He’s arrogant, powerful, and hypocritical.
Tom Buchanan looms large in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, embodying the entitlement and moral failings of the established ‘old money’ elite.
As Daisy’s imposing husband and Gatsby’s antagonist, Tom wields his physical strength and inherited wealth with brutish confidence. His actions reveal a deep-seated racism, casual cruelty, and profound carelessness that leave destruction in his wake.
These 19 Tom Buchanan quotes with page numbers (Scribner 2020 ed.) reveal his character’s disturbing facets and pivotal role in the novel’s tragic unfolding.
Privilege and Power: The Arrogance of Old Money
Tom’s identity is inseparable from his inherited wealth and the social power it grants. He moves through the world with an assumption of dominance, quick to assert his perceived superiority based on class and race.
“Her husband, among various physical accomplishments, had been one of the most powerful ends that ever played football at New Haven—a national figure in a way, one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterward savors of anti-climax.”
(Speaker: Nick Carraway about Tom Buchanan, Chapter 1, Page 6)
Nick introduces Tom through his past athletic glory. This “acute limited excellence” achieved early in life seemingly casts a long shadow, suggesting his adult life, despite immense wealth, feels like an “anti-climax” that fuels his aggressive need to assert dominance.
“His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed. There was a touch of paternal contempt in it, even toward people he liked – and there were men at New Haven who had hated his guts.”
(Speaker: Nick Carraway describing Tom Buchanan, Chapter 1, Page 7)
Tom’s voice—”gruff,” “husky,” with “paternal contempt”—broadcasts his character. His speech exudes dominance and a dismissive attitude, revealing an ingrained arrogance that alienates even those he considers peers.
“Civilization’s going to pieces,” broke out Tom violently. “I’ve gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things. Have you read ‘The Rise of the Colored Empires’ by this man Goddard?”
(Speaker: Tom Buchanan, Chapter 1, Page 13)
Tom’s “violent” declaration signals his profound anxieties about societal shifts. He embraces racist ideology to rationalize and defend the existing power structures that ensure his and his class’s continued supremacy.
“Well, it’s a fine book, and everybody ought to read it. The idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be — will be utterly submerged. It’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proved.”
(Speaker: Tom Buchanan, Chapter 1, Page 13)
Tom aggressively promotes his racist reading, attempting to validate his prejudices with a veneer of “scientific stuff.” This insistence exposes an intellectual insecurity beneath his bluster, as he leans on flawed ideologies to assert racial and class superiority.
“This idea is that we’re Nordics. I am, and you are, and you are, and ——” After an infinitesimal hesitation he included Daisy with a slight nod, and she winked at me again. “— And we’ve produced all the things that go to make civilization — oh,science and art, and all that. Do you see?”
(Speaker: Tom Buchanan, Chapter 1, Page 14)
Tom explicitly categorizes his social circle by race (“Nordics”), claiming this group is solely responsible for “all the things that go to make civilization.” His slight hesitation before including Daisy subtly reveals the arbitrary and self-serving nature of his proclaimed elite status.
“I’ve heard of making a garage out of a stable,” Tom was saying to Gatsby, “but I’m the first man who ever made a stable out of a garage.”
(Speaker: Tom Buchanan to Jay Gatsby, Chapter 7, Page 119)
This nonsensical boast reveals Tom’s perceived inherent superiority over Gatsby. He implies his old money status grants him a transformative power that Gatsby, despite his wealth, cannot match—a subtle class-based taunt.
“I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. Well, if that’s the idea you can count me out….Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions, and next they’ll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white.”
(Speaker: Tom Buchanan about Jay Gatsby, Chapter 7, Page 130)
Tom’s fury explicitly connects Gatsby’s challenge to a catastrophic breakdown of social order. He portrays Gatsby (“Mr. Nobody from Nowhere”) as an agent of chaos threatening class stability, family values, and racial purity. His words expose the deep anxieties of the threatened elite.
Tom’s relationships, particularly with Daisy and his mistress Myrtle, expose a glaring hypocrisy. He demands loyalty while indulging in open affairs, and exerts physical and social control over those he views as his inferiors.
Hypocrisy and Control: Tom’s Relationships
Tom navigates his marriage and affairs with a cruel double standard. He expects unwavering fidelity from Daisy while openly pursuing Myrtle, readily using his power, and at times violence, to maintain dominion over both women.
“That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great, big, hulking physical specimen of a——”
(Speaker: Daisy Buchanan about Tom Buchanan, Chapter 1, Page 12)
Daisy, even if delivered with some affectation after Tom bruises her finger, immediately establishes Tom’s physical “brute” force and capacity to cause harm. This early detail foreshadows Tom’s more overt violence.
“He’s so dumb he doesn’t know he’s alive.”
(Speaker: Tom Buchanan about George Wilson, Chapter 2, Page 21)
Tom’s contemptuous dismissal of George Wilson reveals his profound lack of empathy. He judges George through a crude lens of class and perceived intellect, entirely dismissive of the man whose wife he is actively deceiving.
“I think he’d tanked up a good deal at luncheon and his determination to have my company bordered on violence. The supercilious assumption was that on Sunday afternoon I had nothing better to do.”
(Speaker: Nick Carraway about Tom Buchanan forcing him to meet Myrtle, Chapter 2, Page 24)
Nick senses Tom’s imposing will when Tom insists that he meet Myrtle. Tom’s “determination bordered on violence,” showing his readiness to use his physical presence and disregard for others’ desires to enforce his agenda.
