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Clive James Quotes

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Clive James, born on October 7, 1939, is an Australian author, critic, and broadcaster. His works span poetry, fiction, essays, and literary criticism, known for their unique humor and insightful observations.

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All Classic Ifs People Thinking Writing Funny World Men Humorous Should Young Art Tennis Firsts Way America British Language Looks Reading

Famous Clive James Quotes

“I've got life for a subject because as life starts to drain away, you start seeing very clearly what life is, for the first time.”

Firsts Life Is Seeing Subjects First Time Drains

Author:Clive James

“In the movies first impressions are everything. Or, to put it less drastically, in the movies there are no later impressions without a first impression, because you will have stopped watching. Sometimes a critic persuades you to give an unpromising-looking movie a chance, but the movie had better convey the impression pretty quickly that the critic might be right.”

Giving Firsts Sometimes Might Chance Critics Impression First Impression Might Is Right

Author:Clive James

“The first language that I learned was Italian in Italy in the early and middle-'60s and I had to do that to keep up with the young men who were courting my wife.”

Men Firsts Young Language Wife Middle My Wife Young Man Italian

Author:Clive James

“In between the Queen and the First Lady, Nancy Reagan, sat Tony Richardson, looking very calm. Later on it emerged that this was because, having not been apprised of the placement until he was about to sit down, he had died of fright. To have expired was to be fortunate.”

World Firsts America Modern Died Calm Fortunate Queens Sat Modern World Fright First Lady Nancy Placement Expired

Book:Snakecharmers In Texas

Source: Snakecharmers In Texas

“First-rate science fiction was, and remains, more interesting than second-rate art.”

Firsts Art Interesting Fiction Remains Science Fiction Rate Classic Second Rate

Book:From the Land of Shadows

Source: From the Land of Shadows

“Like most people who smoked umpteen cigarettes a day, I tasted only the first one. The succeeding umpteen minus one were a compulsive ritual which had no greater savour than the fumes of burning money.”

People Firsts Funny Greater Succeed Humorous Burning Smoking Ritual Cigarette Cigar Minus Savour

Book:The Complete Unreliable Memoirs

Source: The Complete Unreliable Memoirs

“Here was my first lesson on the resolutely maintained untidiness and ill-health of the English upper orders. In baggy evening dress and old before their time, they displayed gapped and tangled teeth in loosely open mouths. Gently shedding dandruff, they lurched across the lawn. When they stood at the bar they looked like Lee Trevino Putting.”

Firsts Funny Order Lessons Mouths Humorous England Dresses Ill Bars Teeth Evening Lawns Tangled Ill Health

Book:The Complete Unreliable Memoirs

Source: The Complete Unreliable Memoirs

About the Author

Born: October 7, 1939
Known for: Author
Quotes: 145

Books & Sources

The Complete Unreliable MemoirsRelated source material

Glued to the box: television criticism from the Observer, 1979-82Related source material

Always Unreliable: MemoirsRelated source material

Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the ArtsRelated source material

Flying VisitsRelated source material

The Crystal BucketRelated source material

May Week Was In JuneRelated source material

Snakecharmers In TexasRelated source material

Clive James On TelevisionRelated source material

Poetry Notebook: 2006–2014Related source material

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