Optimism and self-pity are the positive and negative poles of modern cowardice. Cyril Connolly More Quotes by Cyril Connolly More Quotes From Cyril Connolly Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. Cyril Connolly respectcleverinspirational The goal of every culture is to decay through over-civilization; the factors of decadence, -- luxury, skepticism, weariness and superstition, -- are constant. The civilization of one epoch becomes the manure of the next. Cyril Connolly luxurygoalcivilization The true index of a man's character is the health of his wife. Cyril Connolly marriagehealthinspiration Industrial society seems likely to be entering a period of severe stress, due in part to problems of human behavior and in part to economic and environmental problems Cyril Connolly environmentalenteringstress Fallen leaves lying on the grass in the November sun bring more happiness than the daffodils. Cyril Connolly autumnsunlying While thoughts exist, words are alive and literature becomes an escape, not from, but into living. Cyril Connolly aliveliterature There is no suicide for which all society is not responsible. Cyril Connolly responsiblesuicide Hate is the consequence of fear; we fear something before we hate; a child who fears noises becomes the man who hates them. Cyril Connolly hatefearchildren From now on - specialize; never again make any concession to the ninety-nine percent of you which is like everyon else at the expense of the one percent which is unique. Cyril Connolly ninety-nineuniqueadvice All charming people have something to conceal, usually their total dependence on the appreciation of others. Cyril Connolly egoappreciationpeople Marriage is the permanent conversation between two people who talk over everything and everyone until death breaks the record. Cyril Connolly marriagetwopeople No-one was ever made wretched in a brothel. Cyril Connolly wretchedbrothelsmade There is no hate without fear. Hate is crystallized fear, fear's dividend, fear objectivized. We hate what we fear and so where hate is, fear is lurking. Thus we hate what threatens our person, our liberty, our privacy, our income, our popularity, our vanity and our dreams and plans for ourselves. If we can isolate this element in what we hate we may be able to cease from hating... Hate is the consequence of fear; we fear something before we hate; a child who fears noises becomes the man who hates them. Cyril Connolly hatedreamchildren No city should be too large for a man to walk out of in a morning. Cyril Connolly fogmorningmen Obesity is a mental state, a disease brought on by boredom and disappointment. Cyril Connolly disappointmentlossmotivational If one is too lazy to think, too vain to do a thing badly, too cowardly to admit it, one will never attain wisdom. Cyril Connolly lazywisdomthinking We must select the illusion which appeals to our temperament, and embrace it with passion, if we want to be happy. Cyril Connolly passionjusticehappiness In the sex-war, thoughtlessness is a weapon of the male, vindictiveness of the female. Both are reciprocally generated, but a woman's desire for revenge outlasts all other emotion. Yet when every unkind word about women has been said, we have still to admit, with Byron, that they are nicer than men. They are more devoted, more unselfish and more emotionally sincere. When the long fuse of cruelty, deceit and revenge is set alight, it is male thoughtlessness which has fired it. Cyril Connolly revengewarsex The reward of art is not fame or success but intoxication. Cyril Connolly beautifullifeart No education is worth having that does not teach the lesson of concentration on a task, however unattractive. These lessons, if not learnt early, will be learnt, if at all, with pain and grief in later life. Cyril Connolly paingriefdoe
