Cyril Connolly Quotes

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Cyril Connolly

Profession : Journalist

Birth : September 10, 1903

The true function of a writer is to produce a masterpiece and no other task is of any consequence.

Cyril Connolly

The worst vice of the solitary is the worship of his food.

Cyril Connolly

Vulgarity is the garlic in the salad of life.

Cyril Connolly

The artist one day falls through a hole in the brambles, and from that moment he is following the dark rapids of an underground river which may sometimes flow so near to the surface that the laughing picnic parties are heard above.

Cyril Connolly

For what is liberty but the unhampered translation of will into act?

Cyril Connolly

Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be grasped at once.

Cyril Connolly

There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall.

Cyril Connolly

A great writer creates a world of his own and his readers are proud to live in it. A lesser writer may entice them in for a moment, but soon he will watch them filing out.

Cyril Connolly

The only way for writers to meet is to share a quick peek over a common lamp-post.

Cyril Connolly

Always be nice to those younger than you, because they are the ones who will be writing about you.

Cyril Connolly

The dread of lonliness is greater than the fear of bondage, so we get married.

Cyril Connolly

Our memories are card indexes consulted and then returned in disorder by authorities whom we do not control.

Cyril Connolly

Youth is a period of missed opportunities.

Cyril Connolly

When young we are faithful to individuals, when older we grow loyal to situations and to types.

Cyril Connolly

It is a mistake to expect good work from expatriates for it is not what they do that matters but what they are not doing.

Cyril Connolly

The artist is a member of the leisured classes who cannot pay for his leisure.

Cyril Connolly

Idleness is only a coarse name for my infinite capacity for living in the present.

Cyril Connolly

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

Cyril Connolly

No taste is so acquired as that for someone else's quality of mind.

Cyril Connolly

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.

Cyril Connolly