People have a right to be shocked; the mention of unmentionable things is a kind of participation in them. Logan Pearsall Smith More Quotes by Logan Pearsall Smith More Quotes From Logan Pearsall Smith When they come downstairs from their Ivory Towers, idealists are very apt to walk straight into the gutter. Logan Pearsall Smith ivory-tower gutters towers One's own vanities and humiliations I find a delicious subject for conversation. Things said of me behind my back I don't enjoy, and don't listen to them. Logan Pearsall Smith behind-my-back gossip vanity Charming people live up to the very edge of their charm, and behave as outrageously as the world will let them. Logan Pearsall Smith charming people world We should nourish our souls on the dew of Poesy, and manure them as well. Logan Pearsall Smith dew soul should The emergence of a new term to describe a certain phenomenon, of a new adjective to designate a certain quality, is always of interest, both linguistically and from the point of view of the history of human thought. Logan Pearsall Smith adjectives quality views The truth is that the phenomena of artistic production are still so obscure, so baffling, we are still so far from an accurate scientific and psychological knowledge of their genesis or meaning, that we are forced to accept them as empirical facts; and empirical and non-explanatory names are the names that suit them best. Logan Pearsall Smith suits names facts To become young again would seem to me an appalling prospect. Youth is a kind of delirium, which can be cured, if it is ever cured at all, by years of painful treatment. Logan Pearsall Smith youth kind years How awful to reflect that what people say of us is true! Logan Pearsall Smith gossip awful people I like to walk down Bond Street, thinking of all the things I don't desire. Logan Pearsall Smith consumerism desire thinking So, I never lose a sense of the whimsical and perilous charm of daily life, with its meetings and words and accidents. Logan Pearsall Smith whimsical daily-life chance The lusts and greeds of the body scandalize the Soul; but it has to come to heel. Logan Pearsall Smith greed soul lust I find a fascination, like the fascination for the moth of a star, in those who hold aloof and disdain me. Logan Pearsall Smith fascination hate stars It is a matter of life and death for married people to interrupt each others stories; for it they did not, they would burst. Logan Pearsall Smith life-and-death marriage people What pursuit is more elegant than that of collecting the ignominies of our nature and transfixing them for show, each on the bright pin of a polished phrase? Logan Pearsall Smith pursuit phrases nature The indefatigable pursuit of an unattainable perfection -even though nothing more than the pounding of an old piano -is what alone gives a meaning to our life on this unavailing star. Logan Pearsall Smith piano stars life Eat with the rich, but go to the play with the poor, who are capable of joy. Logan Pearsall Smith rich play joy When we say we are certain so-and-so can't possibly have done it, what we mean is that we think he very likely did. Logan Pearsall Smith done mean thinking For souls in growth, great quarrels are great emancipations. Logan Pearsall Smith quarrels growth soul We grow with years more fragile in body, but morally stutter, and can throw off the chill of a bad conscience almost at once. Logan Pearsall Smith chill body years Whiskey has killed more men than bullets, but most men would rather be full of whiskey than bullets. Logan Pearsall Smith whiskey bullets men
