To put yourself into a situation where a mistake cannot necessarily be recouped, where the life you lose may be your own, clears the head wonderfully. It puts domestic problems back into proportion and adds an element of seriousness to your drab, routine life. Perhaps this is one reason why climbing has become increasingly hard as society has become increasingly, disproportionately, coddling.
When you make a bet, you're saying something. - Al Alvarez
When you make a bet, you're saying something.
- Al Alvarez
The better the artist, the more vulnerable he seems to be. - Al Alvarez
The better the artist, the more vulnerable he seems to be.
Despair, in short, seeks its own environment as surely as water finds its own level. - Al Alvarez
Despair, in short, seeks its own environment as surely as water finds its own level.
In [The New Poetry] I had attacked the British poets' nervous preference for gentility above all else, and their avoidance of the uncomfortable, dest… - Al Alvarez
In [The New Poetry] I had attacked the British poets' nervous preference for gentility above all else, and their avoidance of the uncomfortable, dest…
No man kills himself unless there is something wrong with his life. - Al Alvarez
No man kills himself unless there is something wrong with his life.
Divorce transforms habit into drama. - Al Alvarez
Divorce transforms habit into drama.
It is easy to smile at an insult and pretend it's funny when the person insulting you is hosing you with money. - Al Alvarez
It is easy to smile at an insult and pretend it's funny when the person insulting you is hosing you with money.
I absolutely don't believe in anything. Full stop. Including luck. - Al Alvarez
I absolutely don't believe in anything. Full stop. Including luck.
Despite the hundreds of attempts, police terror and the concentration camps have proved to be more or less impossible subjects for the artist; since … - Al Alvarez
Despite the hundreds of attempts, police terror and the concentration camps have proved to be more or less impossible subjects for the artist; since …
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