208 quotes
It was all extremely symbolic; but then, if you choose to think so, nothing in this world is not symbolical. Profound and beautiful truth!
Crome Yellow (1921)
Architecturally, Bombay is one of the most appalling cities of either hemisphere. It had the misfortune to develop during what was, perhaps, the darkest period of all architectural history.
All gods are home-made, and it is we who pull their strings, and so, give them the power to pull ours
Island (1962)
There's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self.
Time Must Have a Stop (1944)
Christlike in my behaviour,
Like every good believer,
I imitate the Saviour,
And cultivate a beaver.
Antic Hay (1923)
When one individual comes into intimate contact with another, she — or he, of course, as the case may be — must almost inevitably receive or inflict suffering.
Crome Yellow (1921)
Leaving you defenceless against the full consciousness of the fact that you can’t do without your fellow humans, and that, when you’re with them, they make you sick.
Eyeless in Gaza (1936)
He acted as if he could detect in her face nothing but its external beauties of form and texture. Whereas, of course, flesh is never wholly opaque; the soul shows through the walls of its receptacle.
Eyeless in Gaza (1936)
We cannot reason ourselves out of our basic irrationality. All we can do is to learn the art of being irrational in a reasonable way.
Island (1962)
That was the chief difference between literature and life. In books, the proportion of exceptional to commonplace people is high; in reality, very low.
Eyeless in Gaza (1936)
Dinted, dimpled, wimpled — his mind wandered down echoing corridors of assonance and alliteration ever further and further from the point. He was enamoured with the beauty of words.
Crome Yellow (1921)
History teaches us that war is not inevitable. Once again, it is for us to choose whether we use war or some other method of settling the ordinary and unavoidable conflicts between groups of men.
What Are You Going To Do About It? The case for constructive peace (1936)
So long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly rise and make them miserable.
Ends and Means (1937)
Orthodoxy is the diehard of the world of thought. It learns not, neither can it forget.
Wild inside; raging, writhing — yes, "writhing" was the word, writhing with desire. But outwardly he was hopelessly tame; outwardly — baa, baa, baa.
Crome Yellow (1921)
He was wondering how any one could talk so loud, could boast so extravagantly. It was as though the man had to shout in order to convince himself of his own existence.
Antic Hay (1923)
All war propaganda consists, in the last resort, in substituting diabolical abstractions for human beings. Similarly, those who defend war have invented a pleasant sounding vocabulary of abstractions in which to describe the process of mass murder.
Pacifism and Philosophy (1936)
The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude.
Proper Studies (1927)
A million million spermatozoa
All of them alive:
Out of their cataclysm but one poor Noah
Dare hope to survive.
Leda (1920)
Stupidity or reason? Oh, there was no choice now. It was imbecility every time.
Mortal Coils (1921)