We possess nothing certainly except the past Evelyn Waugh More Quotes by Evelyn Waugh More Quotes From Evelyn Waugh If politicians and scientists were lazier, how much happier we should all be Evelyn Waugh scientist politician science Feather-footed through the plashy fen passes the questing vole.'-William Boot Evelyn Waugh feathers boots I regard writing not as an investigation of character but as an exercise in the use of language, and with this I am obsessed. Evelyn Waugh exercise writing character O God, make me good, but not yet. Evelyn Waugh brideshead-revisited But I was in search of love in those days, and I went full of curiosity and the faint, unrecognized apprehension that here, at last, I should find that low door in the wall, which others, I knew, had found before me, which opened on an enclosed and enchanted garden, which was somewhere, not overlooked by any window, in the heart of that grey city. Evelyn Waugh wall garden heart An artist must be a reactionary. He has to stand out against the tenor of the age and not go flopping along. Evelyn Waugh standing-out age art Manners are especially the need of the plain. The pretty can get away with anything. Evelyn Waugh luck manners needs For in that city [New York] there is neurosis in the air which the inhabitants mistake for energy. Evelyn Waugh new-york air mistake We are American at puberty. We die French. Evelyn Waugh puberty dies The splendid thing about education is that everyone wants it. Like influenza, you can give it away without losing any of it yourself. Evelyn Waugh teaching teacher retirement I've always been bad. Probably I shall be bad again, punished again. But the worse I am, the more I need God. I can't shut myself out from His mercy. ... Or it may be a private bargain between me and God, that if I give up this one thing I want so much, however bad I am, He won't quite despair of me in the end. Evelyn Waugh despair giving-up needs I read the newspapers with lively interest. It is seldom that they are absolutely, point-blank wrong. That is the popular belief, but those who are in the know can usually discern an embryo of truth, a little grit of fact, like the core of a pearl, round which have been deposited the delicate layers of ornament. Evelyn Waugh grit ornaments facts I don't believe that people would ever fall in love or want to be married if they hadn't been told about it. It's like abroad: no one would want to go there if they hadn't been told it existed. Evelyn Waugh falling-in-love believe people The most futile and disastrous day seems well spent when it is reviewed through the blue, fragrant smoke of a Havana Cigar. Evelyn Waugh havana cigar blue Every Englishman abroad, until it is proved to the contrary, likes to consider himself a traveller and not a tourist. Evelyn Waugh traveller tourists likes We cherish our friends not for their ability to amuse us, but for ours to amuse them... Evelyn Waugh humor friendship funny I'm one of the blind alleys off the main road of procreation. Evelyn Waugh alleys procreation blind News is what a chap who doesn't care much about anything wants to read. Evelyn Waugh news care want Evelyn Waugh: How do you get your main pleasure in life, Sir William? Sir William Beveridge: I get mine trying to leave the world a better place than I found it. Waugh: I get mine spreading alarm and despondency and I get more satisfaction than you do. Evelyn Waugh alarms trying world He was gifted with the sly, sharp instinct for self-preservation that passes for wisdom among the rich. Evelyn Waugh rich wisdom self