I cannot bear that you / Should think me faithful, when I am untrue. Vita Sackville-West More Quotes by Vita Sackville-West More Quotes From Vita Sackville-West It is no good my telling you. One never believes other people's experiencem and one is only very gradually convinced by one's own. Vita Sackville-West convinced believe people The public, as a whole, finds reassurance in longevity, and, after the necessary interlude of reaction, is disposed to recognize extreme old age as a sign of excellence. The long-liver has triumphed over at least one of man's initial handicaps: the brevity of life. Vita Sackville-West excellence men long The true solitary ... will feel that he is himself only when he is alone; when he is in company he will feel that he perjures himself, prostitutes himself to the exactions of others; he will feel that time spent in company is time lost; he will be conscious only of his impatience to get back to his true life. Vita Sackville-West true-life impatience solitude Women, like men, ought to have their years so glutted with freedom that they hate the very idea of freedom. Vita Sackville-West freedom hate men It is a sad moment when the first phlox appears. It is the amber light indicating the end of the great burst of early summer and suggesting that we must now start looking forward to autumn. Not that I have any objection to autumn as a season, full of its own beauty; but I just cannot bear to see another summer go, and I recoil from what the first hint of autumn means. Vita Sackville-West autumn summer mean Gardening is a luxury occupation: an ornament, not a necessity, of life.... Fortunate gardener, who may preoccupy himself solely with beauty in these difficult and ugly days! He is one of the few people left in this distressful world to carry on the tradition of elegance and charm. A useless member of society, considered in terms of economics, he must not be denied his rightful place. He deserves to share it, however humbly, with the painter and poet. Vita Sackville-West luxury beauty people Summer makes a silence after spring. Vita Sackville-West june summer spring I like owls. I admire their intransigent spirit. I have respected them deeply ever since I met a baby owl in a wood, when it fell over dead, apparently from sheer temper, because I dared to approach it. It defied me first, and then died. I have never forgotten the horror and shame I experienced when that soft fluffy thing (towards which I had nothing but the most humanitarian motives) fell dead from rage at my feet. Vita Sackville-West feet owl baby There are no signposts in the sea. Vita Sackville-West signposts choices sea To hope for Paradise is to live in Paradise, a very different thing from actually getting there. Vita Sackville-West paradise different hope Violence, passion, indignation, loyalty, integrity, incorruptibility, shameless egoism, generosity, excitability, energy, a hundred horse-power drive - none of it very subtle: Ethel [Smyth] didn't deal in pastel shades, she went for the stronger colors, the blood-red, anything deep and pumping out of the arteries of the heart. Vita Sackville-West horse loyalty integrity There's no beginning to the farmer's year, / Only recurrent patterns on a scroll / Unwinding... Vita Sackville-West farming patterns years Things were not tragic for us then, because although we cared passionately we didn't care deeply. Vita Sackville-West generosity care compassion Of course I should love to throw a toothbrush into a bag, and just go, quite vaguely, without any plans or even a real destination. It is the Wanderlust. Vita Sackville-West bags real should I worshipped dead men for their strength, Forgetting I was strong. Vita Sackville-West warrior strength strong all the small squalors of the body, known only to oneself, insignificant in youth, easily dismissed, in old age became dominant and entered into fulfilment of the tyranny they had always threatened. Vita Sackville-West youth body age The writer catches the changes of his mind on the hop. Growth is exciting; growth is dynamic and alarming. Growth of the soul, growth of the mind. Vita Sackville-West growth soul mind For a young man to start his career with a love affair with an older woman was quite de rigueur ... Of course, it must not go on for too long. An apprenticeship was a very different thing from a career. Vita Sackville-West careers men long Prose is a poor thing, a poor inadequate thing, compared with poetry which says so much more in shorter time. Vita Sackville-West inadequate prose poor Travel is the most private of pleasures. There is no greater bore than the travel bore. We do not in the least want to hear what he has seen in Hong-Kong. Vita Sackville-West hong-kong want travel
