Norman Douglas
Norman Douglas
George Norman Douglaswas a British writer, now best known for his 1917 novel South Wind. His travel books such as his 1915 Old Calabria were also appreciated for the quality of their writing...
reading drinking tea
I wish the English still possessed a shred of the old sense of humour which Puritanism, and dyspepsia, and newspaper reading, and tea-drinking have nearly extinguished.
truth epigrams
You can cram a truth into an epigram - the truth, never.
life enjoy mockery
The business of life is to enjoy oneself; everything else is a mockery.
men nucleus germs
There is in us a lyric germ or nucleus which deserves respect; it bids a man to ponder or create; and in this dim corner of himself he can take refuge and find consolations which the society of his fellow creatures does not provide.
happiness curiosity secret
The secret of happiness is curiosity
wise lying men
It takes a wise man to handle a lie, a fool had better remain honest.
wine aphrodisiac mating
Wine is a precarious aphrodisiac, and its fumes have blighted many a mating.
mind atheism scylla
He talks about the Scylla of Atheism and the Charybdis of Christianity - a state of mind which, by the way, is not conducive to bold navigation.
happiness giving body
Shall I give you my recipe for happiness? I find everything useful and nothing indispensable. I find everything wonderful and nothing miraculous. I reverence the body. I avoid first causes like the plague.
time wedges insert
One can always trust to time. Insert a wedge of time and nearly everything straightens itself out.
mean thinking keeping-promises
Never take a solemn oath. People think you mean it.
food trying culture
Bouillabaisse is only good because cooked by the French, who, if they cared to try, could produce an excellent and nutritious substitute out of cigar stumps and empty matchboxes.
spring flower carpe-diem
Why always "not yet"? Do flowers in spring say "not yet"?
reality mind sometimes
How hard it is, sometimes, to trust the evidence of one's senses! How reluctantly the mind consents to reality.