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Kingsley Amis

Kingsley Amis Quotes

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Famous Kingsley Amis Quotes

“You'll find that marriage is a good short cut to the truth. No, not quite that. A way of doubling back to the truth. Another thing you'll find is that the years of illusion aren't those of adolescense, as the grown-ups try to tell us; they're the ones immediately after it, say the middle twenties, the false maturity if you like, when you first get thoroughly embroiled in things and lose your head. Your age, by the way, Jim. That's when you first realize that sex is important to other people besides yourself. A discovery like that can't help knocking you off balance for a time.”

PeopleIfsWayTryingYearsFirstsImportantHelpingAgeSexRealizingLosesCuttingMiddleBalanceIllusionDiscoveryTwentiesMaturityKnockingShort Cuts
Author:Kingsley Amis
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“When that ineffable compound of depression, sadness (these two are not the same), anxiety, self-hatred, sense of failure and fear for the future begins to steal over you, start telling yourself that what you have is a hangover. You are not sickening for anything, you have not suffered a minor brain lesion, you are not all that bad at your job, your family and friends are not leagued in a conspiracy of barely maintained silence about what a s**t you are, you have not come at last to see life as it really is and there is no use crying over spilt milk.”

TwoSelfUseJobsLastsBrainSilenceSadnessCryAnxietyHatredStealingOver YouMilkConspiracyMinorsFamily And FriendsCompoundsHangoverSelf HatredIneffableSpilt Milk
Author:Kingsley Amis
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“Jake was close to tears. In that moment he saw the world in its true light, as a place where nothing had ever been any good and nothing of significance done: no art worth a second look, no philosophy of the slightest appositeness, no law but served the state, no history that gave an inkling of how it had been and what had happened. And no love, only egotism, infatuation and lust.”

WorldLooksArtStatesDonePhilosophyMomentsLightLawSawsHappenedTearsLustSignificanceThat MomentInfatuationEgotismNo LoveJake
Book:Jake's Thing
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“When I find someone I respect writing about an edgy, nervous wine that dithered in the glass, I cringe. When I hear someone I don't respect talking about an austere, unforgiving wine, I turn a bit austere and unforgiving myself. When I come across stuff like that and remember about the figs and bananas, I want to snigger uneasily. You can call a wine red, and dry, and strong, and pleasant. After that, watch out.”

WantWritingRememberTurnsStrongStuffBitsTalkingWatchesRedWineGlassesNervousPleasantDryBananasEdgyCringeFigsUnforgivingVino
Author:Kingsley Amis
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