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The present has its élan because it is always on the edge of the unknown and one misunderstands the past unless one remembers that this unknown was once part of its nature.

— V. S. Pritchett The Myth Makers: European and Latin American Writers (1979)

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More quotes by V. S. Pritchett

All great things, in our time, can only be seen in fragments, by fragmentary people.

London Perceived (1962)

Mass society destroys the things it is told are its inheritance.

London Perceived (1962)

Life — how curious is that habit that makes us think it is not here, but elsewhere.

Midnight Oil (1971)

The peculiar foreign superstition that the English do not like love, the evidence being that they do not talk about it.

London Perceived (1962)

One recalls how much the creative impulse of the best-sellers depends upon self-pity. It is an emotion of great dramatic potential.

The Tale Bearers: English and American Writers (1980)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: V. S. Pritchett (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.