We all drew on the comfort which is given out by the major works of Mozart, which is as real and material as the warmth given up by a glass of brandy.
- Rebecca West
Glass, Which, Given, Warmth
Journalism: an ability to meet the challenge of filling the space.
- Rebecca West
Challenge, Meet, Ability, Filling
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
Myself, Express, Been, Sentiments
Motherhood is the strangest thing, it can be like being one's own Trojan horse.
- Rebecca West
Mom, Horse, Like, Strangest
The main difference between men and women is that men are lunatics and women are idiots.
- Rebecca West
Men, Difference, Main, Women Are
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
Birds, Whatever, Done, Francis
There is no such thing as conversation. It is an illusion. There are intersecting monologues, that is all.
- Rebecca West
Illusion, Monologues, Thing, Conversation
It is always one's virtues and not one's vices that precipitate one into disaster.
- Rebecca West
Disaster, Always, Virtues, Vices
There is no wider gulf in the universe than yawns between those on the hither and thither side of vital experience.
- Rebecca West
Universe, Side, Wider, Gulf
All men should have a drop of treason in their veins, if nations are not to go soft like so many sleepy pears.
- Rebecca West
Drop, Like, Treason, Pears
Life ought to be a struggle of desire toward adventures whose nobility will fertilize the soul.
- Rebecca West
Life, Nobility, Toward, Struggle
There is in every one of us an unending see-saw between the will to live and the will to die.
- Rebecca West
Die, Will, Every, Unending
Just how difficult it is to write biography can be reckoned by anybody who sits down and considers just how many people know the real truth about his or her love affairs.
- Rebecca West
Love, Anybody, Considers, Affairs
I wonder if we are all wrong about each other, if we are just composing unwritten novels about the people we meet?
- Rebecca West
Other, About, Unwritten, Novels
The American struggle for the vote was much more difficult than the English for the simple reason that it was much more easy.
- Rebecca West
Reason, More, Simple Reason, Struggle
God forbid that any book should be banned. The practice is as indefensible as infanticide.
- Rebecca West
Book, Practice, Indefensible, Banned
International relationships are preordained to be clumsy gestures based on imperfect knowledge.
- Rebecca West
Relationships, Based, International
I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.
- Rebecca West
People, Express, Sentiments, Differentiate
People call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.
- Rebecca West
Me, Call, Whenever, Differentiate
The trouble about man is twofold. He cannot learn truths which are too complicated; he forgets truths which are too simple.
- Rebecca West
Learn, Which, Twofold, Forgets
Mr. James Joyce is a great man who is entirely without taste.
- Rebecca West
Great Man, Mr, James, Entirely
The memory, experiencing and re-experiencing, has such power over one's mere personal life, that one has merely lived.
- Rebecca West
Memory, Personal, Over, Experiencing
It is sometimes very hard to tell the difference between history and the smell of skunk.
- Rebecca West
Sometimes, Tell, Very, Skunk
A strong hatred is the best lamp to bear in our hands as we go over the dark places of life, cutting away the dead things men tell us to revere.
- Rebecca West
Strong, Hands, Over, Revere
There is no logical reason why the camel of great art should pass through the needle of mob intelligence.
- Rebecca West
Reason, Through, Mob, Needle
A copy of the universe is not what is required of art; one of the damned things is ample.
- Rebecca West
Art, Universe, Things, Ample
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, Likely, Agent, Hypocrisy
Writing has nothing to do with communication between person and person, only with communication between different parts of a person's mind.
- Rebecca West
Communication, Mind, Person, Parts
Any authentic work of art must start an argument between the artist and his audience.
- Rebecca West
Art, Audience, Argument, Authentic
Humanity is never more sphinxlike than when it is expressing itself.
- Rebecca West
Never, More, Itself, Expressing
Great music is in a sense serene; it is certain of the values it asserts.
- Rebecca West
Music, Values, Great Music, Certain
It is the soul's duty to be loyal to its own desires. It must abandon itself to its master passion.
- Rebecca West
Soul, Abandon, Itself, Master
Nobody likes having salt rubbed into their wounds, even if it is the salt of the earth.
- Rebecca West
Salt, Wounds, Having, Likes
Before a war military science seems a real science, like astronomy; but after a war it seems more like astrology.
- Rebecca West
More, Like, Before, Astrology
Everyone realizes that one can believe little of what people say about each other. But it is not so widely realized that even less can one trust what people say about themselves.
- Rebecca West
Trust, Other, Everyone, Widely
But there are other things than dissipation that thicken the features. Tears, for example.
- Rebecca West
Other, Features, For Example, Dissipation
He is every other inch a gentleman.
- Rebecca West
Other, He, Every, Inch
I write books to find out about things.
- Rebecca West
Find, Books, About, I Write
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