It is the duty of every patriot to hate his country creatively. Lawrence Durrell More Quotes by Lawrence Durrell More Quotes From Lawrence Durrell Very few people realise that sex is a psychic and not a physical act. The clumsy coupling of human beings is simply a biological paraphrase of this truth - a primitive method of introducing minds to each other, engaging them. But most people are stuck in the physical aspect, unaware of the poetic rapport which it so clumsily tries to teach. Lawrence Durrell psychics sex people To be the equal of reality you must learn how to ignore it without danger. Lawrence Durrell equal danger reality The national characteristics... the restless metaphysical curiosity, the tenderness of good living and the passionate individualism. This is the invisible constant in a place with which the ordinary tourist can get in touch just by sitting quite quietly over a glass of wine in a Paris bistro. Lawrence Durrell paris glasses wine Life is like a cucumber. One minute it's in your hand, the next it's up you ass. Lawrence Durrell cucumbers life-is-like hands Art—the meaning of the pattern of our common actions in reality. The cloth-of-gold that hides behind the sackcloth of reality, forced out by the pain of human memory. Lawrence Durrell pain memories art Truth is a matter of direct apprehension-you can't climb a ladder of mental concepts to it. Lawrence Durrell ladders truth matter The cocktail party - as the name itself indicates - was originally invented by dogs. They are simply bottom-sniffings raised to the rank of formal ceremonies. Lawrence Durrell party dog names The sense of truth no matter how subjective is necessary for the experience of beauty. Lawrence Durrell subjective matter beauty Religion is simply art bastardized out of all recognition. Lawrence Durrell recognition art A taste older than meat, older than wine. A taste as old as cold water. Lawrence Durrell wine food water The heaviest impact of the work of art is in the guts. Art does not reason. It manhandles you and changes you. Lawrence Durrell impact doe art To write a poem is like trying to catch a lizard without its tail falling off. Lawrence Durrell writing trying fall But I love to feel events overlapping each other, crawling over one another like wet crabs in a basket Lawrence Durrell crabs baskets events A woman's best love letters are always written to the man she is betraying. Lawrence Durrell letters love men I had become, with the approach of night, once more aware of loneliness and time - those two companions without whom no journey can yield us anything. Lawrence Durrell being-alone loneliness night The artist's work constitutes the only satisfactory relationship he can have with his fellow men since he seeks his real friends among the dead and the unborn. Lawrence Durrell artist real men Brazil is bigger than Europe, wilder than Africa, and weirder than Baffin Land. Lawrence Durrell brazil land europe Let us define 'man' as a poet perpetually conspiring against himself. Lawrence Durrell conspiring poet men They flower spontaneously out of the demands of our natures - and the best of them lead us not only outward in space, but inward as well. Lawrence Durrell inward space flower All culture corrupts, but French culture corrupts absolutely. Lawrence Durrell french-culture culture