In our family, as far as we are concerned, we were born and what happened before that is myth. V. S. Pritchett More Quotes by V. S. Pritchett More Quotes From V. S. Pritchett Short stories can be rather stark and bare unless you put in the right details. Details make stories human, and the more human a story can be, the better. V. S. Pritchett story-writers details writing Writing enlarges the landscape of the mind. V. S. Pritchett landscape mind writing I am under the spell of language, which has ruled me since I was 10. V. S. Pritchett spells language The present has its élan because it is always on the edge of the unknown and one misunderstands the past unless one remembers that this unknown was once part of its nature. V. S. Pritchett edges remember past I felt the beginning of a passion, hopeless in the long run, but very nourishing, for identifying myself with people who were not my own, and whose lives were governed by ideas alien to mine. V. S. Pritchett passion running ideas It's all in the art. You get no credit for living. V. S. Pritchett credit art The State, that cawing rookery of committees and subcommittees. V. S. Pritchett committees states The difference between farce and humour in literature is, I suppose, that farce strums louder and louder on one string, while humour varies its note, changes its key, grows and spreads and deepens until it may indeed reach tragic depths. V. S. Pritchett humor keys funny Among the masked dandies of Edwardian comedy, Max Beerbohm is the most happily armored by a deep and almost innocent love of himself as a work of art. V. S. Pritchett max comedy art A touch of science, even bogus science, gives an edge to the superstitious tale. V. S. Pritchett tales storytelling giving How extraordinary it is that one feels most guilt about the sins one is unable to commit. V. S. Pritchett sin guilt feels Sooner or later, the great men turn out to be all alike. They never stop working. They never lose a minute. It is very depressing. V. S. Pritchett depressing minutes men The makers of the short story have rarely been good novelists. V. S. Pritchett novelists stories writing [London] is sentimental and tolerant. The attitude to foreigners is like the attitude to dogs: Dogs are neither human nor British, but so long as you keep them under control, give them their exercise, feed them, pat them, you will find their wild emotions are amusing, and their characters interesting. V. S. Pritchett dog attitude character The businessman who is a novelist is able to drop in on literature and feel no suicidal loss of esteem if the lady is not at home, and he can spend his life preparing without fuss for the awful interview. V. S. Pritchett suicidal home writing The profoundly humorous writers are humorous because they are responsive to the hopeless, uncouth, concatenations of life. V. S. Pritchett uncouth hopeless humorous Detective stories are the art-for-art's sake of yawning Philistinism. V. S. Pritchett yawning stories art We are used to the actions of human beings, not to their stillness. V. S. Pritchett tranquility used action Criticism changes with the fashion of the time. A story is always a story. V. S. Pritchett fashion criticism stories It is exciting and emancipating to believe we are one of nature's latest experiments, but what if the experiment is unsuccessful? V. S. Pritchett what-if unsuccessful believe
