicious, she tells herself, and almost believes it. She has her two hundred and fifty words, more or less. Let it be enough. Have faith that you will be here, recognizable to yourself, again tomorrow.

Related Characters: Laura Brown, Virginia Woolf, Leonard
Page Number: 72
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7: Mrs. Woolf Quotes

She will give Clarissa Dalloway great skill with servants, a manner that is intricately kind and commanding. Her servants will love her. They will do more than she asks.

Related Characters: Virginia Woolf, Leonard, Nelly
Page Number: 87
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13: Mrs. Woolf Quotes

Nelly turns away and, although it is not at all their custom, Virginia leans forward and kisses Vanessa on the mouth. It is an innocent kiss, innocent enough, but just now, in this kitchen, behind Nelly’s back, it feels like the most delicious and forbidden of pleasures. Vanessa returns the kiss.

Related Characters: Laura Brown, Virginia Woolf, Leonard, Vanessa, Kitty, Nelly
Page Number: 154
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15: Mrs. Woolf Quotes

She is better, she is safer, if she rests in Richmond; if she does not speak too much, write too much, feel too much; if she does not travel impetuously to London and walk through its streets; and yet she is dying this way, she is gently dying on a bed of roses.

Related Characters: Virginia Woolf, Leonard, Vanessa
Related Symbols: Flowers
Page Number: 154
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18: Mrs. Dalloway Quotes

Richard smiles. He shakes his head. He says, “I don’t think two people could have been happier than we’ve been.”

He inches forward, slides gently off the sill, and falls.

Related Characters: Richard/Richie (speaker), Clarissa Vaughan, Virginia Woolf, Leonard
Page Number: 200
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Hours PDF

Leonard Quotes in The Hours

The The Hours quotes below are all either spoken by Leonard or refer to Leonard. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Passage of Time Theme Icon
).
Prologue Quotes

She hurries from the house, wearing a coat too heavy for the weather. It is 1941. Another war has begun. She has left a note for Leonard, and another for Vanessa.

Related Characters: Virginia Woolf, Leonard, Vanessa
Page Number: 3
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2: Mrs. Woolf Quotes

Writing in that state is the most profound satisfaction she knows, but her access to it comes and goes without warning. She may pick up her pen and follow it with her hand as it moves across the paper; she may pick up her pen and find that she’s merely herself, a woman in a housecoat holding a pen, afraid and uncertain, only mildly competent, with no idea about where to begin or what to write.

Related Characters: Virginia Woolf, Leonard
Page Number: 35
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5: Mrs. Woolf Quotes

She decides, with misgivings, that she is finished for today. Always, there are these doubts. Should she try another hour? Is she being judicious, or slothful? Judicious, she tells herself, and almost believes it. She has her two hundred and fifty words, more or less. Let it be enough. Have faith that you will be here, recognizable to yourself, again tomorrow.

Related Characters: Laura Brown, Virginia Woolf, Leonard
Page Number: 72
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7: Mrs. Woolf Quotes

She will give Clarissa Dalloway great skill with servants, a manner that is intricately kind and commanding. Her servants will love her. They will do more than she asks.

Related Characters: Virginia Woolf, Leonard, Nelly
Page Number: 87
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13: Mrs. Woolf Quotes

Nelly turns away and, although it is not at all their custom, Virginia leans forward and kisses Vanessa on the mouth. It is an innocent kiss, innocent enough, but just now, in this kitchen, behind Nelly’s back, it feels like the most delicious and forbidden of pleasures. Vanessa returns the kiss.

Related Characters: Laura Brown, Virginia Woolf, Leonard, Vanessa, Kitty, Nelly
Page Number: 154
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15: Mrs. Woolf Quotes

She is better, she is safer, if she rests in Richmond; if she does not speak too much, write too much, feel too much; if she does not travel impetuously to London and walk through its streets; and yet she is dying this way, she is gently dying on a bed of roses.

Related Characters: Virginia Woolf, Leonard, Vanessa
Related Symbols: Flowers
Page Number: 154
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18: Mrs. Dalloway Quotes

Richard smiles. He shakes his head. He says, “I don’t think two people could have been happier than we’ve been.”

He inches forward, slides gently off the sill, and falls.

Related Characters: Richard/Richie (speaker), Clarissa Vaughan, Virginia Woolf, Leonard
Page Number: 200
Explanation and Analysis: