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.
Cyril ConnollyThe friendships which last are those wherein each friend respects the other's dignity to the point of not really wanting anything from him.
Cyril ConnollyAlways be nice to those younger than you, because they are the ones who will be writing about you.
Cyril ConnollyAs repressed sadists are supposed to become policemen or butchers so those with an irrational fear of life become publishers.
Cyril ConnollyIf Montaigne is a man in the prime of life sitting in his study on a warm morning and putting down the sum of his experience in his rich, sinewy prose, then Pascal is that same man lying awake in the small hours of the night when death seems very close and every thought is heightened by the apprehension that it may be his last.
Cyril Connolly