Cyril Connolly
Cyril Connolly
Cyril Vernon Connollywas a literary critic and writer. He was the editor of the influential literary magazine Horizonand wrote Enemies of Promise, which combined literary criticism with an autobiographical exploration of why he failed to become the successful author of fiction that he had aspired to be in his youth...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionJournalist
Date of Birth10 September 1903
life fear publishing-books
As repressed sadists are supposed to become policemen or butchers so those with an irrational fear of life become publishers.
weed lying flower
A stone lies in a river; a piece of wood is jammed against it; dead leaves, drifting logs, and branches caked with mud collect; weeds settle there, and soon birds have made a nest and are feeding their young among the blossoming water plants. Then the river rises and the earth is washed away. The birds depart, the flowers wither, the branches are dislodged and drift downward; no trace is left of the floating island but a stone submerged by the water; - such is our personality.
call gods whom
Those whom the Gods would destroy, they first call promising.
art grasped journalism literature
Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be grasped at once
artist closing gardens judged quality resonance solitude time west
It is closing time in the gardens of the West and from now on an artist will be judged only by the resonance of his solitude or the quality of his despair.
enjoy public virtues
The ape-like virtues without which no one can enjoy a public school.
achieved aim alone appetite attaching beans broad chicken child closer cow deep eagerly eat further good kingdom man meal occur opium perfect roast stimulate themselves vague vegetable vine
Never would it occur to a child that a sheep, a pig, a cow or a chicken was good to eat, while, like Milton's Adam, he would eagerly make a meal off fruits, nuts, thyme, mint, peas and broad beans which penetrate further and stimulate not only the appetite but other vague and deep nostalgias. We are closer to the Vegetable Kingdom than we know; is it not for man alone that mint, thyme, sage, and rosemary exhale ''crush me and eat me!'' -- for us that opium poppy, coffee-berry, tea-plant and vine perfect themselves? Their aim is to be absorbed by us, even if it can only be achieved by attaching themselves to roast mutton.
learnt life maze turn walk wrong
Life is a maze in which we take the wrong turn before we have learnt to walk
disliked given life moments total
I have always disliked myself at any given moment; the total of such moments is my life
faithful grow loyal older situations types
When young we are faithful to individuals, when older we grow more loyal to situations and to types
master passions
The person who is master of their passions is reason's slave.
alive becomes literature living words
While thought exists, words are alive and literature becomes an escape, not from, but into living
argue arms lifetime main river splitting truth
Truth is a river that is always splitting up into arms that reunite. Islanded between the arms the inhabitants argue for a lifetime as to which is the main river.
art enemy good hall somber
There is no more somber enemy of good art than the pram in the hall