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The Hippopotamus QUOTES

The Hippopotamus QUOTES

1 " Nobody seems to understand that in such matters the tact and sympathy should come from the one who is about to die, not the poor bugger who has to take the news. "

― , The Hippopotamus

2 " [his healing skills] ..lay in the ability to comfort, to comfort in the proper sense, to make strong, to fortify "

― , The Hippopotamus

3 " If you spend your life on a moral hill-top, you see nothing but the mud below. If, like me, you live in the mud itself, you get a damned good view of clear blue sky and clean green hills above. There's none so evil-minded as those with a moral mission, and none so pure in heart as the depraved. "

― , The Hippopotamus

4 " In a dung heap, even a plastic bead can gleam like a sapphire. "

― , The Hippopotamus

5 " But you can't argue that the world isn't in an unhealthy moral state."

"Wouldn't think of it dearest. People lie, cheat, rape, swindle, kill, maim, torture and destroy. Bad thing. People also pop into bed together and cosy up. Good thing. If we think fucking is a sign of moral decay then we're a little bit stupid-stupid, aren't we? "

― , The Hippopotamus

6 " Cynical is the name we give those we fear may be laughing at us. "

― , The Hippopotamus

7 " When push-off comes to shove-off, a man must have a reason to get out of bed in the mornings, something more than the threat of bedsores, at any rate. "

― , The Hippopotamus

8 " It is a cliché that most clichés are true, but then like most clichés, that cliché is untrue "

― , The Hippopotamus

9 " A month's salary, deep regret, the telephone number of some foul rehab clinic and my lance was free. "

― , The Hippopotamus

10 " You want poetry, first you have to muck in with humanity, you have to fight with paper and pencil for weeks and weeks until your heart bleeds: verses aren't channelled into your head by angels or muses or sprites of nature. "

― , The Hippopotamus

11 " Naturally I've known girlies form an attachment to the younger male before now, but in the tennis score of the bedroom most girls in my experience would rather Love Thirty or Love Forty than Love Fifteen. Men, of course, are a whole other issue; they start at Love All and stay there until they're dragged from the court "

― , The Hippopotamus

12 " I also knew that he was the kind of anile little runt who, in foyers and theatre bars the West End over, can be heard bleating into their gin and tonics, "I go to the theatre to be entertained. "

― , The Hippopotamus

13 " The trick of being a good guest is never to ask any questions about the composition of the household. Hosts, even the grandest, are nervous creatures and interpret curiosity as evidence of dissatisfaction. "

― , The Hippopotamus

14 " Civilisation, after all, is not an attitude of mind, it is an attribute of wealth "

― , The Hippopotamus

15 " The service took place on one of those afternoons that occur only in the past. "

― , The Hippopotamus

16 " I've suffered for my art, now it's your turn. "

― , The Hippopotamus

17 " Женщинам лет уж тридцать как нет нужды напускать на себя вид ранимый и виноватый – теперь это мужская прерогатива. "

― , The Hippopotamus

18 " В машине Джейн не проронила ни слова о том, что ее терзало. Лишь набросала краткую автобиографию, достаточную, чтобы показать мне, что она совсем не такая умная, симпатичная, стильная или интересная, какой казалась в баре. Хотя, с другой стороны, то же самое можно сказать о каждом из нас, что и доказывает значение косметики и виски. "

― , The Hippopotamus

19 " Если вам нужны идущие нарасхват теории по поводу полов и прочего, зайдите в любой книжный магазин – и вы увидите целые полки, забитые книгами, только им и посвященными. «Мужчины наносят ответный удар», «Женщины наносят ответный удар мужчинам, нанесшим ответный удар» – реакции на реакции и контрреакции; совершенно как в дни холодной войны, когда анализировалась каждая публикация противной стороны, каждый напечатанный ею плакат, когда фиксировался каждый вздрог паутины и сосредоточенно изучался каждый культурный сдвиг. "

― , The Hippopotamus

20 " – Я не знаю. Вы, наверное, атеист?
– Вообще говоря, да, хоть и мне случается оступаться "

― , The Hippopotamus