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Quote by Quentin Crisp

“All the golden societies of the past to which historians point and turn their wistful smiles have had what patience-players would call a discard pile. They operated on two levels with a slave class who worked, ate, slept, and died and a leisured class who reclined on one elbow and spoke. Naturally it is from this latter group that we learn what life at that time was like. It often makes charming reading but we can hardly take it to be the whole truth.”

Quote by Quentin Crisp

Book:How to Have a Lifestyle
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How to Have a Lifestyle

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Quentin Crisp
Quentin Crisp

Quentin Crisp (December 25, 1908 – November 21, 1999) was an English writer, actor, and social commentator, best known for his flamboyant style and open homosexuality during a time of widespread prejudice. Born Denis Charles Pratt in Sutton, London, he later adopted the name Quentin Crisp. His 1968 autobiography, 'The Naked Civil Servant,' chronicled his life as an openly gay man in conservative Britain, and was adapted into a critically acclaimed TV film starring John Hurt. Crisp also wrote 'How to Have a Style' and 'Manners from Heaven,' and appeared in films like 'Orlando' and 'The Bride.' He moved to New York in the 1980s, becoming a cultural icon known for his wit and advocacy of individuality. He died in Manchester at age 90. more

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“She's on the stairs, ma'am, getting her breath,' said the young servant, who had not been long up from the country, where my mother had the excellent habit of getting all her servants. Often she had seen them born. That's the only way to get really good ones. And they're the rarest of luxuries.”

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“You had to have these peasant leaders quickly in this sort of war and a real peasant leader might be a little too much like Pablo. You couldn't wait for the real Peasant Leader to arrive and he might have too many peasant characteristics when he did. So you had to manifacture one. At that, from what he had seen of Campesino, with his black beard, his thick negroid lips, and his feverish, staring eyes, he thought he might give almost as much trouble as a real peasant leader. The last time he had seen him he seemed to have gotten to believe his own publicity and think he was a peasant.”

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“It is common knowledge that a well-bred man should as far as possible have no face. That is to say, not so much be completely without one, but rather, should have a face and yet at the same time appear faceless. It should not stand out, just as a shirt made by a good tailor does not stand out. Needless to say, the face of a well-bred man should be exactly like that of other (well-bred) men and of course in no circumstances whatsoever should it alter. Naturally houses, trees, streets, sky and everything else in the world must satisfy the same conditions to have honor of being known as respectable and well-bred.”

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