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
lying autumn sun
Fallen leaves lying on the grass in the November sun bring more happiness than the daffodils.
appreciation people ego
All charming people have something to conceal, usually their total dependence on the appreciation of others.
alive literature
While thoughts exist, words are alive and literature becomes an escape, not from, but into living.
health character men
The true index of a man's character is the health of his wife.
stress environmental entering
Industrial society seems likely to be entering a period of severe stress, due in part to problems of human behavior and in part to economic and environmental problems
marriage two people
Marriage is the permanent conversation between two people who talk over everything and everyone until death breaks the record.
inspirational respect writing
Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.
book learn meeting teach worth
No one over thirty-five is worth meeting who has not something to teach us, - something more than we could learn ourselves, from a book
creates filing great lesser readers soon watch writer
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.
dread fear greater
The dread of lonliness is greater than the fear of bondage, so we get married.
becomes books clearer function produce task true writer
The more books we read, the clearer it becomes that the true function of a writer is to produce a masterpiece and that no other task is of any consequence.
mediocre
A best-seller is the golden touch of mediocre talent.
common hates inevitable meet quick share shows writers writers-and-writing
When writers meet they are truculent, indifferent, or over-polite. Then comes the inevitable moment. A shows B that he has read something of B s. Will B show A? If not, then A hates B, if yes, then all is well. The only other way for writers to meet is to share a quick pee over a common lamp-post.
butchers fear irrational life policemen publishers repressed supposed
As repressed sadists are supposed to become policemen or butchers so those with irrational fear of life become publishers