Rebecca West Quotes

Most popular Rebecca West Quotes

He is every other inch a gentleman. - Rebecca West quote.
He is every other inch a gentleman.
— Rebecca West

men

Man is a hating rather than a loving animal. - Rebecca West quote.
Man is a hating rather than a loving animal.
— Rebecca West Rebecca West: Artist and Thinker

man the animal mankind

A good cause has to be careful of the company it keeps. - Rebecca West quote.
A good cause has to be careful of the company it keeps.
— Rebecca West Sunday Times

cause

He does not so much split his infinitives as disembowel them. - Rebecca West quote.
He does not so much split his infinitives as disembowel them.
— Rebecca West The Clarion

grammar

The law, like art, is always vainly racing to catch up with experience. - Rebecca West quote.
The law, like art, is always vainly racing to catch up with experience.
— Rebecca West The Meaning of Treason

law

The choice between law and justice is an easy one for courageous minds. - Rebecca West quote.
The choice between law and justice is an easy one for courageous minds.
— Rebecca West The Clarion

law

Motherhood is the strangest thing, it can be like being one's own Trojan horse. - Rebecca West quote.
Motherhood is the strangest thing, it can be like being one's own Trojan horse.
— Rebecca West Rebecca West: A Life

motherhood

Any authentic work of art must start an argument between the artist and his audience. - Rebecca West quote.
Any authentic work of art must start an argument between the artist and his audience.
— Rebecca West The Court and the Castle

art

I find to my astonishment that an unhappy marriage goes on being unhappy when it is over. - Rebecca West quote.
I find to my astonishment that an unhappy marriage goes on being unhappy when it is over.
— Rebecca West Rebecca West: A Life

marriage divorce

Most works of art, like most wines, ought to be consumed in the district of their fabrication. - Rebecca West quote.
Most works of art, like most wines, ought to be consumed in the district of their fabrication.
— Rebecca West Ending in Earnest

art

Life ought to be a struggle of desire towards adventures whose nobility will fertilize the soul. - Rebecca West quote.
Life ought to be a struggle of desire towards adventures whose nobility will fertilize the soul.
— Rebecca West The Freewoman

struggle

It is queer how it is always one's virtues and not one's vices that precipitate one into disaster. - Rebecca West quote.
It is queer how it is always one's virtues and not one's vices that precipitate one into disaster.

vice & virtue

So life ought to be a struggle of desire towards adventures whose nobility will fertilize the soul. - Rebecca West quote.
So life ought to be a struggle of desire towards adventures whose nobility will fertilize the soul.
— Rebecca West The Freewoman

adventure

It is the soul's duty to be loyal to its own desires.  It must abandon itself to its master passion. - Rebecca West quote.
It is the soul's duty to be loyal to its own desires.  It must abandon itself to its master passion.
— Rebecca West Glimpses of the Great

passion

There is no logical reason why the camel of great art should pass through the needle of mob intelligence. - Rebecca West quote.
There is no logical reason why the camel of great art should pass through the needle of mob intelligence.
— Rebecca West The Strange Necessity

art

There is no such thing as conversation.  It is an illusion.  There are intersecting monologues, that is all. - Rebecca West quote.
There is no such thing as conversation.  It is an illusion.  There are intersecting monologues, that is all.
— Rebecca West The Harsh Voice: Four Short Novels

conversation

Before a war military science seems a real science, like astronomy; but after a war it seems more like astrology. - Rebecca West quote.
Before a war military science seems a real science, like astronomy; but after a war it seems more like astrology.
— Rebecca West Europe in Arms

war

I wonder if we are all wrong about each other, if we are just composing unwritten novels about the people we meet? - Rebecca West quote.
I wonder if we are all wrong about each other, if we are just composing unwritten novels about the people we meet?
— Rebecca West Rebecca West: A Life

understanding others

I have no faith in the sense of comforting beliefs which persuade me that all my troubles are blessings in disguise. - Rebecca West quote.
I have no faith in the sense of comforting beliefs which persuade me that all my troubles are blessings in disguise.
— Rebecca West I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Certain Eminent Men and Women of Our Time

beliefs

Because hypocrisy stinks in the nostrils one is likely to rate it as a more powerful agent for destruction than it is. - Rebecca West quote.
Because hypocrisy stinks in the nostrils one is likely to rate it as a more powerful agent for destruction than it is.
— Rebecca West The Strange Necessity: Essays and Reviews

hypocrisy

To make laws is a human instinct that arises as soon as food and shelter have been ensured, among all peoples, everywhere. - Rebecca West quote.
To make laws is a human instinct that arises as soon as food and shelter have been ensured, among all peoples, everywhere.
— Rebecca West The Meaning of Treason

law

If the whole human race lay in one grave, the epitaph on its headstone might well be: "It seemed a good idea at the time." - Rebecca West quote.
If the whole human race lay in one grave, the epitaph on its headstone might well be: "It seemed a good idea at the time."
— Rebecca West The New York Times Book Review

ideas the human condition

"Did St. Francis preach to the birds?" asked Kate. "Whatever for?  If he really liked birds he would have done better to preach to cats." - Rebecca West quote.
"Did St. Francis preach to the birds?" asked Kate. "Whatever for?  If he really liked birds he would have done better to preach to cats."
— Rebecca West This Real Night

birds

Submission to unhappiness is the unpardonable sin against the spirit just as submission to poverty is the unpardonable sin against the body. - Rebecca West quote.
Submission to unhappiness is the unpardonable sin against the spirit just as submission to poverty is the unpardonable sin against the body.
— Rebecca West The Clarion

unhappiness happiness

There was a definite process by which one made people into friends, and it involved talking to them and listening to them for hours at a time. - Rebecca West quote.
There was a definite process by which one made people into friends, and it involved talking to them and listening to them for hours at a time.
— Rebecca West
I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a door mat. - Rebecca West quote.
I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a door mat.
— Rebecca West

feminism

I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.
— Rebecca West The Clarion

feminism