... the mere thought of going near a man who is not mellowly pickled, and whose breath reeks of his native fleshy self, is squeamishly unpalatable to….

A lot of warm vulgarity is incomparably preferable to a little bit of pinched niceness.

But there is that about well-intentioned advice that has the opposite effect of the one intended, and causes a Spanish fly of perversity to enter int….

Sex divorced from love is the thief of personal dignity..

resignation, perhaps the most stifling word in the language..

England, where nobody ever says what they mean: and by denying feeling, kill it off stone-cold at the roots..

there is no gaiety as gay as the gaiety of grief..

Virtue in a man doesn't make you want to grab him..

One should never go back to a place one has loved; for, however, rough the going forward is, it is better than the snuffing out-of-love return..

[On journalists:] They are the scavengers of society who, possessing no guts of their own, tear out the guts of celebrities. They have the sycophanti….

There is, happily, no limit to the faith of human nature in believing what it wants to believe..

When the desire is on for one particular person, nobody else will do..

There is a great gulf between the really creative person and normal people. The totally creative person does not have the rest of his life in proper ….

[On journalists:] They are as disruptive a menace to the public body: as grating turds in the intestines are to the private body..

there is this malign curse laid on dipsomaniacs. That they must absolutely have a drink: in order to feel strong enough to stop drinking..

Love can bear anything better than ridicule..

My bitterness is not an abstract substance, it is as solid as a Christmas cake; I can cut it in slices and hand it round and there is still plenty le….

none of what I know is out of books. ... I prefer tactual learning. Touching, on the quick of the sore nail, of present, mobile life. To toy, to gnaw….

Between threading a needle and raving insanity is the smallest eye in creation..

The wretched Artist himself is alternatively the lowest worm that ever crawled when no fire is in him; or the loftiest God that ever sand when the fi….

Anybody who thinks there is any vague chance of adult exchange with a child is up the spout; and would be much less disappointed if they recognized t….