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Quote by Joyce Cary

Work

Selected essays

This book compiles a selection of essays that delve into diverse subjects, offering insights and perspectives on a range of topics. more

Author

Joyce Cary
Joyce Cary

Joyce Cary was a British novelist known for his intricate explorations of human relationships and the social dynamics of his era. Born on December 7, 1888, in Bombay, India, Cary spent a significant part of his life in Nigeria before returning to England. His most celebrated novel, 'Mister Johnson,' was published in 1932 and is regarded as a classic of English literature. more

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“By an epiphany he meant a sudden spiritual manifestation, whether in the vulgarity of speech or of gesture or memorable phrase of the mind itself. He believed it was for the man of letters to record these epiphanies with extreme care (saving them for later use, that is), seeing that they themselves are the most delicate and evanescent of moments.”

“Try and write straight English; never using slang except in dialogue and then only when unavoidable. Because all slang goes sour in a short time. I only use swear words, for example, that have lasted at least a thousand years for fear of getting stuff that will be simply timely and then go sour.”

“Whatever one wishes to say, there is one noun only by which to express it, one verb only to give it life, one adjective only which will describe it. One must search until one has discovered them, this noun, this verb, this adjective, and never rest content with approximations, never resort to trickery, however happy, or to vulgarism, in order to dodge the difficulty.”

“This element of surprise or mystery — the detective element as it is sometimes rather emptily called — is of great importance in a plot. It occurs through a suspension of the time-sequence; a mystery is a pocket in time, and it occurs crudely, as in "Why did the queen die?" and more subtly in half-explained gestures and words, the true meaning of which only dawns pages ahead. Mystery is essential to a plot, and cannot be appreciated without intelligence.”