All intellectual tendencies are corrupted when they consort with power. Clive James More Quotes by Clive James More Quotes From Clive James In the twelfth century the Basque fishermen of Biarritz used to hunt whales with deadly efficiency. When the whales sensibly moved away, the Basques chased them further and further, with the consequence that the fishermen of Biarritz discovered America before Columbus did. This is a matter for local pride but on a larger view it is not quite so stunning, since with the possible exception of the Swiss everybody discovered America before Columbus did. Clive James whales pride views A sense of humour is common sense dancing. Clive James common-sense dancing common On the correctly formed pubescent girl, a Speedo looked wonderful. When it was wet, it was an incitement to riot. Clive James incitement girl wonderful Visitors who come from the Soviet Union and tell you how marvelous it is to be able to look at public buildings without advertisements stuck all over them are just telling you that they can't decipher the cyrillic alphabet. Clive James unions able looks "Nationwide" featured an amazing collection of apprentice impersonators. From all over Britain, schoolchildren materialised via local studios to give us their imitations of the mighty. There were at least three uncannily accurate Margaret Thatchers, their eyelids fatigued with condescension and their voices swooping and whining like dive-bombers. Clive James voice giving america She [Marilyn Monroe] was good at being inarticulately abstracted for the same reason that midgets are good at being short. Clive James midget reason A traditional fixture at Wimbledon is the way the BBC TV commentary box fills up with British players eliminated in the early rounds. Clive James tennis wimbledon player It is a good rule in life to be wary of the company of people who think of themselves in the third person, no matter how well justified they might seem to be in doing so. Clive James might people thinking The streets, at least in this part of town, seemed impossibly clean in comparison to London. The public telephones were unvandalised. For a London telephone booth to look like that it would have to be guarded around the clock by the SAS. Clive James america looks world In between the Queen and the First Lady, Nancy Reagan, sat Tony Richardson, looking very calm. Later on it emerged that this was because, having not been apprised of the placement until he was about to sit down, he had died of fright. To have expired was to be fortunate. Clive James queens america world The Benson and Hedges Cup was won by McEnroe ... he was as charming as always, which means that he was as charming as a dead mouse in a loaf of bread. Clive James tennis bread mean Roscoe Tanner seems to have found a way of making his service go even faster, so that the ball is now quite invisible, like Stealth, the American supersonic bomber which nobody has ever seen. Clive James bombers tennis balls In the movies first impressions are everything. Or, to put it less drastically, in the movies there are no later impressions without a first impression, because you will have stopped watching. Sometimes a critic persuades you to give an unpromising-looking movie a chance, but the movie had better convey the impression pretty quickly that the critic might be right. Clive James first-impression might giving Jimmy Connors likes the ball to come at him in a straight line, so that he can hit it back in another straight line. When it comes to him in a curve, he uses up half of his energy straightening it up again. Clive James curves tennis energy Snooker is just chess with balls. Clive James snooker balls chess The Canadian version of Julius Caesar's memoirs? I came, I saw, I coped. Clive James julius memoir saws Humphrey Searle writes music that sounds like the theme from 'Star Wars' played backwards through a washing machine. Clive James stars writing war The entrée wasn't tender enough to be a paving stone and the gravy couldn't have been primordial soup because morphogenesis was already taking place. Clive James classic soup stones It is almost better to be an impulse shirt-buyer than an impulse shoe-buyer. I have worn shirts that made people think I was a retired Mafia hit-man or a Yugoslavian sports convener from Split, but I have worn shoes that made people think I was insane. Clive James sports men thinking His pear-shaped head, I could now see, was situated on top of a pear-shaped body, which his black gown caused to resemble a piece of fruit going to a funeral. Clive James fruit funeral black
