All charming people have something to conceal, usually their total dependence on the appreciation of others.
There is immunity in reading, immunity in formal society, in office routine, in the company of old friends and in the giving of officious help to strangers, but there is no sanctuary in one bed from the memory of another. The past with its anguish will break through every defense-line of custom and habit; we must sleep and therefore we must dream.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the power of memories and dreams, suggesting that while we may seek refuge in various aspects of life, our past cannot be escaped.
Cyril Connolly's quote delves into the idea that while we find solace and distraction in reading, social interactions, work routines, and helping others, true escape from our memories is impossible. The imagery of lying in bed, a place typically associated with rest and refuge, starkly contrasts with the relentless intrusions of past sorrows and experiences. Ultimately, it conveys the notion that dreams serve as a necessary outlet for these unresolved sentiments, emphasizing the inescapable link between our past and our subconscious.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about mental health, one could use this quote to highlight the importance of addressing past trauma.
More from Cyril Connolly
All quotes →When I contemplate the accumulation of guilt and remorse which, like a garbage-can, I carry through life, and which is fed not only by the lightest action but by the most harmless pleasure, I feel Man to be of all living things the most biologically incompetent and ill-organized. Why has he acquired a seventy years life-span only to poison it incurably by the mere being of himself? Why has he thrown Conscience, like a dead rat, to putrefy in the well?
A lazy person, whatever the talents with which he set out, will have condemned himself to second-hand thoughts and to second-rate friends.
The artist is a member of the leisured classes who cannot pay for his leisure.
We are all serving a life sentence in the dungeon of the self.
Imprisoned in every fat man a thin man is wildly signaling to be let out.
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Our notion of an optimist is a man who knowing that each year was worse than the preceding, thinks next year will be better. And a pessimist is a man who knows the next year can't be worse than the last one.
To me, ideology is corrupt; it's a parasite on religious structures. To be an ideologue is to have all of the terrible things that are associated with religious certainty and none of the utility. If you're an ideologue, you believe everything that you think. If you're religious, there's a mystery left there.
When war becomes the most profitable course of action, we can certainly expect more of it.
It’s a strange myth that atheists have nothing to live for. It’s the opposite. We have nothing to die for. We have everything to live for.