Cyril Connolly - The Unquiet Grave (1945)

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The true work of art is the one which the seventh wave of genius throws up the beach where the under-tow cannot drag it back.

Cyril Connolly

The goal of every culture is to decay through over-civilization; the factors of decadence – luxury, scepticism, weariness and superstition – are constant. The civilization of one epoch becomes the manure of the next.

Cyril Connolly

There are many who dare not kill themselves for fear of what the neighbours will say.

Cyril Connolly

Optimism and self-pity are the positive and negative poles of modern cowardice.

Cyril Connolly

The true index of a man's character is the health of his wife.

Cyril Connolly

'Dry again?' said the Crab to the Rock-Pool. 'So would you be,' replied the Rock-Pool, 'if you had to satisfy, twice a day, the insatiable sea.'

Cyril Connolly

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

Cyril Connolly

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

Cyril Connolly