73 quotes
I find the new liturgy a temptation against Faith, Hope and Charity but I shall never, pray God, apostatise.
News is what a chap who doesn't care much about anything wants to read. And it's only news until he's read it. After that it's dead.
Scoop (1938)
[W]e possess nothing certainly except the past.
Brideshead Revisited (1945)
All this fuss about sleeping together. For physical pleasure I'd sooner go to my dentist any day.
Vile Bodies (1930)
That's the public-school system all over. They may kick you out, but they never let you down.
Decline and Fall (1928)
"I will not stand for being called a woman in my own house…"
Scoop (1938)
Other nations use 'force'; we Britons alone use 'Might'.
Scoop (1938)
I have lived carefully, sheltered myself from the cold winds, eaten moderately of what was in season, drunk fine claret, slept in my own sheets; I shall live long.
Brideshead Revisited (1945)
O God, make me good, but not yet
Brideshead Revisited (1945)
I expect you'll be becoming a schoolmaster, sir. That's what most of the gentlemen does, sir, that gets sent down for indecent behaviour.
Decline and Fall (1928)
He was gifted with the sly, sharp instinct for self-preservation that passes for wisdom among the rich.
Scoop (1938)
And the only interest about him arises from the unusual series of events of which his shadow was witness.
Decline and Fall (1928)
They should have told me that at the end of that gay journey and flower-strewn path were the hideous lights of home and the voices of children.
Decline and Fall (1928)
I go to Rome for Easter (Grand Hotel) to avoid the horrors of the English liturgy.
I don't believe that people would ever fall in love or want to be married if they hadn't been told about it. It's like abroad: no one would want to go there if they hadn't been told it existed.
Decline and Fall (1928)
I haven't been to sleep for over a year. That's why I go to bed early. One needs more rest if one doesn't sleep.
Decline and Fall (1928)
Chokey thinks religion is just divine.
Decline and Fall (1928)
I think it great cheek of the Germans to try & teach the rest of the world anything about religion. They should be in perpetual sackcloth & ashes for all their enormities from Luther to Hitler.
"You see my adjutant made rather a silly mistake. He hadn't had much truck with boots before and the silly fellow thought they were extra rations. My men ate the whole bag of tricks last night."
Black Mischief (1932)
'...But I saw today there was one thing unforgivable - like things in the school-room, so bad they were unpunishable, that only mummy could deal with - the bad thing I was on the point of doing, that I'm not quite bad enough to do; to set up a rival good to God's.'
Brideshead Revisited (1945)