Other-cheekism is not only a way of purifying the soul, it is also part of every weak person's survival kit. Quentin Crisp More Quotes by Quentin Crisp More Quotes From Quentin Crisp I don't hold with abroad and think that foreigners speak English when our backs are turned. Quentin Crisp speak-english speak thinking You see, astrology is like fortune-telling. If you can't get it right, you say, "Well, if Venus was doing something peculiar in the background, that would alter your prognostication--because, of course, astrology is rubbish. Quentin Crisp astrology venus peculiar Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings, they did it by killing all those who opposed them. If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style. Quentin Crisp rome style may Posing was the first job I did in which I understood what I was doing. Quentin Crisp posing jobs firsts Love is not enough. It must be the foundation, the cornerstone - but not the complete structure. It is much too pliable, too yielding. Quentin Crisp foundation love life I became one of the stately homos of England. Quentin Crisp homosexuality england I recommend limiting one's involvement in other people's lives to a pleasantly scant minimum. Quentin Crisp involvement minimum people While I have very little to say in favor of sex (it's vastly overrated, it's frequently unnecessary, and it's messy), it is greatly to be preferred to the interminable torments of romantic agony through which two people tear one another limb from limb while professing altruistic devotion. Quentin Crisp agony love sex Fashion is not style. Nay, we can say more: Fashion is instead of style. Style is an idiom springing spontaneously from the personality but deliberately maintained. If you have no personality, you may be able to save your face and, possibly, your entire anatomy by following the current fashion, but all we shall know about you, when we see you coming down the street, is that you had enough money to buy a glossy magazine and were sufficiently cunning to work out the cut of the garments shown therein. Quentin Crisp work-out fashion cutting The continued propinquity of another human being cramps the style after a time unless that person is somebody you think you love. Then the burden becomes intolerable at once. Quentin Crisp style love thinking The law is simply expediency wearing a long white dress. Quentin Crisp humor law funny Whenever we confront an unbridled desire we are surely in the presence of a tragedy-in-the-making. Quentin Crisp tragedy desire The court was not previously aware of the prisoner's many accomplishments. In view of these, we see fit to impose the death penalty. Quentin Crisp death-penalty accomplishment views The world now seems a stunningly ignoble place. It has not really grown all that much worse but appears to have done so because we know so much more about it than we did. Quentin Crisp ignoble done world The worst part of being gay in the twentieth century is all that damn disco music to which one has to listen. Quentin Crisp disco-music century gay I have known female whores who spoke very bitterly of their calling. "If they don't like my face, they can put a cushion over it. I know it's not that they're interested in." But to the boys this profession never seemed shameful. It was their daytime occupations for which they felt the need to apologize. In some instances, these were lower class or humdrum or, worst of all, unfeminine. At least whoring was never that. Quentin Crisp faces class boys Never sweep. After four years the dirt gets no worse. Quentin Crisp four-years four years Any film is at least better than real life. Quentin Crisp film real-life real One of the special beauties of America is that it is the only country in the world where you are not advised to learn the language before entering. Before I ever set out for the United States, I asked a friend if I should study American. His answer was unequivocal. "On no account," he said. "The more English you sound, the more likely you are to be believed." Quentin Crisp country america travel I learned very early in life that I was always going to need people more than they needed me Quentin Crisp needed people needs
