"Cyril Vernon Connolly" was a literary critic and writer. He was the editor of the influential literary magazine Horizon (magazine)/Horizon (1940–49) and wrote Enemies of Promise (1938), which combined literary criticism with an Autobiography/autobiographical exploration of why he failed to become the successful author of fiction that he had aspired to be in his youth.

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The true function of a writer is to produce a masterpiece and no other task is of any consequence.

There are many who dare not kill themselves for fear of what the neighbors will say.

There is no fury like a woman searching for a new lover.

What grape to keep its place in the sun, taught our ancestors to make wine?

Those whom the Gods would destroy, they first call promising.

The secret of success is to be in harmony with existence, to be always calm to let each wave of life wash us a little farther up the shore.

Our memories are card indexes consulted, and then put back in disorder by authorities whom we do not control.

Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be read once.

Hate is the consequence of fear; we fear something before we hate it; a child who fears noises becomes a man who hates noise.

There is no pain equal to that which two lovers can inflict on one another. This should be made clear to all who contemplate such a union. The avoidance of this pain is the beginning of wisdom, for it is strong enough to contaminate the rest of our lives.

The civilization of one epoch becomes the manure of the next.

The friendships which last are those wherein each friend respects the other's dignity to the point of not really wanting anything from him.

While thought exists, words are alive and literature becomes an escape, not from, but into living.

The dread of loneliness is greater than the fear of bondage, so we get married.

Everything is a dangerous drug except reality, which is unendurable.

As repressed sadists are supposed to become policemen or butchers so those with irrational fear of life become publishers.

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.

The true index of a man's character is the health of his wife.

A woman's desire for revenge outlasts all her other emotions.

Always be nice to those younger than you, because they are the ones who will be writing about you.

All charming people have something to conceal, usually their total dependence on the appreciation of others.