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Quote by Rebecca West

“I am not so repelled by Communism: an element of Communism in politics is necessary and inevitable. In any involved society there must be a feeling that something must be done about poverty - which is the basis of communism.”

Quote by Rebecca West

Author

Rebecca West, born Cecil William James on December 21, 1892, and died on March 15, 1983, was a prominent British author of the 20th century. Known for her profound social insight and unique literary style, she left a lasting impact on the world of literature. more

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“a good oyster cannot please the palate as acutely as a bad one can revolt it, and a good oyster cannot make him who eats it live for ever though a bad one can make him dead for ever.”

Please Revolt Oysters Palate

Book:Black lamb and grey falcon: a journey through Yugoslavia

Source: Black lamb and grey falcon: a journey through Yugoslavia

“The French use cooking as a means of self-expression, and this meal perfectly represented the personality of a cook who had spent the morning resting her unwashed chin on the edge of a tureen, pondering whether she should end her life immediately by plunging her head into her abominable soup.”

Should Mean Ends Self Use Morning Food Expression Personality Cooking Edges Cooks Meals Soup Pondering Self Expression Chins

Author:Rebecca West

“Writers on the subject of August Strindberg have hitherto omitted to mention that he could not write. ... Strindberg, who was neither a good nor a wise man, had a stroke of luck. He went mad. He lost the power of inhibition. Everything down to the pettiest suspicion that the dog had been given the leanest mutton chop, poured out of his lips. Men of his weakness and sensuality are usually, from their sheer brutishness, unable to express themselves. But Strindberg was mad and articulate. That is what makes him immortal.”

Men Writing Lost Given Wise Subjects Dog Weakness Criticism Luck Mad Lips Sensuality Immortal Suspicion Sheer Strokes August Inhibitions Mutton

Author:Rebecca West

“[On Jane Austen:] To believe her limited in range because she was harmonious in method is as sensible as to imagine that when the Atlantic Ocean is as smooth as a mill-pond it shrinks to the size of a mill-pond.”

Believe Imagine Ocean Method Size Range Sensible Imagine That Smooth Shrinks Jane Harmonious Mills Ponds Austen Atlantic Ocean

Book:The Strange Necessity: Essays and Reviews

Source: The Strange Necessity: Essays and Reviews

“one of Mr. [Thomas] Hardy's ancestors must have married a weeping willow. There are pages and pages in his collected poems which are simply plain narratives in ballad form of how an unenjoyable time was had by all.”

Form Married Pages Narrative Ancestor Weeping Hardy Ballads Weeping Willows

Book:The Strange Necessity: Essays and Reviews

Source: The Strange Necessity: Essays and Reviews

“Mr. Arnold Bennett feels he has ranked himself for ever as a dry wine by what he mixed with himself of Maupassant; nevertheless he has put on the market some grocer's Sauterne in the form of several novels that are highly sentimental so far as their fundamental balance of values is concerned.”

Feels Form Values Novel Balance Concerned Fundamentals Wine Dry Nevertheless Sentimental Grocers

Book:The Strange Necessity: Essays and Reviews

Source: The Strange Necessity: Essays and Reviews

“Olive Schreiner is less a woman than a geographical fact. Just as one thinks of Egypt as a foreground for the Pyramids, so South Africa seems the setting of that warm, attractive, aggressive personality. Her work is far inferior to her.”

Thinking Facts Seems Personality South Warm Setting Settings Attractive Aggressive South Africa Inferiors Egypt Pyramids Olives Foreground

Book:The young Rebecca: writings of Rebecca West, 1911-17

Source: The young Rebecca: writings of Rebecca West, 1911-17

“it is necessary that we should all have a little of the will to die, because otherwise we would find the performance of our biological duty of death too difficult.”

Should Littles Dies Difficult Duty Performances

Author:Rebecca West

“I don't believe that to understand is necessarily to pardon, but I feel that to understand makes one forget that one cannot pardon.”

Feels Believe Forget Forgiveness Don't Believe Pardon

Author:Rebecca West

“When we choose a god we choose one as much like ourselves as possible, or even more so!”

Author:Rebecca West