The most lasting reputation I have is for an almost ferocious aggressiveness, when in fact I am amiable, indulgent, affectionate, shy and rather timid at heart. J. B. Priestley More Quotes by J. B. Priestley More Quotes From J. B. Priestley Living in an age of advertisement, we are perpetually disillusioned. J. B. Priestley perfect-life advertising age A lot of men who have accepted - or had imposed upon them in boyhood - the old English public school styles of careful modesty in speech, with much understatement, have behind their masks an appalling and impregnable conceit of themselves. J. B. Priestley style men school Man, the creature who knows he must die, who has dreams larger than his destiny, who is forever working a confidence trick on himself, needs an ally. Mine has been tobacco. J. B. Priestley destiny dream men But the point is, now, at this moment, or any moment, we're only cross-sections of our real selves. What we really are is the whole stretch of ourselves, all our time, and when we come to the end of this life, all those selves, all our time, will be us - the real you, the real me. And then perhaps we'll find ourselves in another time, which is only another kind of dream. J. B. Priestley real self dream We cannot get grace from gadgets. In the Bakelite house of the future, the dishes may not break, but the heart can. Even a man with ten shower baths may find life flat, stale and unprofitable. J. B. Priestley house heart men I know only two words of American slang, 'swell' and 'lousy'. I think 'swell' is lousy, but 'lousy' is swell. J. B. Priestley slang two thinking Comedy, we may say, is society protecting itself - with a smile. J. B. Priestley smile laughter happiness It is good fiction, so largely ignored now, that brings us so much closer to the real facts. J. B. Priestley real facts fiction We complain and complain, but we have lived and seen the blossom -apple, pear, cherry, plum, almond blossom - in the sun; and the best among us cannot pretend they deserve - or could contrive - anything better. J. B. Priestley apples complaining tree Western man is schizophrenic. J. B. Priestley schizophrenic western men But some of us are beginning to pull well away, in our irritation, from...the exquisite tasters, the vintage snobs, the three-star Michelin gourmets. There is, we feel, a decent area somewhere between boiled carrots and Beluga caviare, sour plonk and Chateau Lafitte, where we can take care of our gullets and bellies without worshipping them. J. B. Priestley vintage stars food Like its politicians and its wars, society has the teenagers it deserves. J. B. Priestley teenager politician war The point is to be good-to be sensitive and sincere. J. B. Priestley sensitive sincere goodness Production goes up and up because high pressure advertising and salesmanship constantly create new needs that must be satisfied: this is Admass- a consumer's race with donkeys chasing an electric carrot. J. B. Priestley race pressure needs In plain words: now that Britain has told the world that she has the H-Bomb she should announce as early as possible that she has done with it, that she proposes to reject in all circumstances nuclear warfare. J. B. Priestley warfare nuclear bombs It had the old double keyboard, an entirely different set of keys for capitals and figures, so that the paper seemed a long way off, and the machine was as big and solid as a battle cruiser. Typing was then a muscular activity. You could ache after it. If you were not familiar with those vast keyboards, your hand wandered over them like a child lost in a wood. The noise might have been that of a shipyard on the Clyde. You would no more have thought of carrying one of those grim structures as you would have thought of travelling with a piano. J. B. Priestley piano keys children If you are a genius, you'll make your own rules, but if not - and the odds are against it - go to your desk no matter what your mood, face the icy challenge of the paper - write. J. B. Priestley odds challenges writing Those no-sooner-have-I-touched-the-pillow people are past my comprehension. There is something bovine about them. J. B. Priestley bovine people past Depending upon shock tactics is easy, whereas writing a good play is difficult. Pubic hair is no substitute for wit. J. B. Priestley play hair writing Our trouble is that we drink too much tea. I see in this the slow revenge of the Orient, which has diverted the Yellow River down our throats. J. B. Priestley revenge yellow rivers
