Cyril Connolly
Cyril Connolly
Cyril Vernon Connollywas a literary critic and writer. He was the editor of the influential literary magazine Horizonand wrote Enemies of Promise, which combined literary criticism with an autobiographical exploration of why he failed to become the successful author of fiction that he had aspired to be in his youth...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionJournalist
Date of Birth10 September 1903
art enemy good hall somber
There is no more somber enemy of good art than the pram in the hall
dungeon self serving
We are all serving a life-sentence in the dungeon of self
learnt life maze turn walk wrong
Life is a maze in which we take the wrong turn before we have learnt to walk
condemned himself lazy starts talents whatever
A lazy person, whatever the talents with which he starts out, have condemned himself to second-rate thoughts, and to second-rate friends
arguing modern poet
Poets arguing about modern poetry: jackals snarling over a dried-up well.
veins lessons
The lesson one can learn from Firbank is that of inconsequence. There is the vein which he tapped and which has not yet been fully exploited.
movement scandal publicity
An aesthetic movement with a revolutionary dynamism and no popular appeal should proceed quite otherwise than by public scandal, publicity stunt, noisy expulsion and excommunication.
mediocre
A best-seller is the golden touch of mediocre talent.