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Christopher Isherwood

Christopher Isherwood Quotes

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Famous Christopher Isherwood Quotes

“An afternoon drive from Los Angeles will take you up into the high mountains, where eagles circle above the forests and the cold blue lakes, or out over the Mojave Desert, with its weird vegetation and immense vistas. Not very far away are Death Valley, and Yosemite, and Sequoia Forest with its giant trees which were growing long before the Parthenon was built; they are the oldest living things in the world. One should visit such places often, and be conscious, in the midst of the city, of their surrounding presence. For this is the real nature of California and the secret of its fascination; this untamed, undomesticated, aloof, prehistoric landscape which relentlessly reminds the traveller of his human condition and the circumstances of his tenure upon the earth. "You are perfectly welcome," it tells him, "during your short visit. Everything is at your disposal. Only, I must warn you, if things go wrong, don't blame me. I accept no responsibility. I am not part of your neurosis. Don't cry to me for safety. There is no home here. There is no security in your mansions or your fortresses, your family vaults or your banks or your double beds. Understand this fact, and you will be free. Accept it, and you will be happy.”

HappinessNatureFreedomEnvironmentRiskEmpowermentDesertLiberationCaliforniaLos AngelesMountainsWildnessRisk TakingSelf Responsibility
Book:Exhumations
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“To live sanely in Los Angeles ... you have to cultivate the art of staying awake. You must learn to resist (firmly but not tensely) the unceasing hypnotic suggestions of the radio, the billboards, the movies and the newspapers; those demon voices which are forever whispering in your ear what you should desire, what you should fear, what you should wear and eat and drink and enjoy, what you should think and do and be.”

ThinkingShouldArtDesireEnjoyVoiceForeverDrinkEarsRadioNewspapersAwakeDemonStayingLos AngelesSuggestionsWhisperingBillboardsHypnotic
Book:Exhumations: Stories, Articles, Verses
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“The landscape, like Los Angeles itself, is transitional. Impermanence haunts the city, with its mushroom industries--the aircraft perpetually becoming obsolete, the oil which must one day be exhausted, the movies which fill America's theatres for six months and are forgotten. Many of its houses--especially the grander ones--have a curiously disturbing atmosphere, a kind of psychological dankness which smells of anxiety, overdrafts, uneasy lust, whisky, divorce and lies.”

KindAmericaLyingHouseCitiesMonthsIndustryBecomingOne DayAnxietySixForgottenDivorceSmellOilTheatreLustPsychologicalLandscapeAtmosphereLos AngelesExhaustedSix MonthsDisturbingObsoleteImpermanenceMushroomsUneasyAircraftWhiskyBecoming Obsolete
Author:Christopher Isherwood
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“Hollywood's two polar types are the cynically drunken writer aggressively nursing a ten-year-old reputation and the theatrically self-conscious hermit who strides the boulevard in sandals, home-made shorts and a prophetic beard, muttering against the Age of the Machines.”

YearsMadeTwoSelfHomeAgeTypeTenConsciousHollywoodMachinesReputationLos AngelesBeardNursingSelf ConsciousStridePropheticShortsHermitsSandalsBoulevardMuttering
Book:Exhumations: Stories, Articles, Verses
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