Oh, do the Overlords of Life and Death always provide some obstacle to prevent what all of us have known in youth was possible from ever coming true? James Branch Cabell More Quotes by James Branch Cabell More Quotes From James Branch Cabell No lady is ever a gentleman. James Branch Cabell gentleman There is not any memory with less satisfaction than the memory of some temptation we resisted. James Branch Cabell temptationmemorieshistory Why is the King of Hearts the only one that hasn't a moustache? James Branch Cabell moustachekingsheart What is man that his welfare be considered? An ape who chatters of kinship with the archangels while he very filthily digs for groundnuts. And yet I perceive that this same man is a maimed God. He is condemned under penalty to measure eternity with an hourglass and infinity with a yardstick and what is more, he very nearly does it. James Branch Cabell yardsticksdoemen A book , once it is printed and published, becomes individual. It is by its publication as decisively severed from its author as in parturition a child is cut off from its parent. The book "means" thereafter, perforce, both grammatically and actually, whatever meaning this or that reader gets out of it. James Branch Cabell meanbookchildren Poetry is man's rebellion against being what he is. James Branch Cabell uprisingpoetrymen While it is well enough to leave footprints on the sands of time, it is even more important to make sure they point in a commendable direction. James Branch Cabell footprintsandimportant Good and evil keep very exact accounts... and the face of every man is their ledger. James Branch Cabell evilfacesmen The optimist sees a light at the end of the tunnel, the realist sees a train entering the tunnel, the pessimist sees a train speeding at him, hell for leather, and the machinist sees three idiots sitting on the rail track. "The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; the pessimist fears this is true." James Branch Cabell tracktunnelslight I fight against the gluttony of time with so many very amusing weapons with gestures and with three attitudes and with charming phrases; with tears and with tinsel, and with sugar-coated pills, and with platitudes slightly regilded. Yes, and I fight him also with little mirrors wherein gleam confusedly the corruptions of lust, and ruddy loyalty, and a bit of moonshine, and the pure diamond of the heart's desire, and the opal cloudings of human compromise: but, above all, I fight that ravening dotard with the strength of my own folly. James Branch Cabell loyaltyheartattitude People never want to be told anything they do not believe already. James Branch Cabell wantbelievepeople Sad hours and glad hours, and all hours, pass over; One thing unshaken stays: Life, that hath Death for spouse, hath Chance for lover; Whereby decays, Each thing save one thing: mid this strife diurnal, Of hourly change begot, Love that is God-born, bides as God eternal, And changes not; Nor means a tinseled dream pursuing lovers, Find altered by-and-bye, When, with possession, time anon discovers, Trapped dreams must die, - For he that visions God, of mankind gathers, One manlike trait alone, And reverently imputes to Him a father's love for his son. James Branch Cabell dreamlifefather The touch of time does more than the club of Hercules. James Branch Cabell clubsdoetime I am Manuel. I have lived in the loneliness which is common to all men, but the difference is that I have known it. Now it is necessary for me, as it is necessary for all men, to die in this same loneliness, and I know that there is no help for it. James Branch Cabell differenceslonelinessmen Creeds matter very little... The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true. So I elect for neither label. James Branch Cabell optimismoptimisticlabels What am I that I am called upon to have prejudices concerning the universe? James Branch Cabell prejudiceuniverse Time changes all things and cultivates even in herself an appreciation of irony, and, therefore, why shouldn't I have changed a trifle? James Branch Cabell ironytimeappreciation Here was the astounding fact: the race did go forward; the race did achieve; and in every way the race grew better. Progress through irrational and astounding blunders, whose outrageousness bedwarfed the wildest cliches of romance, was what Kennaston found everywhere. All this, then, also was foreplanned, just as all happenings at Storisende had been, in his puny romance; and the puppets, here to, moved as they thought of their own volition, but really in order to serve a denouement in which many of them had not any personal part or interest... James Branch Cabell romanceraceorder I do that which I do in every place. Here also, at the gateway of that garden into which time has not entered, I fight with time my ever-losing battle, because to do that diverts me. James Branch Cabell gardenbattlefighting People must have both their dreams and their dinners in this world, and when we go out of it we must take what we find. That is all. James Branch Cabell dreampeopleworld
