Rebecca West Quotes

Quotes about:

• I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat.

  Rebecca West

  Girly, Time, Peace

  The Clarion, 14 Nov. 1913

  81 Copy quote

• Charity is an ugly trick. It is a virtue grown by the rich on the graves of the poor. Unless it is accompanied by sincere revolt against the present social system, it is a cheap moral swagger. In former times it was used as fire insurance by the rich, but now that the fear of Hell has gone along with the rest of revealed religion, it is used either to gild mean lives with nobility or as a political instrument.

  Rebecca West

  Mean, Fire, Justice

  Rebecca West, Jane Marcus (1982). “The Young Rebecca: Writings of Rebecca West, 1911-17”, New York : Viking Press

  4 Copy quote

• There is no logical reason why the camel of great art should pass through the needle of mob intelligence.

  Rebecca West

  Art, Camels, Reason Why

  Rebecca West (1928). “The strange necessity: essays by Rebecca West”

  56 Copy quote

• art is at least in part a way of collecting information about the universe.

  Rebecca West

  Art, Information, Way

  Rebecca West (2010). “The Strange Necessity: Essays and Reviews”, p.52, Open Road Media

  4 Copy quote

• The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be only the beginning.

  Rebecca West

  Strength, Success, Encouraging

  30 Copy quote

• Because hypocrisy stinks in the nostrils one is likely to rate it as a more powerful agent for destruction than it is.

  Rebecca West

  Powerful, Hypocrite, Hypocrisy

  Rebecca West (2010). “The Strange Necessity: Essays and Reviews”, p.175, Open Road Media

  8 Copy quote

• God forbid that any book should be banned. The practice is as indefensible as infanticide.

  Rebecca West

  Funny, Sarcastic, Women

  The Strange Necessity (1928) "The Tosh Horse"

  91 Copy quote

• Whatever happens, never forget that people would rather be led to perdition by a man, than to victory by a woman.

  Rebecca West

  Men, People, Victory

  21 Copy quote

• There is, of course, no reason for the existence of the male sex except that one sometimes needs help with moving the piano.

  Rebecca West

  Sex, Moving, Men

  6 Copy quote

• I really write to find out what I know about something and what is to be known about something.

  Rebecca West

  Writing, Knows, Known

  5 Copy quote

• The day was so delightful that I wished one could live slowly as one can play music slowly.

  Rebecca West

  Play, Delightful

  Rebecca West (2010). “The Fountain Overflows”, p.288, Open Road Media

  4 Copy quote

• 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.

  Rebecca West

  Feelings, Elements, Done

  5 Copy quote

• What is art? It is not decoration. It is the re-living of experience.

  Rebecca West

  Art, Decoration

  Rebecca West (2007). “Black Lamb and Grey Falcon”, p.1127, Penguin

  8 Copy quote

• The choice between law and justice is an easy one for courageous minds.

  Rebecca West

  Law, Justice, Choices

  Rebecca West (1982). “The young Rebecca: writings of Rebecca West, 1911-17”, Not Avail

  8 Copy quote

• The main difference between men and women is that men are lunatics and women are idiots.

  Rebecca West

  Women, Differences, Idiot

  63 Copy quote

• You must always believe that life is as extraordinary as music says it is.

  Rebecca West

  Life, Believe, Extraordinary

  Rebecca West (2010). “The Fountain Overflows”, p.153, Open Road Media

  18 Copy quote

• The trouble about man is twofold. He cannot learn truths which are too complicated; he forgets truths which are too simple.

  Rebecca West

  Truth, Simple, Men

  Rebecca West (2011). “The Meaning of Treason”, p.426, Open Road Media

  28 Copy quote

• All our Western thought is founded on this repulsive pretence that pain is the proper price of any good thing.

  Rebecca West

  Pain, Good Things, Western

  Rebecca West (2010). “Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia”, p.474, Open Road Media

  5 Copy quote

• No great thing happens suddenly.

  Rebecca West

  Change, Great Things, Happens

  Rebecca West (1982). “The young Rebecca: writings of Rebecca West, 1911-17”, Not Avail

  6 Copy quote

• Did St. Francis preach to the birds? Whatever for? If he really liked birds he would have done better to preach to the cats.

  Rebecca West

  Peace, Cat, Bird

  Rebecca West (2012). “The Saga of the Century: The Fountain Overflows, This Real Night, and Cousin Rosamund”, p.491, Open Road Media

  16 Copy quote

• Literature must be an analysis of experience and a synthesis of the findings into a unity.

  Rebecca West

  Unity, Analysis, Literature

  22 Copy quote

• I have no faith in the sense of comforting beliefs which persuade me that all my troubles are blessings in disguise.

  Rebecca West

  Blessing, Comforting, Belief

  Rebecca West (2005). “Woman as Artist and Thinker”, p.23, iUniverse

  8 Copy quote

• Art is not a luxury, but a necessity.

  Rebecca West

  Art, Luxury, Art Is

  Rebecca West (2010). “The Strange Necessity: Essays and Reviews”, p.110, Open Road Media

  11 Copy quote

• There is no such thing as conversation. It is an illusion. There are intersecting monologues, that is all.

  Rebecca West

  Communication, Language, Illusion

  The Harsh Voice "There Is No Conversation" (1935)

  16 Copy quote

• Unhappy people are dangerous.

  Rebecca West

  People, Unhappy, Unhappiness

  Rebecca West (2010). “The Judge”, p.231, Open Road Media

  8 Copy quote

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