Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Barbara Holland

Quote by Barbara Holland

“moral indignation is a pleasure, often the only pleasure, in many lives. It's also one of the few pleasures people feel obliged to force on other people.”

Quote by Barbara Holland

Create image

Author

Barbara Holland
Barbara Holland

Barbara Holland (April 5, 1933 - September 7, 2010) was a British author known for her unique literary style and profound insights into social issues. more

You May Also Like

“Are you seeing a psychiatrist?' as a conversation opener would nowadays earn you a punch in the nose, but for fifty years it was a compliment. It meant, 'One can plainly see you are sensitive, intense, and interesting, and therefore neurotic.' Only the dullest of clods trudged around without a neurosis.”

YearsInterestingSeeingConversationIntenseNosesSensitiveFiftyComplimentPsychiatryNeuroticPsychiatristNeurosis
Book:Wasn't the Grass Greener?: A Curmudgeon's Fond Memories
Create image

“Once considered an art form that called for talent, or at least a craft that called for practice, a poem now needs only sincerity. Everyone, we're assured, is a poet. Writing poetry is good for us. It expresses our inmost feelings, which is wholesome. Reading other people's poems is pointless since those aren't our own inmost feelings.”

PeopleNeedsWritingArtFeelingsFormReadingPracticeTalentPoetCraftsPoetry IsSincerityAssuredPointlessWriting Poetry
Book:Wasn't the Grass Greener?: A Curmudgeon's Fond Memories
Create image

“Coaches and headmasters praise sport as a preparation for the great game of life, but this is absurd. Nothing could be more different from life. For one thing sports, unlike life, are played according to rules. Indeed, the rules are the sport: life may behave bizarrely and still be life, but if the runner circles the bases clockwise it's no longer baseball.”

IfsMayStillsDifferentGamesSportsOne ThingBaseballBasesPraiseCoachesCirclesAbsurdPreparationBehaveRunnersHeadmasters
Author:Barbara Holland
Create image

“In America, snobs who wouldn't be seen dead with a lottery ticket play the stock market. We like to gamble. Winning, we have closed our eyes, leapt across the yawning abyss, and landed knee-deep in daisies. Even losing has a certain gloomy glamour: the gods of chance are worthy opponents; we have engaged them in hand-to-hand combat and though we lost, at least we shrank not from the contest.”

PlayHandsEyeAmericaCertainWinningLostChanceLosingWorthyKneesOpponentsEngagedCombatTicketsContestsAbyssGlamourChances AreGambleLotteryGloomyDaisiesSnobYawningLottery TicketWorthy Opponents
Author:Barbara Holland
Create image