Edith Sitwell's interest in art was largely confined to portraits of herself.

You wish to be liked. I wish simply to be. One day you will know what that means, perhaps. And you will smile. Not against me. But with me.

He knew the world and its absurdities as only an intelligent Irishman can; which is to say that where his knowledge or memory failed him, his imagination was always ready to fill the gap.

But however good you get at translating personality into line or paint it's no go if your personality isn't worth translating.

I just think of things as beautiful or not. Can't you understand? I don't think of good or bad. Just of beautiful or ugly. I think a lot of nice things are ugly and a lot of nasty things are beautiful.

The best wines take the longest to mature.

The moon hung over the planet Earth, a dead thing over a dying thing.