“Some time toward midnight Tom Buchanan and Mrs. Wilson stood face to face discussing, in impassioned voices, whether Mrs. Wilson had any right to mention Daisy’s name. ‘Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!’ shouted Mrs. Wilson. ‘I’ll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai – ‘ Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand.”
(Dialogue/Narration: Myrtle Wilson and Tom Buchanan, Nick narrating, Chapter 2, Page 37)
When Myrtle defiantly chants Daisy’s name, she transgresses the unspoken social boundaries that Tom dictates for their affair. Tom’s swift, brutal response (“broke her nose”) exposes the violent undercurrent of his control and his ruthless enforcement of social hierarchy. Explore Myrtle Wilson’s tragic fight for a different life.
“And what’s more, I love Daisy too. Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time.”
(Speaker: Tom Buchanan, Chapter 7, Page 131)
Even Tom’s defense of his marriage to Daisy is hypocritical. He casually dismisses his infidelities (“go off on a spree”) while professing a deep, unwavering love, showcasing a self-serving morality that permits him both wife and mistress without apparent conflict.
“She is not leaving me, certainly not for a common swindler.”
(Speaker: Tom Buchanan about Daisy and Jay Gatsby, Chapter 7, Page 133)
Tom’s possessiveness over Daisy surfaces with vicious clarity. He demeans Gatsby as a “common swindler,” leveraging class prejudice to dismiss Gatsby’s legitimacy and reaffirm his perceived marital rights based on social standing.
“You’re crazy!” he exploded. “I can’t speak about what happened five years ago, because I didn’t know Daisy then — and I’ll be damned if I see how you got within a mile of her unless you brought the groceries to the back door. But all the rest of that’s a…lie. Daisy loved me when she married me and she loves me now.”
(Speaker: Tom Buchanan to Jay Gatsby, Chapter 7, Page 131)
Facing Gatsby’s direct challenge, Tom erupts. He uses crude class-based insults (“brought the groceries”) to discredit Gatsby’s entire history with Daisy, attempting to rewrite Daisy’s affections to fit his narrative of unwavering marital love.
Tom’s actions, particularly surrounding the novel’s tragic climax and his final, unrepentant encounter with Nick, reveal a profound carelessness born of his immense privilege.
Carelessness and Consequence: The Final Reckoning
Protected by his wealth and entrenched social status, Tom moves through the world with a destructive indifference to the lives he impacts, retreating from the tragedies he helps create without facing true accountability.
“I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn’t far wrong.”
(Speaker: Tom Buchanan about Jay Gatsby, Chapter 7, Page 133)
Even amidst the Plaza Hotel’s emotional wreckage, Tom smugly asserts the correctness of his initial class-based judgment of Gatsby. This self-satisfaction reveals his unshakable prejudice and inability to see beyond surface markers of social standing.
“I told him the truth,” he said. “He came to the door while we were getting ready to leave… He was crazy enough to kill me if I hadn’t told him who owned the car… He ran overMyrtle like you’d run over a dog and never even stopped his car.”
(Speaker: Tom Buchanan to Nick Carraway, Chapter 9, Page 178)
Tom recounts, almost with a sense of justification, how he directed the grief-stricken George Wilson towards Gatsby. He frames his actions as self-defense, callously misrepresenting the circumstances of Myrtle’s death and showing no remorse for his pivotal role in the tragedy.
“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”
(Speaker: Nick Carraway as narrator about Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Chapter 9, Page 179)
Nick’s final, powerful summation encapsulates Tom and Daisy’s moral failure. Their money insulates them, permitting a “vast carelessness” that allows them to destroy lives (“smashed up things and creatures”) and then withdraw, leaving others to deal with the aftermath.
“You think I’m pretty dumb, don’t you?”
(Speaker: Tom Buchanan to Nick Carraway, Chapter 7, Page 121)
During the tense Plaza confrontation, Tom’s defensive query reveals a surprising flicker of insecurity. It hints that beneath his aggressive self-assurance lies an awareness that his reliance on brute force and inherited status might not equate to true intelligence or understanding.
“I’ve made a small investigation of this fellow,” he continued.“I could have gone deeper if I’d known ——”
(Speaker: Tom Buchanan about Jay Gatsby, Chapter 7, Page 121)
Tom admits to his scheme to undermine Gatsby. This “small investigation” shows his need to maintain control and expose any perceived weakness in Gatsby’s social armor, viewing him as a rival to be discredited.
Conclusion: The Brutal Weight of Privilege
Tom Buchanan remains one of American literature’s most formidable antagonists, a chilling personification of the arrogance, hypocrisy, and destructive power of entrenched old money in the Jazz Age.
Through his violent outbursts, racist pronouncements, and careless manipulations that precipitate tragedy, Fitzgerald crafts a damning indictment of a privileged class. These disturbing quotes capture Tom’s brutish confidence, unshakeable prejudices, and ultimate retreat into an unrepentant, careless existence.
Understand the world Tom Buchanan shapes and ultimately breaks: explore our complete collection of 79 defining quotes from The Great Gatsby.
A Note on Page Numbers & Edition:
Like Tom’s grip on his social standing, page numbers for The Great Gatsby can differ across editions! We referenced these page numbers from the authoritative The Great Gatsby: The Only Authorized Edition (Scribner, November 17, 2020), ISBN-13: 978-1982149482. Always consult your specific copy to ensure accuracy.
Jeremy Mortis, founder of Ageless Investing, applies a rigorous analytical approach (the AAM framework) to distill timeless wisdom and contextualized quotes from classic literature, saving you time while deepening understanding. Learn more about Jeremy’s unique background and methodology on his author bio page.