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Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be grasped at once, and they require separate techniques.

— Cyril Connolly Enemies of Promise (1938)

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More quotes by Cyril Connolly

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.

Life is a maze in which we take the wrong turning before we have learnt to walk.

The Unquiet Grave (1944)

There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall.

Enemies of Promise (1938)

Like water, we are truest to our nature in repose.

The Unquiet Grave (1944)

No city should be too large for a man to walk out of in a morning.

The Unquiet Grave (1944)

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Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

Francis Bacon Meditationes sacræ (1597)

It is not in the books of the Philosophers, but in the religious symbolism of the Ancients, that we must look for the footprints of Science, and re-discover the Mysteries of Knowledge.

Albert Pike Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871)

There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.

Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.

Logan Pearsall Smith Afterthoughts (1931)

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