Vulgarity is the garlic in the salad of taste. – Cyril Connolly
We must select the Illusion which appeals to our temperament and embrace it with passion, if we want to be happy. – Cyril Connolly
Green leaves on a dead tree is our epitaph — green leaves, dear reader, on a dead tree. – Cyril Connolly
It is a mistake to expect good work from expatriates for it is not what they do that matters but what they are not doing. – Cyril Connolly
The goal of every culture is to decay through over-civilization; the factors of decadence, — luxury, skepticism, weariness and superstition, — are constant. The civilization of one epoch becomes the manure of the next. – Cyril Connolly
Imprisoned in every fat man, a thin one is wildly signaling to be let out. – Cyril Connolly
Like water, we are truest to our nature in repose. – Cyril Connolly
No taste is so acquired as that for someone elses quality of mind. – Cyril Connolly
We are all serving a life sentence in the dungeon of the self. – Cyril Connolly
If our elaborate and dominating bodies are given us to be denied at every turn, if our nature is always wrong and wicked, how ineffectual we are – like fishes not meant to swim. – Cyril Connolly
Nothing dates like hate and in literature a little of it goes a very long way. – Cyril Connolly
The civilized are those who get more out of life than the uncivilized, and for this we are not likely to be forgiven. – Cyril Connolly
A lazy person, whatever the talents with which he set out, will have condemned himself to second-hand thoughts and to second-rate friends. – Cyril Connolly
There are many who dare not kill themselves for fear of what the neighbors will say. – Cyril Connolly
Civilization is maintained by a very few people in a small number of places and we need only some bombs and a few prisons to blot it out altogether. – Cyril Connolly
A mistake which is commonly made about neurotics is to suppose that they are interesting. It is not interesting to be always unhappy, engrossing with oneself, malignant and ungrateful, and never quite in touch with reality. – Cyril Connolly
The true index of a mans character is the health of his wife. – Cyril Connolly
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. – Cyril Connolly
Purity engenders Wisdom, Passion avarice, and Ignorance folly, infatuation and darkness. – Cyril Connolly
In the sex war, thoughtlessness is the weapon of the male, vindictiveness of the female. – Cyril Connolly
