An artist must be a reactionary

Words have basic inalienable meanings, departure from which is either conscious metaphor or inexcusable vulgarity.

What is youth except a man or a woman before it is ready or fit to be seen.

... the understatement, the self-ridicule, the delight in the foreignness of foreigners, the complete denial of any attempt to enlist the sympathies of his readers in the hardships he has capriciously invited.

An artist must be a reactionary. He has to stand out against the tenor [group think] of the age and not go flopping along. By doing this he helps us to question and reassess our past, present and future situations, our assumptions and our options.

Charm is the great English blight. It does not exist outside these damp islands. It spots and kills anything it touches. It kills love; it kills art; I greatly fear, my dear Charles, it has killed you.

The splendid thing about education is that everyone wants it. Like influenza, you can give it away without losing any of it yourself.