Clive James
Clive James
Clive James AO CBEis an Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet, translator and memoirist, best known for his autobiographical series Unreliable Memoirs, for his chat shows and documentaries on British television and for his prolific journalism. He has lived and worked in the United Kingdom since 1962...
NationalityAustralian
ProfessionMemoirist
Date of Birth7 October 1939
CountryAustralia
thinking poet great-things
The great thing about living until you get a bit older if you are a writer, and especially a poet, is that you have more life to reflect on. And I think that if I am better now - and I think that I am probably better than I was - is because that I simply have more to think about, more to get under control, more to understand.
blessed australia dull
When I was young I never believed that Australia was anything else except blessed. I thought it was a little dull when I was young, but that was 'cause I was a snob.
light phrases turns
All I can do is turn a phrase until it catches the light.
drinking simple artist
When I finally embraced abstinence it was because of the simple urge to work a longer day. Thus, without joining Alcoholics Anonymous, I was at last able to leave Piss-Artists Notorious.
perspective secret desire
Being young is wonderful. But one of the secrets of being a human individual - a mature human individual shall we put it rather grandly - is that you can see this desire in perspective.
looks schwarzenegger condom
Arnold Schwarzenegger looks like a condom full of walnuts....
confusion way abstract
She was good at playing abstract confusion in the same way that a midget is good at being short.
sick childhood want
Sick of being a prisoner of my childhood, I want to put it behind me.
fun real feelings
I actually didn't like that feeling of being out of touch because what I do depends on being in touch. But it's fun to talk about. That's one of the real dangers of drugs: they're too much fun to talk about.
wisdom dull fiction
Fiction is life with the dull bits left out.
good-life life-is fame
A life without fame can be a good life, but fame without a life is no life at all.
witty powerful science
It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are.
art bright conversation critics-and-criticism status work
As a work of art it has the same status as a long conversation between two not very bright drunks.
china investment
If we look at the investment in China in biotech crops, it is very significant.