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
art grasped journalism literature
Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be grasped at once
alive becomes literature living words
While thought exists, words are alive and literature becomes an escape, not from, but into living
nature men literature
Classical and romantic: private language of a family quarrel, a dead dispute over the distribution of emphasis between man and nature.
literature tasks produce
The true function of a writer is to produce a masterpiece and no other task is of any consequence.
faithful literature loyal
When young we are faithful to individuals, when older we grow loyal to situations and to types.
hate long literature
Nothing dates like hate and in literature a little of it goes a very long way.
memories literature cards
Our memories are card indexes consulted and then returned in disorder by authorities whom we do not control.
art writing literature
Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be grasped at once.
alive literature
While thoughts exist, words are alive and literature becomes an escape, not from, but into living.
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.
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.