Quotes by Cyril Connolly

Purity engenders Wisdom, Passion avarice, and Ignorance folly, infatuation and darkness.

There is no pain equal to that which two lovers can inflict on one another. This should be made clear to all who contemplate such a union. The avoidance of this pain is the beginning of wisdom, for it is strong enough to contaminate the rest of our lives.

In the sex war, thoughtlessness is the weapon of the male, vindictiveness of the female.

The secret of success is to be in harmony with existence, to be always calm to let each wave of life wash us a little farther up the shore.

Today the function of the artist is to bring imagination to science and science to imagination, where they meet, in the myth.

Classical and romantic: private language of a family quarrel, a dead dispute over the distribution of emphasis between man and nature.

It is only in the country that we can get to know a person or a book.

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

The true index of a man’s character is the health of his wife.

We love but once, for once only are we perfectly equipped for loving.