Cyril Connolly

In the sex war, thoughtlessness is the weapon of the male, vindictiveness of the female. ”

The past is the only dead thing that smells sweet. ”

Civilization is maintained by a very few people in a small number of places and we need only some bombs and a few prisons to blot it out altogether. ”

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. ”

A lazy person, whatever the talents with which he set out, will have condemned himself to second-hand thoughts and to second-rate friends. ”

Hate is the consequence of fear; we fear something before we hate it; a child who fears noises becomes a man who hates noise. ”

Purity engenders Wisdom, Passion avarice, and Ignorance folly, infatuation and darkness. ”

Greed, like the love of comfort, is a kind of fear. ”

We love but once, for once only are we perfectly equipped for loving. ”

We must select the illusion which appeals to our temperament, and embrace it with passion, if we want to be happy. ”