There is no magic method of beginning... Take hold of your nerves, and jump. Arnold Bennett More Quotes by Arnold Bennett More Quotes From Arnold Bennett Does there, I wonder, exist a being who has read all, or approximately all, that the person of average culture is supposed to have read, and that not to have read is a social sin? If such a being does exist, surely he is an old, a very old man. Arnold Bennett reading funny book It is well, when judging a friend, to remember that he is judging you with the same godlike and superior impartiality. Arnold Bennett judging god friendship The pleasure of doing a thing in the same way at the same time every day, and savoring it, should be noted. Arnold Bennett pleasure happiness way To the artist is sometimes granted a sudden, transient insight which serves in this matter for experience. A flash, and where previously the brain held a dead fact, the soul grasps a living truth! At moments we are all artists. Arnold Bennett creativity artist soul You are not in charge of the universe; you are in charge of yourself. Arnold Bennett universe Its language is a language which the soul alone understands, but which the soul can never translate. Arnold Bennett dope music wisdom Worry is evidence of an ill-controlled brain; it is merely a stupid waste of time in unpleasantness. If men and women practiced mental calisthenics as they do physical calisthenics, they would purge their brains of this foolishness. Arnold Bennett stupid time men You probably think of the orchestra as a heterogeneous mass of instruments Arnold Bennett confused sound thinking Every scene, even the commonest, is wonderful, if only one can detach oneself, casting off all memory of use and custom, and behold it (as it were) for the first time; in its right, authentic colors; without making comparisons. Cherish and burnish this faculty of seeing crudely, simply, artlessly, ignorantly; of seeing like a baby or a lunatic, who lives each moment by itself and tarnishes by the present no remembrance of the past. Arnold Bennett baby memories past Essential characteristic of the really great novelist: a Christ-like, all-embracing compassion. Arnold Bennett reading book art If egotism means a terrific interest in one's self, egotism is absolutely essential to efficient living. Arnold Bennett aquariums self mean I think it rather fine, this necessity for the tense bracing of the will before anything worth doing can be done. I rather like it myself. I feel it is to be the chief thing that differentiates me from the cat by the fire. Arnold Bennett cat fire thinking Journalists say a thing that they know isn't true, in the hope that if they keep on saying it long enough it will be true. Arnold Bennett media hope long Always behave as if nothing had happened, no matter what has happened. Arnold Bennett behave matter advice To my mind the most poignant mystical exhoration ever written is "Be still and know that I am God." Arnold Bennett mystical faith mind Nearly all bookish people are snobs, and especially the more enlightened among them. They are apt to assume that if a writer has immense circulation, if he is enjoyed by plain persons, and if he can fill several theatres at once, he cannont possibly be worth reading and merits only indifference and disdain. Arnold Bennett theatre reading people Ninety percent of the friction of daily life is caused by tone of voice. Arnold Bennett tone communication voice Beware of undertaking too much at the start. Be content with quite a little. Allow for accidents. Allow for human nature, especially your own. Arnold Bennett human-nature too-much littles Much ingenuity with a little money is vastly more profitable and amusing than much money without ingenuity. Arnold Bennett amusing money littles The gain in self-confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labour is immense. Arnold Bennett self-confidence gains inspirational