'Sebastian had disappeared into that
other life of hi where I was not asked to
follow, and I was left, instead, forlorn
and regretful
Blanche: 'You musn't blame Sebastian for being insipid'
Charles: I thought I hated him
Seb: 'We'll have a heavenly time alone'
Cara: 'Romantic friendships of
English and German. They're not
Latin'
'The kind of love that comes to children before they
know it's meaning'
He did not fail in love, but he lost
his joy of it, for I was no longer
part of his solitude.
As my intimacy with his family grew I became part
of the world which he sought to escape; I became
one of the bonds which held him.
Charles and Sebastian contra mundum'
Religion
'When people wanted to hate God they'd hate Mummy'
He used to spend such a time in the confessional, I
used to wonder what he had to say, because he never
did anything wrong; never quite; at least, he never got
punished.
'You can't believe things because they're a lovely idea'
'But I do, that's how I believe'
It may be a private bargain between me and God, that if I give up
this one thing I want so much, however bad I am, He won't quite
despair of me in the end
Youth/ Loss/ Regret
He was magically beautiful, with that epicene quality which in
extreme youth sings aloud for love and withers at the first cold wind
Our wisdom, we prefer to think, is all of our own gathering,
while, if the truth be told, it is, most of it, the last coin of a
legacy that dwindles with time
The languor of Youth – how unique and
quintessential it is! How quickly, how irrecoverably,
lost
"I have left behind illusion," I said to myself. "Henceforth I live in a
world of three dimensions – with the aid of my five senses."
But these young people have such an intelligent, knowledgeable
surface, and then the crust suddenly breaks and you look down into
depths of confusion you didn't know existed.
Johnjohn who made him see reason about that girl;
seriously, you know, he's frightfully sharp
Like Cordelia, youth = wisdom
Anti- Pastoral
'fearing it was too simple for Rex, I added Caviar au blinis'
'I rejoiced in the Burgandy. It was a reminder
that the world was older and better place than
Rex knew'
Misc
'You'd think him so English,
Marchmain. Full of hate'
When people hate with so much energy it is
something in themselves they are hating
Critics
'The books excesses are a big part of it's charm'
Orwell: 'As popular a writer
can be with untenable ideas'
Waugh: 'Only when one has lost all
curiosity about the future has one
reached the age to write an
autobiography'