Quotes by Christopher Isherwood

Christopher Isherwood

A few times in my life I’ve had moments of absolute clarity, when for a few brief seconds the silence drowns out the noise and I can feel rather than think, and things seem so sharp. And the world seems so fresh as though it had all just come into existence. I can never make these moments last. I cling to them, but like everything, they fade. I have lived my life on these moments. They pull me back to the present, and I realize that everything is exactly the way it was meant to be.

Noise

Silence

Thinking

A minority is only thought of as a minority when it constitutes some kind of threat to the majority, real or imaginary. And no threat is ever quite imaginary.

Majority

Minorities

Real

Bad writing is bad not just because the language is humdrum, but the quality of the observation is so poor.

Language

Quality

Writing

But now isn’t simply now. Now is also a cold reminder: one whole day later than yesterday, one year later than last year. Every now is labeled with its date, rendering all past nows obsolete, until — later of sooner — perhaps — no, not perhaps — quite certainly: it will come.

Past

Years

Yesterday

But seriously, I believe I’m a sort of Ideal Woman, if you know what I mean. I’m the sort of woman who can take men away from their wives, but I could never keep anybody for long. And that’s because I’m the type which every man imagines he wants, until he gets me; and then he finds he doesn’t really, after all.

Believe

Mean

Men

But your book is wrong, Mrs. Strunk, says George, when it tells you that Jim is the substitute I found for a real son, a real kid brother, a real husband, a real wife. Jim wasn’t a substitute for anything. And there is no substitute for Jim, if you’ll forgive my saying so, anywhere.

Brother

Husband

Real

By helping yourself, you are helping humankind. By helping humankind, you are helping yourself. That’s the law of all spiritual progress.

Law

Progress

Spiritual

California is a tragic country – like Palestine, like every Promised Land.

California

Country

Land

Every writer has certain subjects that they write about again and again, and . . . most people’s books are just variations on certain themes.

Book

People

Writing

For other people, I can’t speak – but, personally, I haven’t gotten wise on anything. Certainly, I’ve been through this and that; and when it happens again, I say to myself, Here it is again. But that doesn’t seem to help me. In my opinion, I, personally, have gotten steadily sillier and sillier – and that’s a fact.

Facts

People

Wise

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Artist

Atheist

Attitude

Awful

Belief

Believe

Book

Boys

Brother

California

Cameras

Capable

Causes

Character

Children

Cities

Country

Culture

Differences

Divorce

Doubt

Epic

Expression

Faces

Facts

Fighting

Fixed

Forever

Funny

Hate

Heart

Home

Honor

Horror

Husband

Imagination

Intelligent

Jew

Kenny

Knows

Land

Language

Law

Life

Lying

Majority

Makeup

Mean

Men

Minorities

The Future Blueprint

Tool

The Home Therapist: Anti Anxiety

Tool

The Autobiography

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The Behaviour Diary

Tool

The Dating Diary

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The Relationship Therapist

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Quotes by Christopher Isherwood

Christopher Isherwood

A minority is only thought of as a minority when it constitutes some kind of threat to the majority, real or imaginary. And no threat is ever quite imaginary.

Bad writing is bad not just because the language is humdrum, but the quality of the observation is so poor.

But now isn’t simply now. Now is also a cold reminder: one whole day later than yesterday, one year later than last year. Every now is labeled with its date, rendering all past nows obsolete, until — later of sooner — perhaps — no, not perhaps — quite certainly: it will come.

But your book is wrong, Mrs. Strunk, says George, when it tells you that Jim is the substitute I found for a real son, a real kid brother, a real husband, a real wife. Jim wasn’t a substitute for anything. And there is no substitute for Jim, if you’ll forgive my saying so, anywhere.

By helping yourself, you are helping humankind. By helping humankind, you are helping yourself. That’s the law of all spiritual progress.

California is a tragic country – like Palestine, like every Promised Land.

Every writer has certain subjects that they write about again and again, and . . . most people’s books are just variations on certain themes.

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The Future Blueprint

The Home Therapist: Anti Anxiety

The Autobiography

The Behaviour Diary

The Dating Diary

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